Virginia Resta

What Do You Mean "Think Before I Act"?: Conflict Resolution with Choices.

Abstract Twenty 1st-grade students participated in an eight-week action research study. Students participated in class meetings where they discussed problem-solving solutions, particularly positive forms of conflict resolution. The “Wheel of Choice” provided the students with the choices for solutions that included 1) make an apology, 2) tell the other person to stop, 3) walk away, and 4) give an “I” message. Data was collected through 1) student pre- and post-surveys, 2) student conflict-resolution journals, 3) behavior tally sheets, 4) observational notes, and 5) teacher reflective journal. Pre- and post-surveys indicated that the students developed more positive strategies for solving conflicts. The student conflict-resolution journals demonstrated that students were able to write down positive forms of conflict resolution after thinking about the problem. Analysis of the tally sheets indicated that physical and verbal aggression decreased from the first week (22 incidents) to the eighth week (4 incidents) of the study. The teacher reflection journal and observational notes also documented that students used the “Wheel of Choice” when given the opportunity and time to think about the problem.

The case for a third alternative : One university's trip

Today, the nation is facing an unprecedented teacher shortage, which will undoubtedly result in increased attention to alternative certification programs as a possible means of addressing the school-staffing crisis. For the past decade, much has centered on the tensions between school, college, and department of education (SCDE) programs and alternative programs, and the relative merits and drawbacks of two delivery systems—one in which candidates complete initial certification prior to employment and one that provides training to candidates while they are employed as full-time teachers. The authors advocate a third alternative for midcareer teacher candidates, one that encompasses the strengths and minimizes the weaknesses of the two predominant delivery systems currently available. This alternative is the comprehensive, accelerated, customer-oriented teacher preparation program, coupled with an intensive induction support system. The authors describe one such program and discuss the compelling reasons for SCDEs nationwide to consider moving in this direction.

Issues in Secondary Teacher Preparation.

As teacher educators who have had extensive experience working in the field‐based secondary programs of two universities, the authors recognize the benefits, as well as the challenges, of forming partnerships with secondary educators to design and deliver collaboratively the teacher preparation program. In this article, experiences are shared and some of the major issues related to secondary teacher preparation that have been identified and contemplated are discussed.

Factors in the Selection of Secondary School Teachers

The move toward more heavily field-based teacher education pro grams and professional development schools has implications for sec ondary principals seeking to hire teachers. Unfortunately the stan dard interview questions and processes for selecting teachers may not allow highly qualified and better prepared candidates to rise to the top of the list.

In Search of Tools that Inform Practice: Utilizing Program Accountability Data to Guide Program Improvement

In light of the fact that policy makers are attempting to build accountability systems that will hold teachers, and the teacher education programs that prepared them, accountable for student achievement results, failure on the part of teacher educators to repeatedly and assertively advocate for a significant role in shaping the accountability systems for teacher education programs and to structure them in ways that can lead to program improvement will undoubtedly be a missed opportunity with dire consequences that will take years, if not decades, to correct. The data analysis practices advocated in this article yield data that teacher preparation programs could use for program improvement. The authors use actual student achievement data collected through an earlier large-scale teacher induction study to demonstrate the ways in which the proposed data analysis approach could be useful to teacher educators interested in program improvement.