Teacher Quality: A Report on The Preparation and Qualifications of Public School Teachers
NCES: 1999080
January 1999

Suggested Readings

Achilles, C.M. (1996) Students achieve more in smaller classes. Educational Leadership, 53(3), 76-77. This article reviews Tennessee's Student/Teacher Ratio Project research, which found significant educational benefits for children enrolled in smaller classes. The author cites many of the specific benefits of smaller classes, such as increased attention for students, friendlier classes, and fewer discipline problems.

Address Before the Congress on the State of the Union. (1997, February 4). White House Electronic Publications. [online]. http//:www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-es/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/ 1997/2/5/6.text.1. In his 1997 State of the Union Address, President Clinton issued a "Call to Action," stressing new commitment to reshaping and refocusing American schools. The speech reflects the growing concern over the shortage of quality teachers.

Annual Back to School Address to the National Press Club. (1998, September). Remarks as prepared for delivery by the U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. [online]. http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/980915.html. Riley's speech discusses the current problems and future trends that face schools. The most pressing is described as the "baby-boom echo," which has led to record numbers in national enrollment and reinforces the need for more quality teachers.

Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation. (1997). Overview of teacher induction policy and practice: results of the exploratory survey. (Issue brief No. 97-HR-01.1). Washington, DC: Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Authors Jay Moskowitz and Maria Stephens report on the state of policy and practice in teacher induction programs among Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation members.

Ball, D.L. (1990). Reflections and deflections of policy: The case of Carol Turner. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 12(3), 263-275. The article examines the teaching practices of one educator, showing how her approach both adheres to and circumvents the curriculum framework established by the state.

Ball, D.L. (1996). Teacher learning and the mathematics reforms: What we think we know and what we need to learn. /i>Phi Delta Kappan, (March), 500-508. Using classroom observations, this paper highlights the importance of two important aspects of teaching. The authors argue that effective teaching must address both moral concerns and pedagogical content knowledge.

Ball, D.L., and Wilson, S.M. (1996). Integrity in teaching: Recognizing the fusion of the moral and intellectual. American Educational Research Journal, 33(1), 155-192. The article focuses on teachers' learning process. It argues that school reform will not be fully enacted until reformers have a better understanding of how teachers learn. Only then can new standards and reforms be successfully implemented.

Ballou, D., and Podgursky, M. (1997). Reforming teacher training and recruitment. Government Union Review, 17(4), 1-47.

Ballou, D., and Podgursky, M. (1998). The case against teacher certification. Public Interest, 132, 17- 29. The authors provide critical look at the recommendations for changes in the teacher training process put forth by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) in a 1996 report. The authors argue that more extensive training will not lead to an increase in the quality of teachers.

Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy. (1986). Task Force on teaching as a profession. A nation prepared: Teachers for the 21st century. New York: Carnegie Corporation. The Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy calls for sweeping changes in education policy in an effort to redefine the essential standards of American education. Ideas such as restructuring schools, the development of a professional curriculum for teacher preparation programs, and new requirements for the teacher certification are described.

Center for Education Reform. (1998). Fifteen years after A Nation at Risk. [online]. http://edreform.com/pubs/manifest.htm. This document compares and discusses data gathered on characteristics of the education system and discussed in the 1983 report by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk, to data collected in the same areas in 1998. The report ends with ten recommended changes in education for the next century.

Cohen, D.K. (1990). A revolution in one classroom: The case of Mrs. Oublier. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 12(3), 327-345. This paper investigates the teaching practices of one elementary school teacher, who claims to have altered her instruction methods in response to a new state policy. The article explores which aspects of the policy the teacher has adopted and which she has rejected.

Council of Chief State School Officers. (1998). Key state education policies on K-12 education. Washington, DC: CCSSO. This report is part of a continuing series by the CCSSO created to inform policymakers and educators on the current status of key policies in education that shape and define education in American public schools.

Darling-Hammond, L. (1998). Teachers and teaching: testing policy hypotheses from a national commission report. Educational Researcher, 27(1), 5-15. Darling-Hammond analyzes the NCTAF's 1996 report on problems present in current teacher training programs.

Darling-Hammond, L., and McLaughlin, M.V. (1996). Policies that support professional development in an era of reform. In Teacher learning: New policies and practices, edited by M.V. McLaughlin and I. Oberman. New York: Teachers College Press. Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin explore the practice and policy of staff development in terms of recent developments in teacher learning.

Directive on Info Sharing: Promoting Excellence and Accountability in Teaching. (1996, September 12). White House Electronic Publications. [online]. http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/urires/ I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/1996/9/12/1.text.1. In this memorandum to the Secretary of Education, the President focuses on the need for high-quality teachers in national schools. A reward system for good teachers, tougher licensing and certification measures, and removal of incompetent teachers are some of the standards recommended in this effort.

Education and Training Priorities for the Fall. (1998, August 31). [online]. http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/08-1998/wh-0831.html. In a press release, the education and training priorities for the year's remaining congressional session are presented and outlined. The President's commitment to reducing class sizes by providing more well-prepared teachers in the early grades is highlighted.

Feiman-Nemser, S. (1996). Teacher mentoring: A critical review. Washington, DC: ERIC Digest. (ERIC ED 397060). This article discusses the growth of mentoring, the obstacles to realizing the potential of mentoring as a method of reform, needed research, and selected issues of policy and practice.

Feistritzer, C.E. ( 1996). Profiles of teachers in the U.S. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Information. The report presents the findings of an ongoing survey conducted by the National Center for Education Information in an effort to gain better understanding of teachers and the teaching profession.

Ferguson, R.F. (1990). Racial patterns in how school and teacher quality affect achievement and earnings. Dallas: Meadows Foundation. Ferguson examines findings of the Texas examination of administrators and teachers. Ferguson finds that student performance is improved by teachers with strong language skill, classrooms with 18 or fewer students, teachers with more experience, and teachers with master's degrees.

Finn, J., and Achilles, C.M. (1990). Answers and questions about class size: a statewide experiment. American Educational Research Journal, 27(3), 557-577. Finn and Achilles discuss the results of an experiment involving kindergarten students. Students and teachers were randomly assigned to small and large classes within participating schools. Students remained in these classes for 2 years, with testing done at the end of each year in math and reading. Longitudinal analysis of a portion of the sample indicated that students in smaller classes outperformed those in regular size kindergarten classes.

Fox, J. (1995). Teacher incubation time cut back in California. Education Daily, 5 October, 1-2. Fox explains the change in California law in response to the state's teacher shortage that allows colleges to develop 4-year interdisciplinary majors combining liberal arts instruction with education training. Previously, the state prohibited universities from offering extensive teacher preparation, mandating that such training be part of a fifth year of study.

Fullan, M., with Stiegelbauer, S. (1991). The new meaning of educational change. New York: Teacher's College Press. Fullan and Steigelbauer argue that teacher education should be viewed as a career-long proposition in the effort to move toward effective education reform.

Galvez-Hjornevik, C. (1986). Mentoring among teachers: A review of literature. (Report No. SP026700). Austin, TX: Journal of Teacher Education. (ERIC No. ED 262 032). The author reviews prior studies of mentoring relationships and identifies the characteristics of successful mentor-protégé interaction.

Gold, Y. (1996). Beginning teacher support: Attrition, mentoring, and induction. In Handbook of research on teacher education, edited by J.P Sikula, T.J. Buttery, and E. Guyton. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan. Gold discusses the importance of early and continuous support to beginning teachers in preventing attrition and burnout and promoting retention and career satisfaction.

Holmes Group. (1986). Tomorrow's teachers. East Lansing, MI: The Holmes Group, Inc. The Holmes Group report outlines the organization's goals for the reform of teacher education. The group states that their first goal, "to make the education of teachers intellectually more solid," is a critical step in reforming the education system.

Ingersoll, R. (June 1998). The problem of out-of-field teaching. [online] http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/king9806.htm. Ingersoll presents the consideration of out-of-field teaching as a critical issue in the American education system.

Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (1995). INTASC Core Standards. [online]. http://develop.ccsso.cybercentral.com/intascst.htm. This document lists the INTASC core standards for granting licenses to new teachers and serves as a framework for the reform of teacher preparation and professional development. These principles represent characteristics that the group feels should be present in all teaching regardless of the subject or grade level taught.

Jones, V. (1996). Classroom management. In Handbook of research on teacher education, edited by J.P. Sikula, T.J. Buttery, and E. Guyton. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan. Jones examines the role of classroom management in teacher effectiveness. The author calls for studies to explore various approaches in educating teachers in this area.

King, S.H., and Bey, T.M. (1995). The need for urban teacher mentors. Education and Urban Society, 28, (1), 3-10. The authors focus on the potential for urban teachers to improve their teaching through mentoring support.

Kruse, S.M., Lewis, K., and Bryk, A. (1994). Building professional community in schools. (Issue report No. 6). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools. The authors call for an attention shift in education reform toward the creation of a professional community founded on encouragement and support for teachers.

Leinhardt, G. (1986). The cognitive skill of teaching. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78(2), 75-95. This article characterizes teaching as a complex cognitive skill that can be analyzed in a manner similar to other skills described by cognitive psychology. Elementary mathematics instruction by both expert and novice teachers is examined based on the theory that teaching skill is built on two fundamental knowledge systems: lesson structure and subject matter.

Leinhardt, G. (1989). Math lessons: A contrast of novice and expert competence. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 20(1), 52-75. Leinhardt compares the teaching practices exhibited by expert teachers to those of novice teachers. The results of this comparison highlight the nature of the competencies that expert teachers possess and suggest some areas of instruction for future teachers.

Little, J.W. (1993). Teachers' professional development in a climate of educational reform. (Report No. SP035393). New York: NCREST. (ERIC No. ED 373 049). Little argues that professional development focused primarily on expanding an individual's repertoire of classroom skills is not adequate achieve reform in education.

Mandel, D.R. (1996). Teacher education, training, and staff development: Implications for national surveys. In Conference proceedings. From data to information: New directions for the National Center for Education Statistics, edited by G. Hoachlander, J.E. Griffith, and J.H. Ralph. NCES 96- 901. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. This document summarizes discussion intended to aid planning for NCES future activities specifically in areas of substance, technology, and methodology of data collection, analysis, and dissemination. Mandel believes that consensus about what teachers should know and be able to do in the classroom is necessary for effective reform.

McLaughlin, M.W., and Oberman, I. (1996). (Eds). Teacher learning: New policies and practices. New York: Teachers College Press. McLaughlin and Oberman focus on the practice and policy of staff development in terms of recent developments in teacher learning. National Association of Secondary School Principals. (1996). Breaking ranks: Changing an American institution. Reston, VA: NASSP. The report focuses on revitalizing education for all students and points to what is needed for the 21st century high school. Eighty recommendations are presented in the effort to ensure that every student receives a complete, student-centered, and high quality education.

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. (1998). What teachers should know and be able to do. [online]. http://www.nbpts.org/nbpts/standards/intro.html. This publication details the National Board's vision of excellence in teaching. High and rigorous standards for what teachers should know and be able to do are incorporated into a voluntary certification system created by the organization.

National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. (1996). What matters most: Teaching for America's future. New York: NCTAF. The NCTAF attempts to provide "a blueprint for recruiting, preparing, and supporting excellent teachers in all of America's schools" in this report.

National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. (1997). Doing what matters most: Investing in quality teaching. New York: NCTAF. A follow-up to the Commission's What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future, this report revisits previous recommendations, offers new data about how investments in teaching improve student achievement, and gives an overview of the nation's progress toward quality teaching.

National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. (1997). Introduction to draft accreditation standards for candidates in elementary teacher programs. [online]. http://www.ncate.org/projects/npt/PSDPstds.html. This Council draft supports the group's commitment to developing performance-based expectations for teacher preparation aligned with other organizations focusing on reforming teacher quality.

Nelson, B.S., and Hammerman, J.K. (1996). Reconceptualizing teaching: Moving toward the creation of intellectual communities of students, teachers and teacher educators. In Teacher learning: New policies and practices, edited by M.W. McLaughlin and I. Oberman. New York: Teachers College Press. Nelson and Hammerman call for a movement toward conceiving teaching as an intellectual, rather than technical, endeavor. Innovative professional development programs are identified as the catalysts to this movement. Newmann, F.M. (1992) Student engagement and achievement in American secondary schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

Newmann presents findings from research from five projects conducted by the National Center on Effective Secondary Schools.

Newmann, F.M. (1994). School-wide professional community. (Issue Report No. 6). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools. In this article, the author considers the issue of collaboration among school staff. He summarizes the barriers to collaboration, offers a vision of the effective school community, and provides examples of schools that have restructured to develop their professional communities.

Newmann, F.M., Marks, H.M., and Gamoran, A. (1995). Authentic pedagogy and student performance. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April, San Francisco, CA. The authors argue that although important distinctions may be made between progressive, student-centered, and constructivist teaching, they all are grounded in emphasis on active learning.

Newmann, F.M., Secada, W.G., and Wehlage, G.G. (1995). A guide to authentic instruction and assessment: Vision, standards, and scoring. Madison. WI: Wisconsin Center for Education Research. The authors attempt to develop standards for judging the intellectual quality of schoolwork, regardless of the form of teaching and assessment techniques used. Researchers observed over 700 lessons in 24 schools in this effort.

Newmann, F.M., and Wehlage, G.G. (1993). Five standards of authentic instruction. Educational Leadership, 50(7), 8-12. Newmann and Wehlage argue that innovations alone will not lead to improved achievement. Authentic instruction is divided into five standard categories: higher order thinking, depth of knowledge, connectedness of the work, substantive conversation, and social support for student achievement.

Odden, A. (1990). Class size and student achievement: Research-based policy alternatives. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 12(2), 213-227. Odden reviews literature on the relation between class size and student achievement and suggests policy alternatives. Class size reduction strategies are proposed for primary and secondary instruction.

Peterson, P.L. (1990). Doing more in the same amount of time: Cathy Swift. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 12(3), 277-296. Peterson examines the perspectives and practices of an elementary mathematics teacher in relation to the educator's knowledge and beliefs, tangled layers of policy, and multiple uncertainties and conflicts.

Promising Practices: New ways to improve teacher quality. (1998). [online]. http://www.ed.gov/PromPractice. This publication by the Department of Education considers several ideas for improving the quality teachers in American schools. Recruitment, preparation, new licensing and certification standards, and improved professional development are major areas explored.

Ravitch, D. Lesson plan for teachers. The Washington Post, 10 August, 1998, p. A17. In an editorial, the author suggests that improvements in the education of teachers must be made. Future teachers should have an academic major in the subject that they intend to teach.

Schwartz, J., and Warren, P. (1997). Class size reduction. [online]. http://www.lao.ca.gov/class_size_297.html. In a report prepared for the California Legislative Analyst's Office, results on findings from a study on the state's class size reduction program are presented.

Sizer, T.R. (1992). Horace's compromise: The dilemma of the American high school. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co. This book urges renewed public attention to the importance of teaching in high schools and to the complexity and subtlety of being an educator. Sizer supports the belief that the abilities and methods of the teachers in a school are of great importance.

Sprinthall, N.A., Reiman, A.J., and Theis-Sprinthall, L. (1996). Teacher professional development. In Handbook of research on teacher education, edited by J.P Sikula, T.J. Buttery, and E. Guyton. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan. Sprinthall, Reiman, and Theis-Sprinthall focus on the emergence of teacher development as a pressing issue in education and review existing research on the subject.

Stodolsky, S.S. (1984). Teacher evaluation: The limits of looking. Educational Researcher, 13(9), 11- 18. Stodolsky reviews current practices in teacher evaluation with particular focus on observation. The author maintains that limitations in the use of observation must be acknowledged and addressed in teacher evaluation settings.

Stodolsky, S.S. (1996). Should SASS measure instructional processes and teacher effectiveness? In The schools and staffing survey: Recommendations for the future. NCES Report 97-596, by John Mullens and Daniel Kasprzyk. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. The author addresses data collection on instructional practices and teacher effectiveness. Stodolsky also examines how teacher effectiveness is conceptualized.

Stodolsky, S.S., and Grossman, P.L. (1995). The impact of subject matter on curricular activity: An analysis of five academic subjects. American Educational Research Journal, 32(2), 227-249. This article tests the framework connecting subject matter with curricular activities among high school teachers of five academic subjects. The concepts of subject matter and curricular activities of English, social studies, science, math, and foreign language teachers in 16 high schools are compared.

Sweeney, B.W. (1994). A new teacher mentoring knowledge base. [online]. http://www.mentors.net/Library Files/Knowlbase.html. Sweeney shares his ideas on mentoring as a professional development activity. Roles and tasks of mentors, expectations and matching of mentors and proteges, selection of mentors, and other topics are discussed.

Sykes, G. (1990). Licensure and certification of teachers: An appraisal. In The new handbook of teacher evaluation assessing elementary and secondary school teachers, edited by J. Millman and L. Darling-Hammond, pp. 62-75. Newbury Park, CA: Corwin Press. Sykes considers the controversy surrounding agreement on the minimum qualifications associated with the issuance of teaching credentials.

Talbert, J.E., and McLaughlin, M.W. (1993). Understanding teaching in context. In Teaching for understanding: Challenges for policy and practice, edited by D.K. Cohen, M. W. McLaughlin, and J. E. Talbert, pp. 1-10. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Using the "teaching for understanding concept" as an example, the authors discuss the challenges that reform efforts face inside and outside of schools.

U.S. Department of Education. (1988). Class size and public policy: Politics and panaceas, by T. Tomlinson. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Tomlinson reviews the issue of class size reduction. Data from research on the subject are analyzed in search of a relationship between class size and educational improvement. The author cites findings supporting the view that the costs of class size reduction outweigh the benefits.

U.S. Department of Education. (1994). Strong families, strong schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. This document examines the role of families play in the education of children. The results of previous research and possible aspects of modern life that prevent and limit family involvement are discussed.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1994). Qualifications of the public school teacher workforce: 1988 and 1991. Statistical Analysis Report No. 95-665, by S.A. Bobbitt and M.M. McMillen. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. This report examines the qualifications of public school teachers based on their field of certification and college major or minor, with particular emphasis on the extent of out-of-field teaching.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1995). Teacher supply in the United States: Sources of newly hired teachers in public and private schools, 1988-1991. Statistical Analysis Report No. 95-348, by M.R. Rollefson and S.P. Broughman. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. This report provides analysis of data from the 1991 SASS on newly hired teachers. The changes in rates of entry, qualifications, and characteristics of new entrants are compared with 1988 SASS data.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1996). National assessments of teacher quality. Working Paper No. 96-24, by R.M. Ingersoll. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. This NCES paper addresses the subject of teacher quality. An outline of issues and questions in this area, a review of the predominant approaches to assessing teacher quality, and an alternative to current assessment methods are provided.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1996). Out-of-field teaching and educational equality. Statistical Analysis Report No. 96-040, by Richard M. Ingersoll. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. This report presents national data on the extent to which students in the nation's public secondary schools are taught by teachers without basic qualifications in their assigned teaching fields. It seeks to address the question of whether inequalities exist in the distribution of adequately qualified teachers across and within different schools in the United States.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1996). Are high school teachers teaching core subjects without college majors or minors in those subjects? Issue Brief IB-1-96, NCES 96-839, by Richard M. Ingersoll. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. In this NCES Issue Brief, Ingersoll reports the percent of public and private high school teachers teaching at least one core curriculum subject without a college major or minor in the subject.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1997). America's teachers: Profile of a profession, 1993-94. NCES 97-460, by R.R. Henke, S.P. Choy, X. Chen, S. Geis, M.N. Alt, and S.P. Brougham. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. This report addresses a wide range of topics related to teachers and teaching in the United States. Topics include teachers' demographic characteristics and various characteristics of their schools and students; teachers' preparation and professional development experiences, their workloads, teaching practices, compensation, satisfaction with and opinions regarding their working conditions, and the supply and demand of teachers.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1997). Characteristics of stayers, movers, and leavers: results from the teacher follow-up survey: 1994-95. Report No. 97- 450, by S.D. Whitener, K.J. Gruber, H. Lynch, K. Tingoes, M. Perona, and S. Fondelier. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. This report presents national data on the extent to which students in the nations' public secondary schools are taught by teachers without basic qualifications in their assigned teaching fields. It seeks to address the question of whether inequalities exist in the distribution of adequately qualified teachers across and within different schools in the United States.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1997). Projections of education statistics to 2007. Report No. 97-382, by D.E. Gerald and W.J. Hussar. Washington, DC: NCES. This report provides projections for key education statistics on enrollment, graduates, classroom teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1998). Parent involvement in children's education: Efforts by public elementary schools. Statistical Analysis Report No. 98-032, by N. Carey, L. Lewis, and E. Farris. Washington, DC: NCES. This report presents data from a study designed to provide information on the ways that schools engage parents in their children's education. The ways in which parents respond to available opportunities for involvement is also explored.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1998). School policies and practices affecting instruction in mathematics. NCES 98-495, by E.F. Hawkins, F. Stancavage, and J.A. Dossey. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. This report describes the educational policies and practices affecting instruction in mathematics, with particular attention to the relationship between these policies and practices and student performance on the NAEP mathematics assessment.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1998). The TIMSS videotape classroom study: Methods and findings from an exploratory research project on eighth-grade mathematics instruction in Germany, Japan, and the United States. Research and Development Report No. 98-047, by James W. Stigler, Patrick Gonzales, Takako Kawanaka, Steffen Knoll, and Ana Serrano. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. This report discusses the data from the TIMSS attempt to collect videotaped records of classroom instruction from national representative samples of teachers. The project centers on better understanding of how the processes of classroom instruction in different cultures will contribute to efforts to improve student learning in school.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (1998). Toward better teaching professional development in 1993-94. Statistical Analysis Report No. 98-230, by S. Choy, X. Chen, and M. Ross. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. This report examines who determines the content, duration, and format of professional development programs for teachers. Focus is also placed on whether the opportunity for quality assessment of professional development programs are given to teachers.

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. (forthcoming). What happens in classrooms? Elementary and secondary school instruction, 1994-95, by R.R. Henke, X. Chen, and G. Golman. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. This publication reports on the teaching practices of elementary and secondary school teachers. Using data compiled in a national survey of teachers, the report assesses the variation in instruction strategies among teachers. The report also presents data on the roles teachers play, teachers' use of instructional materials, the types of learning tasks employed by teachers, and teachers' assessment of student learning.

Westerman, D.A. (1991). Expert and novice teacher decision making. Journal of Teacher Education, 42(4), 292-305. Westerman provides indepth comparisons of the teaching practices exhibited by novice and expert teachers in lesson planning and presentation.

Wise, A.E., Darling-Hammond, L., McLaughlin, M.W., and Bernstein, H.T. (1984). Teacher Evaluation: A Study of Effective Practices. (Report No. R-3139-NIE). Santa Monica, CA: The Rand Corporation. The authors identify teacher evaluation systems as capable of defining the nature of teaching and education in schools by either reinforcing the teaching as a profession, or further deprofessionalizing the field.

Word, E., Achilles, C., Bain, H.P., Folger, J., Johnston, J., and Lintz, M.N. (1990). The state of Tennessee's student/teacher ratio (STAR) project: Technical report. Nashville, TN: Tennessee Department of Education. This report presents results of Tennessee's 4-year longitudinal class size project, Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR). The study analyzes student achievement and development in three class types: small classes with 13-17 students per teacher, regular classes with 22-25 students per teacher, and regular classes with 22-25 students per teacher assisted by a full-time teacher's aide.

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