Teacher influence in the classroom: A context for understanding curriculum translation

Innovative doctrines create dilemmas for teachers. These dilemmas arise because, when teachers decide to adopt new practices, they face new uncertainties about their role in the classroom, the effectiveness of their methods and the purposes of their instruction. The way teachers used the materials of a particular innovation, the Schools Council Integrated Science Project, is described and explained in terms of teacher control over the uncertainties of classroom life. The Project proposals, initially seen by teachers as increasing the diffuseness of their work, were modified by them so that it was clearer to them what was to be accomplished and how it was to be done. At the same time, a functional alignment of goals, techniques and social relationships was maintained through teacher influence in the classroom. The translation of the materials into more specific terms meant that important elements of the doctrine of the Project were either ignored or redefined in more traditional terms. Such redefinition of innovation in specific terms raises questions about the effectiveness, as instruments of change, of centralized curriculum projects remote from the practical problems of schools. Implications for curriculum policy and research into the dilemmas teachers face in teaching are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association, Boston, Mass., April 1980.     

Expert and Novice Performance: Implications for Clinical Training

Studies of advanced expertise development in a number of areas are reviewed in order to provide general suggestions about the elements of clinical training that might enhance counseling and educational psychology expertise. The emphasis of the discussion is on the connections between classroom instruction and practicum or internship experiences. Recommendations include changes in the sequencing, context, knowledge content, practice conditions, and motivational support provided to students.     

FUNDAMENTALISM AND EDUCATION: A Case‐study in Social Ambiguity

Religious fundamentalism has played a significant role in the contemporary conserviative attack on public education. For those who are concerned to defend even the limited degree of liberal or progressive education now existing, it is essential to understand the nature and implications of this populist and reactionary social phenomenon whose appeal is enhanced by the current social and economic crisis. Using the Seventh‐ day Adventist Church in case study fashion, the article draws upon sect literature, documents and interviews, to outline normative Adventist assumptions and practice in schooling. On the basis of this analysis, an explanation of the ambivalence of fundamentalism to education is offered. It is argued that while fundamentalism is typically antithetical to social pluralism, secular or humanistic morality and lifestyles and progressive education, it supports the unequal economic and social structures of contemporary western society. Hence fundamentalism typically seeks to control the process and substance of education, not to eliminate it.     

Faculty perceptions of the quality and usefulness of three types of evaluative information

The purpose of the study was to investigate faculty perceptions of student evaluative information collected by three methods: objective questionnaire items, open-ended questions, and group interviews. Faculty rated three simulated evaluation reports on their potential for accuracy, trustworthiness, usefulness, comprehensiveness, believability, interpretability, and value as information used for self-improvement and promotion purposes. Faculty, in general, regarded the evaluative information to be more credible, useful, and accurate for their own self-improvement than for promotion purposes. Faculty also desired more than one type of evaluative information regardless of the purpose of evaluation.     

Self-assessments and other perceptions of successful adults who are deaf: an initial investigation

More often than not, deafness is portrayed, not only in the literature in education and rehabilitation but in society in general, in a pathological way that focuses on deficiency, dysfunction, and deviance. Consequently, there has been a paucity of research on successful individuals who are deaf. The purpose of the present study was to help counter this tendency by gathering information from successful deaf adults. Fourteen deaf adults, who were nominated by their peers as being successful, participated in videotaped interviews. The interviews were transcribed, coded, and clustered according to common themes. Participants reflected on their success and made recommendations for children and youth who are deaf, parents, teachers, and employers. A summary of the results, limitations of the study, and recommendations for practice are provided.     

Learning consequences for university students using computerized mastery testing

Mastery learning, it is claimed, is among the most successful practices in higher education. Evidence supporting this claim has recently been criticized as empirically weak. This experiment employed a four-group, pre-post design to examine the learning consequences of a computer-administered mastery-testing approach in comparison with a seminar-discussion approach in a third-year university course. The mastery-testing approach generated significantly higher learning achievement than did the seminar-discussion approach. Replication and extension of this research approach are recommended to support generalizations across mastery-testing techniques, delivery systems, and disciplines.