The purpose of this investigation was twofold, namely: 1. To determine the personal characteristics and qualifications of the junior college business teachers in Texas; 2. To determine how well these characteristics match the desired qualifications given by college hiring personnel--presidents.

The purpose of this study is to gather information related to the professional status of the science teachers in the four-year accredited high schools of Texas for the school year 1952-1953. The principal concern of the study is "Who is teaching science?"

This study explores beliefs and practices about standards of quality in Texas public prekindergartens as viewed from various perspectives, including prekindergarten teachers, administrators of prekindergarten programs, and families of prekindergarten students. These beliefs and practices are compared with widely-accepted national standards of quality for preschool programs.

The purpose of this study was to examine certain art education beliefs of teachers and administrators in a large school system. A review of related literature furnished information which gave support to the ideas behind the study and helped in the design of the data-gathering opinionnaire. After being tested in a pilot study, a revised opinionnaire was sent to teachers and administrators in ten elementary schools of a large North Texas district. Analysis of the data revealed areas in which respondents were united in their beliefs, as well as areas of controversy. It was concluded that the district could benefit from using the findings to stimulate increased awareness and communication among those who influence its art program.

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was that of determining the practices utilized by college supervisors of secondary student teachers in Kentucky. A mailed questionnaire was employed to determine the emphasis of practices of the college supervisor pertaining to student teachers, cooperating teachers, and cooperating school administrators. The purposes of this study included the following: 1. To determine the status of Kentucky college and university supervisors of secondary student teachers. 2. To compare the practices of Kentucky college supervisors with practices recommended by national authorities in the field of student teaching. 3. To compare the practices reported by general supervisors with practices reported by special supervisors. 4. To compare the supervisory practices as reported in Texas in 1968 to the practices reported currently in Kentucky. The findings pertaining to the status of the Kentucky college supervisor included the following: 1. Seventy-one percent of Kentucky college supervisors reported having a total of more than ten years teaching experience at different levels. Twenty-eight percent had more than twenty years full-time teaching experience. 2. Sixty-four percent of the supervisors reported twenty-one or more student teachers as a full supervisory load. 3. Fifty-four percent of college supervisors at state schools and 39 percent at private schools hold the rank of assistant professor. 4. Fifty-two percent of college supervisors at state schools and 36 percent at private schools hold the earned doctorate. The findings pertaining to the practices of the Kentucky college supervisor of secondary student teachers included the following: 1. The null hypothesis that no significant differences exist between the emphasis of supervisory practices by the state presidents of the Association of Teacher Educators and by Kentucky college supervisors was retained. 2. The null hypothesis that no significant differences exist between the emphasis of supervisory practices of special and general supervisors was retained. 3. The null hypothesis, that no significant differences would exist between the utilization of supervisory practices reported by Texas supervisors in 1968 and such utilization by Kentucky supervisors, was rejected. The conclusions of the study included the following: 1. Kentucky supervisors were utilizing the practices recommended by national authorities. 2. Special and general supervisors in Kentucky were utilizing recommended practices equally well. 3. Kentucky supervisors were utilizing recommended practices to a higher degree than did Texas supervisors in 1968.

The purposes of this study are to determine the understanding of economic concepts and attitudes toward economic education of selected elementary teachers, to determine which variables relate to the understanding of economic concepts and attitudes toward economic education, to determine the interaction of selected variables, and to determine if there is a positive correlation between the understanding of economic concepts and attitudes toward economic education. The analysis of data reveals the following: 1. Completion of a recent college level social studies methods course does not appear to have a significant relation to the teachers' understanding of economic concepts. The methods course does appear to have some positive significant relation to teachers' attitudes toward economic education, although not significant at the .05 level. 2. Completion of two or more college level courses in economics does not appear to have a significant relation to the teachers' understanding of economic concepts or their attitudes toward economic education. 3. Participation in a Developmental Economic Education Program (DEEP) workshop appears to have a significant relation to the teachers' understanding of economic concepts, but does not appear to have a significant relation to their attitudes toward economic education. 4. Teaching assignment (classroom organization) does not appear to have a significant relation to the teachers' understanding of economic concepts, but does appear to have a significant relation to their attitudes toward economic education with teachers in a self-contained classroom having a less favorable attitude toward economic education than do teachers in team-teaching or departmentalized classrooms. 5. The interaction of the variables grade level taught and adopted textbook series used appears to have a significant relation to the teachers' understanding of economic concepts and their attitudes toward economic education. Sixth grade teachers using textbooks with high-economic content score higher in cognition and fourth-grade teachers using textbooks with low-economic content have a less favorable attitude toward economic education. 6. There is a significant positive correlation between teachers' understanding of economic concepts and their attitudes toward economic education.

Using one-on-one interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis, this basic qualitative study (see Merriam 1998) examined preservice teachers' beliefs about play and the influences on those beliefs. Research for this study focused on seven preservice teachers enrolled in an early childhood through grade four practicum course at a small private university in south central Texas. Using Nespor (1987) and Vygotsky (1986) as frameworks for transforming the collected data (see Wolcott, 1994), the findings of this study indicated that multiple influences--such as experiences before and during teacher education, feelings, ideals, and universal assumptions--worked in concert to shape the preservice teachers' beliefs about play. And, these influences set the foundation for the content of the preservice teachers' beliefs. Specifically, for the preservice teachers, play seemed to have multiple meanings that fluctuated and were at times contradictory. These defining qualities suggested that the preservice teachers had not fully synthesized their beliefs about play. This study's findings came about because two frameworks instead of one were used to describe, to analyze, and to interpret the preservice teachers' beliefs about play. Together these frameworks provided insights into the preservice teachers' beliefs about play and the influences on those beliefs that neither framework could have provided alone. Specifically, the findings of this study reveal challenges and opportunities for early childhood teacher educators. On the one hand, the multiple meanings, fluctuations, and contradictions present within the preservice teachers' beliefs about play highlight the challenge of defining and conceptualizing play within teacher education. On the other hand, the broad set of influences that shaped the preservice teachers' beliefs about play and their complex interrelationship suggest that by using multiple frameworks to explore preservice teachers' beliefs about play, by viewing preservice teachers' beliefs as an asset to their learning about it, by identifying the sources of preservice teachers' beliefs about play, and by engaging in one-on-one discussions with preservice teachers about their beliefs, teacher educators have the opportunity to address this complex element of early childhood education in their programs with the hopes of ultimately influencing their preservice teachers' practice. / text

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