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Teachers:
a. Develop and prioritize learning goals and objectives based on district and building guidelines, sequence them to facilitate student learning, and organize them into units or lessons.
b. Establish timelines for unit or lesson objectives so they can use the calendar for instructional planning.
c. Identify instructional resources and teaching activities, match them to objectives and student developmental levels, and record them in lesson plans.
d. Identify alternative resources and activities, especially for priority objectives.
e. Review resources and teaching activities for content and appropriateness and modify them as needed to increase their effectiveness in helping students learn.
f. Arrange daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly activities on the calendar to assure that resources are available and instructional time is used wisely.Behr and Bachelor (1981); Brophy and Good (1986); Byra and Coulon (1994); Callaway (1988); Denham and Lieberman (1980); Edmonds (1979a,b); Glatthorn (1993); Kallison (1986); Leithwood and Montgomery (1982, 1985); Mortimore, et al. (1988); Mortimore and Sammons (1987); Rosenshine (1976, 1983); Rosenshine and Stevens (1986); Sammons, Hillman, and Mortimore (1994); Sarason (1971); Shann (1990); Stallings (1985a, 1986); Venezky and Winfield (1979)
Teachers:
a. Use thematic units as the organizing principles for instruction in agreed-upon areas.
b. Include student input when determining themes around which to organize instruction.
c. Engage students in projects requiring knowledge and skill across several traditional content areas.
d. Make use of other resources, including hands-on materials, in addition to textbooks.
e. Organize themselves into teams to plan and deliver instruction.
f. Use performance assessments that allow students to demonstrate knowledge and skills from several traditional subject-matter areas.Aschbacher (1991); Brophy and Alleman (1991); Friend (1985); Greene (1991); Henderson and Landesman (1992); Hough (1994); Ladewig (1987); Lake (1994); Lee and Smith (1993); Levitan (1991); MacIver (1990); Mansfield (1989); Martinez (1992); Meckler (1992); Smith, Johnson, and Rhodes (1993); Vars (1987); Vye (1990); Willett (1992); Williams, D. (1991)
Teachers:
a. Use whole group instruction when introducing new concepts and skills.
b. Form smaller groups as needed to make sure all students learn thoroughly. They place students according to individual achievement levels for short-term learning activities; they avoid underplacement.
c. Monitor their instructional approaches, so that students in lower groups still receive high-quality instruction.
d. Review and adjust groups often, moving students when achievement levels change.
e. Form small groups for instruction and practice in the use of higher-order thinking skills.
f. Make use of heterogeneous cooperative learning groups, structuring these so that there are both group rewards and individual accountability.
g. Set up peer tutoring and peer evaluation groups to use time effectively and to ensure that students receive the assistance they need to learn successfully.
h. Ensure that learning groups exhibit gender, cultural, ability-disability, and socioeconomic balance.Bossert (1985, 1988a); Calfee and Brown (1979); Cohen, E. C. (1986); DiPardo and Freedman (1988); Fantuzzo, et al. (1989); Fielding and Pearson (1994); Garcia, E. E. (1990); Glatthorn (1989); Hallinan (1984); Hawkins, Doueck, and Lishner (1988); Johnson, Johnson, and Scott (1978); Johnson, et al. (1981); Katstra, Tollefson, and Gilbert (1987); Lazarowitz, et al. (1988); Lumpkins, Parker, and Hall (1991); Madden, et al. (1993); Medley (1979); Rosenshine (1979, 1983); Rosenshine and Stevens (1986); Shann (1990); Sindelar, et al. (1984); Slavin (1987a, 1988a, 1989a, 1989-90, 1991, 1994); Sorensen and Hallinan (1986); Stallings (1985); Webb (1980)
Teachers:
a. Allocate time to different content areas based on district and school goals.
b. Keep noninstructional time to a minimum by beginning and ending lessons on time, keeping transition times short, and managing classrooms so as to minimize disruptive behavior.
c. Set and maintain a brisk pace for instruction that remains consistent with thorough learning. They introduce new objectives quickly, and provide clear start and stop cues to pace lessons according to specific time targets.
d Ask focused questions, provide immediate feedback and correctives, and engage students in discussion and review of learning material.
e. Maintain awareness of the rest of the class when working with individuals or small groups and take action as necessary to keep all students on task.
f. Present learning activities at a level that is neither too easy nor too difficult for the majority of students, making adaptations to serve the needs of faster and slower learners.
g. Keep seatwork activities productive through careful preparation, active supervision, and provision of assistance to students in such a way that others are not disturbed.
h. Encourage students to pace themselves. If students do not finish during class, teachers request that they work on lessons before or after school, during lunch or at other times so they keep up with what is going on in class.
i. Work with slower learners to reduce the amount of time needed for learning, e.g., by teaching them effective study skills, mnemonic devices, etc.
j. Give short homework assignments to elementary students to build good study habits and longer (45-120-minute) assignments to secondary students to reinforce learning. They check homework for completion and to diagnose learning needs, but do not generally assign grades.Anderson, L. W. (1980, 1985); Berliner (1979); Bielefeldt (1990); Brookover and Lezotte (1979); Brophy (1986a,b); Brophy and Good (1986); Brown and Saks (1986); Butler (1987); Cooper (1989); Denham and Lieberman (1980); Evertson (1985, 1989); Evertson and Harris (1992); Gall, et al. (1990); Gettinger (1989); Good (1984); Hawley, et al. (1984); Helmke and Schrader (1988); Karweit (1984, 1985); Knorr (1981); Kulik and Kulik (1988); Levine and Lezotte (1990); McGarity and Butts (1984); Rosenshine (1978, 1979, 1983); Sammons, Hillman, and Mortimore (1994); Slavin (1994a); Strother (1985); Stallings (1980); Teddlie, Kirby, and Stringfield (1989); Walberg (1988); Walberg, et al. (1985); Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1993-1994); Wyne and Stuck (1979)
Teachers:
a. Plan rules and procedures before the school year begins and present them to students during the first few days of school.
b. Begin class quickly and purposefully, with assignments, activities, materials and supplies ready for students when they arrive.
c. Require students to bring the materials they need to class each day and assign storage space as needed.
d. Establish routines for handling administrative matters quickly and efficiently, with minimum disruption of instructional time.
e. Make smooth, rapid transitions between activities throughout the class period or school day.
f. Circulate around the room during seatwork activities, keeping students on task and providing help as needed.
g. Conduct periodic review of classroom routines and revise them as needed.Allen, J. D. (1986); Anderson, L. M., et al. (1980); Armor, et al. (1976); Bain, Lintz, and Word (1989); Bielefeldt (1990); Brophy (1979; 1986); Brophy (1983a); Brophy and Good (1986); Brown, McIntyre, and McAlpine (1988); Doyle (1986); Edmonds (1979a); Emmer, et al. (1980a,b, 1982); Evertson (1982a,b, 1985); Evertson and Harris (1992); Evertson, et al. (1982, 1985); Gersten and Carnine (1986); Good and Brophy (1986); Hawkins, Doueck, and Lishner (1988); Hawley, et al. (1984); Kounin (1977); Leinhardt, Weidman, and Hammond (1987); Medley (1979); Rosenshine (1983); Rosenshine and Stevens (1986); Sanford, Emmer, and Clements (1983); Sanford and Evertson (1981); Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1993-1994)
Teachers:
a. Set standards which are consistent with or identical to the building code of conduct.
b. Let students know that there are high standards for behavior in the classroom, and explain rules, discipline procedures, and consequences clearly.
c. Provide written behavior standards and teach and review them from the beginning of the year or the start of new courses.
d. Establish rules that are clear and specific; they avoid vague or unenforceable rules such as "be in the right place at the right time."
e. Provide considerable reteaching and practice of classroom rules and procedures for children in grades K-3.
f. Involve older students in helping to establish standards and sanctions.
g. Apply consistent, equitable discipline for all students, making certain that sanctions are clearly linked to students' inappropriate behavior.
h. Teach and reinforce positive, prosocial behaviors and skills, including self-control skills, especially with students who have a history of behavior problems.
i. Stop disruptions quickly, taking care to avoid disrupting the whole class.
j. Focus on students' inappropriate behavior when taking disciplinary actionùnot on their personalities or histories.
k. Handle most disciplinary matters in the classroom, keeping referrals to administrators to a minimum.
l. Participate in training activities to improve classroom management skills.Allen, J. D. (1986); Anderson, L. M. (1980); Bain, Lintz, and Word (1989); Bielefeldt (1990); Brophy (1979, 1983a, 1986a); Brophy and Good (1986); CEDaR/PDK (1985); Cotton (1990b); Doyle (1986); Emmer and Evertson (1981a,b); Emmer and Aussiker (1989); Emmer, et al. (1982); Evertson (1985, 1989); Evertson and Harris (1992); Gettinger (1988); Good and Brophy (1986); Gottfredson, Gottfredson, and Hybl (1993); Hawkins, Doueck, and Lishner (1988); Kounin (1977); Leming (1993); Mayer (1993); Medley (1978); Render, Padilla, and Krank (1989); Rutter, et al. (1979); Sanford and Evertson (1981); Solomon, et al. (1988); Teddlie, Kirby, and Stringfield (1989); Vincenzi and Ayrer (1985)
Teachers:
a. Communicate enthusiasm for learning.
b. Help students get ready to learn. They explain lesson objectives in simple, everyday language and refer to them throughout lessons to maintain focus.
c. Post or hand out learning objectives to help students keep a sense of direction and check periodically to assure that objectives are understood.
d. Explain the relationship of a current lesson to previous study, calling attention to key concepts or skills previously covered.
e. Arouse students' interest and curiosity about the lesson content by relating it to things of personal relevance to them.
f. Challenge and inspire students to learn, particularly at the start of difficult lessons. They make certain that students know in advance what's expected and are ready to learn.
g. Use techniques such as advance organizers, study questions, and prediction to prepare students for learning activities.
h. Make students aware that they are expected to contribute to classroom discussions and other participatory activities.Block and Burns (1976); Bloom (1976); Brophy (1987); Brophy and Good (1986); Evertson (1986); Gersten and Carnine (1986); Good (1984); Good and Grouws (1979 a,b); Kooy (1992); Lumpkins, Parker, and Hall (1991); McGinley and Denner (1985); Mitchell (1987); Porter and Brophy (1988); Rosenshine (1976, 1983); Rosenshine and Stevens (1986); Slavin (1994); Snapp and Glover (1990); Stahl and Clark (1987); Stallings (1985c); Streeter (1986); Tomic (1989); Weade and Evertson (1988)
Teachers:
a. Review lesson activities, give clear written and verbal directions, emphasize key points and instructions, and check students' understanding.
b. Give lectures and demonstrations in a clear and focused manner, avoiding digressions.
c. Take note of learning style differences among students, and, when feasible, identify and use learning strategies and materials that are appropriate to different styles.
d. Give students plenty of opportunity for guided and independent practice with new concepts and skills.
e. Provide instruction in strategies for learning and remembering/applying what they have learned, as well as instruction in test-taking skills.
f. Use validated strategies to develop students' higher-level thinking skills.
g. Select problems and other academic tasks that are well matched to lesson content so student success rate is high. They also provide varied and challenging seatwork activities.
h. Provide computer-assisted instructional activities which supplement and are integrated with teacher-directed learning.Bain, Lintz, and Word (1989); Bennett (1991); Brophy (1979); Brophy and Good (1986); Chilcoat (1989); Corno and Snow (1986); Crawford, et al. (1975); Dunn (1984); Evertson (1989); Gall, et al. (1990); Gersten, et al. (1984); Gersten and Carnine (1986); Gleason, Carnine, and Boriero (1990); Good and Grouws (1977; 1979a,b); Haller, Child, and Walberg (1988); Kulik and Kulik (1987); Levine (1982); Levine and Stark (1982); Madden, et al. (1993); Medley (1978); Metcalf and Cruickshank (1991); Mevarech and Rich (1985); Nickerson (1988); Okey (1985); Paradise and Block (1984); Paris, Oka, and DeBritto (1983); Porter and Brophy (1988); Rosenshine (1979, 1983); Rosenshine and Stevens (1986); Rutter, et al. (1979); Samson (1985); Saracho (1984); Scruggs, White, and Bennion (1986); Slavin (1994a); Snyder, et al. (1991); Stallings (1985a); Stennett (1985); Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1993-1994); Waxman, et al. (1985); Weade and Evertson (1988); Weinstein and Meyer (1986); Weinstein, C. E., et al. (1988-1989); Woodward, Carnine, and Gersten (1988)
Teachers:
a. Give students immediate feedback on their in-class responses and written assignments to help them understand and correct errors.
b. Acknowledge correct responses during recitations and on assignments and tests.
c. Relate the specific feedback they give to unit goals or overall course goals.
d. Give praise and other verbal reinforcements for correct answers and for progress in relation to past performance; however, teachers use praise sparingly and avoid the use of unmerited or random praise.
e. Make use of peer evaluation techniques (e.g., in written composition) as a means of providing feedback and guidance to students.
f. Provide computer-assisted instructional activities that give students immediate feedback regarding their learning performance.
g. Assign homework regularly to students in grade four and above and see that it is corrected and returned promptlyùeither in class by the students or by the teacher.
h. Train students to provide each other feedback and reinforcement during peer tutoring activities.Brophy (1980, 1987); Brophy and Good (1986); Broughton (1978); Cannella (1986); Cohen, Kulik, and Kulik (1982); DiPardo and Freedman (1988); Gettinger (1983); Gorrell and Keel (1986); Gottfried and Gottfried (1991); Hawkins, Doueck, and Lishner (1988); Hawley, et al. (1984); Kastra, Tollefson, and Gilbert (1987); Kearns (1988); Kulik and Kulik (1987, 1988); Lysakowski and Walberg (1981); Madden, et al. (1993); Mortimore, et al. (1988); Page (1992); Porter and Brophy (1988); Rosenshine and Stevens (1986); Rupe (1986); Sammons, Hillman, and Mortimore (1994); Schunk (1983, 1984); Schunk and Swartz (1993); Slavin (1979a,b); Stennett (1985); Stevens (1985); Teddlie, Kirby, and Stringfield (1989); Tenenbaum and Goldring (1989)
Teachers:
a. Introduce new learning material as quickly as possible at the beginning of the year or course, with a minimum of review or reteaching of previous content. They review key concepts and skills thoroughly but quickly.
b. Use different materials and examples for reteaching than those used for initial instruction; reteaching is more than a "rehash" of previously taught lessons.
c. Reteach priority lesson content until students show they've learned it.
d. Provide regular, focused reviews of key concepts and skills throughout the year to check on and strengthen student understanding.
e. Select computer-assisted instructional activities that include review and reinforcement components.
f. Address learning style differences during review and reteaching.Bain, Lintz, and Word (1989); Block (1983); Block and Burns (1976); Block, Efthim, and Burns (1989); Bloom (1976); Brophy (1986b, 1987, 1988b); Brophy and Good (1986); Burns (1979); Dalton and Hannafin (1988); Darter and Phelps (1990); Dewalt and Rodwell (1988); Dillashaw and Okey (1983); Gillingham and Guthrie (1987); Good (1984); Guskey and Gates (1986); Johnson, G., Gersten, and Carnine (1987); Kinzie, Sullivan, and Berdel (1988); Rosenshine (1976, 1979, 1983); Rosenshine and Stevens (1986)
Teachers:
a. Help students to understand that critical and creative thinking are important for success in our rapidly changing world.
b. Provide instruction in study skills, such as paraphrasing, outlining, developing cognitive maps, and using advance organizers.
c. Teach strategies for problem solving, decision making, exploration, classification, hypothesizing and provide students opportunities to practice and refine these skills.
d. Work with older students to develop metacognitive skills, so that they can examine their own thinking patterns and learn to make changes as needed.
e. Ask higher-order questions and give students generous amounts of time to respond.
f. Use instructional strategies such as probing, redirection, and reinforcement to improve the quality of student responses.
g. Incorporate computer-assisted instructional activities into building thinking skills such as verbal analogy, logical reasoning, induction/deduction, elaboration, and integration.
h. Maintain a supportive classroom environment in which students feel safe experimenting with new ideas and approaches.
i. May use specific thinking skill development programs and/or infuse thinking skill instruction into content-area lessons, since both approaches have been shown to be effective.Bangert-Drowns and Bankert (1990); Barba and Merchant (1990); Baum (1990); Bransford, et al. (1986); Crump, Schlichter, and Palk (1988); Freseman (1990); Gall, et al. (1990); Haller, Child, and Walberg (1988); Hansler (1985); Herrnstein, et al. (1986); Horton and Ryba (1986); Hudgins and Edelman (1986); Kagan, D. M. (1988); Matthews (1989); MCREL (1985); Norris (1985); Pearson (1982); Pogrow (1988); Riding and Powell (1985, 1987); Ristow (1988); Robinson (1987); Snapp and Glover (1990); Sternberg and Bhana (1986); Tenenbaum (1986); Wong (1985)
Teachers:
a. Make use of classroom questioning to engage student interaction and to monitor student understanding.
b. Structure questions so as to focus students' attention on key elements in the lesson.
c. Ask a combination of lower-cognitive (fact and recall) and higher-cognitive (open-ended and interpretive) questions to check students' understanding and stimulate their thinking during classroom recitations.
d. Ask lower-cognitive questions that most students will be able to answer correctly when helping students to acquire factual knowledge.
e. Ask a majority of higher-cognitive questions (50 percent or more) of students above the primary grades during classroom recitations.
f. Allow generous amounts of "wait-time" when questioning studentsùat least three seconds for lower-cognitive questions and more for higher-cognitive ones.
g. Continue to interact with students whose initial responses are inaccurate or incomplete, probing their understanding and helping them to produce better answers.
h. Make certain that both faster and slower learners have opportunities to respond to higher cognitive questions and are given sufficient wait-time.Atwood and Wilen (1991); Brophy (1986b, 1987); Brophy and Good (1986); Ciardiello (1986); Cotton (1989a); Gall (1984); Good (1984); Honea (1982); Hoxmeier (1986); Johnston, Markle, and Haley-Oliphant (1987); Redfield and Rousseau (1981); Riley (1986); Samson, et al. (1987); Slavin (1994a); Stevens (1985); Swift and Gooding (1983); Swift, Swift, and Gooding (1984); Tobin and Capie (1980, 1981); Winne (1979)
Teachers:
a. Communicate to students of all age/grade levels that developing employability skills is important for everyone.
b. Focus on developing the higher-order skills required in the modern workplaceùproblem-solving and decision-making skills, learning strategies, and creative thinking.
c. Provide learning activities to foster the development of qualities such as dependability, positive attitude toward work, conscientiousness, cooperation, adaptability, and self-discipline.
d. Provide classroom environments for secondary students that replicate key features of real work settings.
e. Assign tasks like those carried out by people in real work settings.
f. Function as facilitators and coaches rather than lecturers or order givers, giving older students much of the responsibility for their own learning.
g. Base learning activities on students' learning needs and styles, rather than adhering rigidly to textbooks or lesson plans.
h. Teach the value of employability skills inductively, by having students experience how group projects are affected by the presence or absence of these skills.
i. Use work-based learning experiences to reinforce basic skills.
j. Select workplace problems to illustrate how basic academic skills are applied in real-world settings.
k. Demonstrate the relevance of learning material by showing how it relates to other courses and to workplace applications.
l. Organize the secondary curriculum around broad occupational themes/categories.Beach (1982); Berryman (1988, 1991); Cotton (1993a); Evans and Burck (1992); Foster, D. E., Engels, and Wilson (1986); Gregson (1992); Gregson and Bettis (1991); Gregson and Trawinski (1991); Hamilton (1990); Hull (1993); Meyer and Newman (1988); Parnell (1994); Stasz (1990, 1993); Stemmer, Brown, and Smith (1992); Stone, et al. (1990); Stone-Ewing (1995); Voc. Ed. Weekly (1993); Wentling (1987)
Teachers:
a. Set high standards for learning and let students know they are all expected to meet them. They assure that standards are both challenging and attainable.
b. Expect all students to perform at a level needed to be successful at the next level of learning; they do not accept that some students will fail.
c. Hold students accountable for completing assignments, turning in work, and participating in classroom discussions.
d. Provide the time, instruction, and encouragement necessary to help lower achievers perform at acceptable levels. This includes giving them learning material as interesting and varied as that provided for other students, and communicating warmth and affection to them.
e. Monitor their own beliefs and behavior to make certain that high expectations are communicated to all students, regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, race, or other personal characteristics. Teachers avoid unreliable sources of information about students' learning potential, such as the biases of other teachers.
f. Emphasize that different students are good at different things and reinforce this by having them view each other's products and performances.Bain, Lintz, and Word (1989); Bamburg (1994); Berliner (1979, 1985); Block (1983); Block and Burns (1976); Bloom (1976); Brookover, et al. (1979); Brophy (1983, 1987); Brophy and Good (1986); Cooper and Good (1983); Cooper and Tom (1984); Cotton (1989c); Edmonds (1979a,b); Gersten, Carnine, and Zoref (1986); Good (1982, 1987); Hawley, et al. (1984); Keneal, et al. (1991); Marshall and Weinstein (1985); Mortimore, et al. (1988); Paredes and Frazer (1992); Patriarca and Kragt (1986); Porter and Brophy (1988); Pratton and Hales (1986); Rosenshine (1983); Sammons, Hillman, and Mortimore (1994); Saracho (1991); Slavin (1994a); Stevens (1985); Teddlie, Kirby, and Stringfield (1989); Woolfolk and Brooks (1985)
Teachers:
a. Define excellence by objective standards, not by peer comparison. They establish systems for consistent recognition of students for academic achievement and excellent behavior.
b. Relate recognition and rewards to specific student achievements and use them judiciously. As with praise, teachers are careful not to use unmerited or random rewards in an attempt to control students' behavior.
c. Provide incentives and rewards appropriate to the developmental level of students, including symbolic, token, tangible, or activity rewards.
d. Make certain that all students know what they need to do to earn recognition and rewards. Rewards should be appealing to students, while remaining commensurate with their achievements, i.e., not too lavish.
e. Present some rewards publicly and others privately; some immediately and some delayed to teach persistence.
f. Make some rewards available to students on an individual basis, while allowing others to earned by groups of studentsùas in some cooperative learning structures.Bain, Lintz, and Word (1989); Brophy (1980, 1986a,b, 1987, 1988b); Brophy and Good (1986); Cameron and Pierce (1994); Canella (1986); Emmer and Evertson (1980, 1981a); Evertson (1981); Evertson, Anderson, and Anderson (1980); Gettinger (1983); Good (1984); Gottfried and Gottfried (1991); Hawley, et al. (1984); Lysakowski and Walberg (1981); Morgan (1984); Rosenshine and Stevens (1986); Rosswork (1977); Rutter, et al. (1979); Slavin (1980, 1984, 1988a, 1989a, 1991, 1994a)
Teachers:
a. Pay attention to student interests, problems, and accomplishments in social interactions both in and out of the classroom.
b. Encourage student effort, focusing on the positive aspects of students' answers, products, and behavior.
c. Communicate interest and caring to students both verbally and through such nonverbal means as giving undivided attention, maintaining eye contact, smiling, and nodding.
d. Encourage students to develop a sense of responsibility and self-reliance. They give older students, in particular, opportunities to take responsibility for school-related activities and to participate in making decisions about important school issues.
e. Share anecdotes and incidents from their experience as appropriate to build rapport and understanding with students.Agne, Greenwood, and Miller (1994); Allen, J. D. (1986); Anderson, C. S. (1985); Bain, Lintz, and Word (1989); Bain and Jacobs (1990); Cooper and Good (1983); Cooper and Tom (1984); Cotton (1992a); Doyle (1986); Edmonds (1979a,b); Emmer and Evertson (1980, 1981a); Glatthorn (1989); Good (1987); Good and Brophy (1984); Gottfried and Gottfried (1991); Hawkins, Doueck, and Lishner (1988); Kearns (1988); Kohn (1991); Marshall and Weinstein (1985); McDevitt, Lennon, and Kopriva (1991); Midgley, Feldlaufer, and Eccles (1989); Mills (1989); Mortimore and Sammons (1987); Mortimore, et al. (1988); Pecukonis (1990); Rutter, et al. (1979); Taylor, S. E. (1986-87); Teddlie, Kirby, and Stringfield (1989); Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1993-1994); Weinstein and Marshall (1984); Woolfolk and Brooks (1985)
Teachers:
a. Use approaches such as tutoring, continuous progress and cooperative learning with young children to reduce the incidence of later academic difficulties.
b. Monitor student learning carefully to maintain awareness of students having frequent academic difficulty; they note problems and arrange for help as needed.
c. Communicate high learning and behavioral expectations to high-needs students and hold them accountable for meeting classroom standards.
d. Provide high-needs students with instruction in study skills and in the kinds of learning strategies used by successful students (e.g., summarizing, questioning, predicting, etc.).
e. Give high-needs students additional learning time for priority objectives whenever possible; students spend this time in interactive learning activities with teachers, aides, or peer tutors.Anderson, L. W. (1983); Bamburg (1994); Brophy (1986b, 1988); Brown, B. W., and Saks (1986); Cooper, Findlay, and Good (1982); Cooper and Tom (1984); Cotton (1989c, 1991b); Crawford (1989); Druian and Butler (1987); Gall, et al. (1990); Gettinger (1984, 1989); Good (1987); Griswold, Cotton, and Hansen (1986); Lumpkins, Parker, and Hall (1991); Madden, et al. (1993); Sammons, Hillman, and Mortimore (1994); Seifert and Beck (1984); Slavin (1980, 1984, 1987b, 1988a,b, 1989a); Slavin, Karweit, and Madden (1989); Slavin, Karweit, and Wasik (1994); Slavin and Madden (1989a,b); Stein, Leinhardt, and Bickel (1989); Waxman, et al. (1985)
Teachers:
a. Communicate warmth and encouragement to high-needs students, comparing their learning with the students' own past performance rather than making comparisons with other students.
b. Work together to assure that each high-needs student has an ongoing supportive relationship with at least one school staff member.
c. Create opportunities for these students to develop supportive peer relationships and serve as peer resources to one another through activities such as youth service, cooperative learning, and peer and cross-age tutoring.
d. Teach problem-solving skills and provide opportunities for students to practice real-life application of these skills.
e. Help each student to develop an internal locus of control by calling attention to the relationship between individual effort and results.
f. Encourage family members and other key persons in the lives of high-needs students to continually express high expectations for their behavior and school achievement.
g. Encourage key people in these students' lives to involve them in making real and meaningful contributions to the family and community.Benard (1993a,b); Glaser, et al. (1992); Grossman, et al. (1992); Kalkowski (1995); Linquanti (1992); Luthar (1991); Midgley, Feldlaufer, and Eccles (1988)
Teachers:
a. Work to ensure equity in learning opportunity and achievement for all socioeconomic and cultural groups.
b. Communicate positive regard for students of different groups by holding high expectations for all students and treating them equitably.
c. Provide multicultural education activities as an integral part of classroom learning.
d. Make use of culturally heterogeneous cooperative learning structures in which there is individual accountability and group recognition.
e. Provide learning activities designed to reduce prejudice and increase empathy among cultures, races, genders, socioeconomic levels, and other groups. These include use of print, video, and theatrical media which dramatize the unfairness of prejudice and present various groups in a positive light.
f. Teach critical thinking skills in relation to intercultural issues, e.g., they make students aware that prejudicial thinking is replete with fallacies of reasoning, such as overgeneralization.
g. Contribute to the development of students' self-esteem by treating them with warmth and respect and offering them opportunities for academic success.
h. Avoid using practices known to be detrimental to intercultural relations, such as long-term ability grouping and attempting to change attitudes through exhortation.Allport (1954); Byrnes (1988); Cotton (1991a, 1992b); Davis (1985); DeVries, Edwards, and Slavin (1978); Gabelko (1988); Gallo (1989); Gimmestad and DeChiara (1982); Hart and Lumsden (1989); Mabbutt (1991); McGregor (1993); Moore (1988); Oakes (1985); Pate (1981, 1988); Roberts (1982); Rogers, Miller, and Hennigan (1981); Ruiz (1982); Slavin (1979a, 1985, 1987, 1988b, 1989a, 1990); Swadener (1988); Walberg and Genova (1983); Warring, Johnson, and Maruyama (1985)
Teachers:
a. Monitor student learning regularly, both formally and informally.
b. Focus their monitoring efforts on early identification and referral of young children with learning difficulties.
c. Require that students be accountable for their academic work.
d. Carefully align classroom assessments of student performance with the written curriculum and actual instruction.
e. Are knowledgeable about assessment methodology and use this knowledge to select or prepare valid, reliable assessments.
f. Use routine assessment procedures to check student progress. These include conducting recitations, circulating and checking students' work during seatwork periods, assigning and checking homework, conducting periodic reviews with students, administering tests, and reviewing student performance data.
g. Review assessment instruments and methods for cultural, gender, and other bias and make changes as needed.
h. Use assessment results not only to evaluate students, but also for instructional diagnosis, to find out if teaching methods are working, and to determine whether classroom conditions support student learning.
i. Set grading scales and mastery standards high to promote excellence.
j. Encourage parents to keep track of student progress.Bain, Lintz, and Word (1989); Block, Efthim, and Burns (1989); Bloom (1974); Brookover (1979); Brophy and Good (1986); Cohen, S. A. (1994); Cohen, S. A., et al. (1989); Costa and Kallick (1992); Dillashaw and Okey (1983); Engman (1989); Evertson, et al. (1982, 1986); Fuchs and Fuchs (1986); Fuchs, Fuchs, and Tindall (1986); Good and Grouws (1979); Howell and McCollum-Gahley (1986); Mortimore, et al. (1988); Natriello (1987); Porter and Brophy (1988); Rosenshine (1983); Rosenshine and Stevens (1986); Sammons, Hillman, and Mortimore (1994); Slavin, Karweit, and Madden (1989); Stiggins (1991); Tomic (1989); Walberg, Paschal, and Weinstein (1985)
Teachers:
a. Participate in staff development activities that prepare them to develop rubrics, establish standards, and design tasks.
b. Communicate to students and parents that assessments involving performances and products are the best preparation for life outside of school.
c. Begin by using alternative assessments on a small scale. They recognize that the best assessments are developed over time and with repeated use.
d. Plan assessments as they plan instructionùnot as an afterthought.
e. Develop assessments that have instructional value as well as assessing student learning.
f. Teach children the scoring systems that will be used to evaluate their work and allow them to practice using these systems for self- and peer assessment.
g. Secure input from older students for establishing performance criteria.
h. Involve students in peer assessment activities, such as peer editing.
i. Collect assessments used profitably by others and use or adapt these for their own classrooms.Arter, et al. (1994); Belk and Calais (1993); Fuchs and Deno (1994); Goldberg (1995); Herman (1992); Lazzaro (1995); McTighe and Ferrara (1994); Schnitzer (1993); Shavelson and Baxter (1992); Sperling (1994); Stiggins (1994)
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