Search

A student perceptions measure of college and university classroom learning environment was developed to reflect the dynamic interplay among contextual variables and accommodates theoretical and practical applications in light of logistical concerns found in such complicated educational settings as a medical school. The 18-item Teaching and Learning Environment Questionnaire (TLEQ) was developed using elements of effective teaching and learning processes documented in the professional literature. The sample included all second year medical students in a medical school in 2 years, for a total of 296 participants (345 usable questionnaires). The TLEQ was administered in pharmacology and pathology courses in five instructional settings, including problem-based learning and computer-assisted learning, using one of four data collection formats. Results suggest that the TLEQ is a flexible and easy-to-administer measure of students' personal perceptions of classroom learning environments that has the potential to contribute substantially to faculty and instructional development efforts in medical schools specifically and in other professional schools in general. The TLEQ reflects marker variables for two distinct factors that clearly define the nature of effective postsecondary classroom learning environments. One represents teaching and learning context and the other represents learner involvement. (Contains 3 tables and 28 references.) (SLD)

This study investigated the influence of role expectations, as defined by tenure status, on medical school faculty attitudes toward professional development activities. A total of 226 full-time faculty within a medical school completed a 15-item professional development goals questionnaire. The study found that full-time faculty perceptions of professional goals differed based on their tenure status, and that the teaching goals and research goals scales of the questionnaire predicted tenure status effectively and reliably. It also found that tenure-track faculty placed higher importance on professional development goals for teaching than for research, whereas non-tenure-track faculty placed higher importance on professional development goals for research than for teaching. (Contains 15 references.) (MDM)

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study of the relation between teachers' perceptions of bureaucratic and professional role orientations and their perceptions of the principal change-facilitator style. An additional focus was on the cultural aspects of school organizations involved in planned-change initiatives. The sample consisted of all teachers in 94 schools in Louisiana. Responses were received from approximately 40 percent of questionnaire recipients, for 1,921 usable teacher responses. Correlations between teachers' self-perceptions of Organizational Autonomy and perceptions of the principal change facilitator style were all negative in direction and very moderate in magnitude for the total sample of schools and by school level. Correlations between teacher responses for Bureaucratic Orientation and the principal change-facilitator style were positive, but similar in magnitude. Although what these results really reflect when considered collectively is not clear, what is apparent is the importance of teachers' beliefs and values in understanding how they perceive others and the organization. Three figures and three tables present study findings. An appendix contains conceptual definitions related to the principal change-facilitator style. (Contains 60 references.) (SLD)

The construct validity of the Attitudes of Professional Autonomy (APA) as a proxy measure of professional orientation was studied. The sample consisted of all teachers in 94 schools in 6 districts in Louisiana, closely representing the statewide distribution of all schools by level and socioeconomic status. Usable data were received from 1,921 teachers (APA responses and a demographic questionnaire). A series of factor analyses was completed, and Cronbach Alpha reliability procedures were used to examine the internal consistency reliability of the factor-analyzed, reconstructed versions of the APA. Findings suggest that the construct of professional attitudinal autonomy, as measured by the APA, is a two-dimensional construct. The realignment of items based on these factor analyses is a better operational definition and a more valid measure of the professional attitudinal autonomy construct than prior item alignments. The reconstructed APA subscales appear to be relatively independent measures, and both the Interpersonal Autonomy and Organizational Autonomy subscales are measures of the more global construct of professional attitudinal autonomy. Findings suggest the need to re-examine and redefine the concept of professional orientation to include current conceptions of professionalism in school organizational contexts. Two tables present study findings. (Contains 46 references.) (SLD)

This paper summarizes major research and development activities and reports the results of the development and validation of a comprehensive on-the-job statewide teacher assessment system designed to make inferences about enhancing student learning through classroom observation data--the System for Teaching and Learning Assessment and Review (STAR). The STAR was developed in response to legislative mandates in Louisiana; it is used to train principals, master teachers, supervisors, college faculty, and other educators to complete thorough assessments of beginning and experienced teachers' classroom performances for the purpose of renewable professional certification. Beginning in the 1988-89 school year and continuing through the 1989-90 fiscal year, work focused on the development, validation, and piloting of the STAR. The STAR represents a comprehensive dichotomous decision-making framework designed to assess key elements of effective teaching and learning. It consists of 117 assessment indicators that operationalize 22 teaching and learning components organized by four performance dimensions. The following analyses were conducted to establish the STAR's reliability and validity: validation studies; review of the research literature; content verification surveys; factor analyses; descriptive summaries of assessment data; external review; criterion-related validity studies; concurrent validity studies; reliability studies; standard-setting studies; external committee review; and qualitative studies. Data show that the STAR validly and reliably assesses effective teaching and makes inferences about student learning in a wide variety of classroom contexts. Nineteen data tables and a 46-item list of references are included. An appendix provides further details on the STAR, supplemented by 19 tables. (RLC)