This research is an historical account of the development of teacher evaluation in Chinese elementary schools. Descriptive by nature, it reviews the historical origins that have shaped the teaching profession and evaluation practice. It also describes the effort made by the government and educators in the reform to improve the elementary school teacher evaluation system in China. The findings of this research focus on the complexity and problems in the teacher evaluation system and painful struggles teachers have experienced. Suggestions are provided in terms of possible improvement of the teacher evaluation system and establishment of national evaluation standards to facilitate real practice in the future.

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This study investigated the effects of cooperative game play and structured interview on the anxiety levels and attitudes of prospective teachers toward persons with visual impairments. The major strategy for attitude change was based on Deutsch's theory of cooperation in social interaction utilizing the framework of Johnson and Johnson's social judgment process in conjunction with Kurt Lewin's theory of "reduction of restraining forces.".;Forty-five undergraduate education majors were randomly assigned to a control group or two experimental treatment groups for the purpose of modifying their attitudes toward persons with visual impairments.;The experimental conditions involved two groups of 15 prospective teachers each. Each member of group one functioned as a partner of a visually impaired person in playing the electronic game "Simon." They formed a dyad which collaborated to beat "Simon." Members of group two interacted with a visually impaired person during interview sessions which were structured around ten familiar topical areas. The experimental treatment involved 20 minutes of social interaction during four interaction sessions within a period of two weeks. The control group experienced no contact with the visually impaired persons.;Pretest-Posttest data were collected using the Attitudes Toward Disabled Persons Scale (ATDP), Forms A and B; the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, (STAI); Forms X-1 and X-2; semantic differential scales; and a 10 point amount of contact scale.;Data analysis of STAI showed the experimental subjects experienced reduction of discomfortable feelings while interacting with the visually impaired. However, there was insignificant difference between the two groups. Analysis of the ATDP showed a positive shift in attitudes toward persons with physical disabilities. Similarly, there was insignificant difference between experimental group changes notwithstanding both groups exceeded the control group on posttest mean scores. The semantic differential scales indicated close agreement between perceptions of contact and attitudes for both the nondisabled and visually impaired persons.;Since the significant effects of cooperative game play and the structured interview as goal interdependent experiences for positive attitudinal shifts were inconclusive on the basis of the study's findings, further investigation is needed.

This research sought to answer the question: Does the relationship between supervisors' feedback styles and supervisees' levels of intrinsic motivation and the subscales of intrinsic motivation, found in other settings, exist in student teaching? The sample consisted of 252 student teachers from Old Dominion University and their cooperating teachers. This group included all of the spring, 1991, semester student teachers who chose to participate (30 chose not to) and represented a wide variety of cultural and economic backgrounds.;A correlational methodology was used, employing Pearson's r values for the relationships between cooperating teachers' feedback styles as measured on the Cooperating Teacher Questionnaire and total intrinsic motivation and each of four subscales (Interest-Enjoyment, Effort-Involvement, Pressure-Tension, and Competence) of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory. Significant changes were recorded in intrinsic motivation and each subscale of the inventory from pretest to posttest in the seven week student teaching placement; however, only Effort-Involvement was found to correlate at a significant level (p {dollar}<{dollar}.05) with feedback style. The study provided data on the entry motivation and changes in the motivation of student teachers, and piloted the Cooperating Teacher Questionnaire for measuring cooperating teachers' feedback styles.

Current traditional reflective practices in teacher preparation may be failing to address the needs of teacher candidates in terms of their identity formation as teachers. This qualitative study, utilizing a participant group of six graduate students in their student teaching internships at a small public liberal arts university, explored whether writing stories could enable student teachers to make better sense of their internship experiences and develop understanding of who they are as teachers. After an initial training session on "story," data were collected at three key points during the student teacher internship. This data consisted of participants' written stories, focus group discussions, and individual exit interviews. The data were then systematically coded using grounded theory methodology. The six themes resulting from this study indicate support for written stories as an alternative or parallel reflective tool to traditional journaling in teacher preparation.

Research has shown that teacher workload is intensifying and teachers are increasingly leaving the profession prior to having taught for 35 years. The purpose of this mixed method, sequential, phenomenological study was to determine (a) how workload intensification impacts teacher performance and well-being, (b) whether or not workload intensification was a primary factor in teachers’ choosing to leave the profession early, and (c) a formula for maximizing teacher performance and well-being. Apple’s workload intensification thesis was the theoretical framework for this study. Quantitative data obtained via a survey (N=484), together with qualitative data collected via four focus group sessions and individual interviews with 15 teachers who had left the profession early, were utilized to determine if there is a problem with workload intensification in this east coast Canadian province. Quantitative data were analyzed using the chi-square test to determine the relationship between the independent variable (workload intensification) and each of the two dependent variables (performance and well-being). Qualitative data were analyzed to determine emergent themes with respect to workload intensification. Findings from this study indicated that there is a significant relationship between the independent variable and each of the two dependent variables. Qualitative data substantiated the quantitative findings that indicated (a) the presence of a problem with workload intensification and (b) that workload intensification is a primary factor in teachers’ choosing to leave the profession early. Recommendations include having administrators address identified current teacher workload issues. Positive social change may result if administrators utilize the derived formula for maximizing teacher performance and well-being when assigning teaching and nonteaching duties to teachers.

There has been little research on what is necessary for a mentoring relationship to be considered successful from the novice teacher's perspective. Although researchers have asserted that mentoring promotes new teacher retention and improves new teacher skills, new teachers are still leaving the profession, causing a shortage of teachers in school districts across the United States. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the meaning of a successful mentoring relationship from the perspective of 6 selected elementary teachers who have been in the teaching field fewer than 5 years and who have participated in a mentoring relationship for more than 2 years with the same mentor. Social cognitive theory was used to examine the mentoring relationship. Interview questions were used to examine participants' perceptions and experiences of their mentoring relationship and the impact of that relationship. Novice teachers participated in face-to-face, semistructured interviews, which were recorded and transcribed. The Modified van Kamm method was used to analyze the transcribed interviews. These results were reviewed, coded, and organized into categories and themes. The findings indicated that the experiences which had the greatest impact on the 6 novice teachers were time spent with the mentor, communication, quality of the relationship, and support from the mentor. The implications for social change may include improved mentoring programs for school districts in order that new teachers remain in the teaching profession. These results can also be used to inform mentor teachers in developing improved and more effective mentoring relationships.

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have severe impairment in social skills, which affects all areas of development. Researchers have indicated peer-mediated intervention (PMI) may improve social skills of children with ASD. PMI involves training carefully selected nondisabled peers to teach academic or social skills to students with disabilities using strategies such as modeling, prompting, and reinforcement in an inclusive education setting. However, a review of the literature suggests that PMI in and of itself may be beneficial, but not sufficient, to enhance social interaction among students with ASD and their peers. The literature suggests that incorporating components that encourage student interaction in the PMI procedures may enhance its effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of peer training and peer training with contingency contracting on the frequency of social interactions between children with ASD and their nondisabled peers. I chose contingency contracting in the study because it involves the use of systematic prompting and reinforcement to increase student interaction. Three students with ASD and six typically developing peers enrolled in an inclusive elementary school in Saudi Arabia participated in the study. I conducted the study using a multiple-baseline design across participants. The results showed that peer training alone did not improve or maintain the social interactions between the participants. When the intervention included contingency contracting, the frequency of social interactions significantly increased.

This study was designed to investigate the impact of using a Structured Reading Framework within the Science Writing Heuristic approach on a summary writing task, and how this framework is related to the development of students' conceptual understanding in the summary writing task. A quasi-experimental design with sixth and seventh grade students taught by two teachers in the middle school was used. Each teacher had four classes with two classes using the Structured Reading Framework (treatment) and the other two classes used the original reading framework (control). A total of 170 students participated in the study, with 83 in the control group (four classes) and 87 in the treatment group (four classes). All students used the SWH student templates to guide their written work and completed these templates during the SWH investigations of each unit. After completing the SWH investigations, both groups of students were asked to complete the summary writing task at the end of each unit. This process was replicated for each of the two units. All student writing samples collected were scored using an analytical framework and scoring matrices developed for the study. A total of 588 writing samples were included in the statistical analysis. Results indicated that the treatment group who used the Structured Reading Framework performed significantly better on the Summary Writing task than the control group. The results suggest that the using of the Structured Reading Framework in prompting and guiding the reading activities within the SWH approach have an impact on the development of conceptual understanding. In addition, it appears that the Structured Reading Framework impacted the development of conceptual understanding in the Summary Writing task by providing a scaffold to assist students' knowledge construction.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 39-11, Section: A, page: 6715. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1978.