The purposes of this study were (1) to determine if the culture of the student's first language was a significant variable in field-dependent-independent cognitive learning style, and (2) if a student's second language achievement has a significant relationship to variables of grade level, sex, time in an English as a second language (ESL) program, second language proficiency level or cognitive learning style. It was hypothesized that (1) there are significant positive correlations between field-independence and the variables of achievement, proficiency level, and grade level, (2) there are significant positive correlations between second language achievement and proficiency level, grade level and time in an ESL program, (3) there are no significant differences in field-dependence between the sexes or the four cultures of Laotian, Spanish, Tongan, and Vietnamese, and (4) there is no significant difference in the mean achievement score between the sexes.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the inhibitors affecting classroom teaching by surveying the perceptions of secondary teachers. This purpose was based on the growing crisis of "teacher burnout" which was thoroughly documented. Since it appears that burnout most often affects those teachers who work in conventional classrooms, characteristics of teaching effectiveness within these classrooms were the basis for inhibitor comparison. Seven characteristics were produced by a crosstabulation of studies on effective teaching spanning the last fifty years. The inhibitor choices presented with these seven characteristics were extracted from an extensive list produced by the literature and classified under six areas of origin. The characteristics and inhibitors ultimately selected were surveyed among teachers in a large Southwest metropolitan area.

There were two purposes of this study. The first was that of determining, through an analysis of Texas and Thai biology textbooks, which objectives -- cognitive, affective, manual skill, processes of scientific inquiry, and orientation—were emphasized in three major and twenty-seven minor fields of biology. The second purpose was to determine if significant differences exist in the frequency distribution of these objectives. Only one biology program is used in schools throughout Thailand. This program, which was published by the Ministry of Education, consists of four textbooks with 1977 copyright date. The five Texas textbooks used in this study were those adopted under the provisions of the Textbook Law. The contents of each of the six texts included in the study were classified by using the criteria of Klopfer's Table of Specifications for Science Education.

The problem of this study is concerned with the relationships between selected requirements for admission to elementary teacher education and teaching performance. The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the relationships between teaching performance, as evaluated by a principal, and five selected admission criteria (the GPA at the time of admittance to teacher education; achievement test scores in reading, language, mathematics; and instructor appraisal of the student during the first education course); (2) to determine whether or not the five selected admission criteria used singly, or in some combination, predict success in teaching performance.

The classroom communication behavior of preservice teacher education students was the focus of this research. The study was designed to provide descriptive and empirical data for teacher educators to use in designing preservice and in-service training in classroom communication. Additionally, an interdisciplinary focus on research from the fields of interpersonal and instructional communication as applied to teacher education was emphasized. The sample for the study included 30 secondary and 29 elementary preservice teacher education students. The sample was stratified on the basis of the level of communication apprehension. A total of 30 high level apprehensive and 29 low level apprehensives were identified. The Personal Report of Communication Apprehension-24 (PRCA-24) was administered as a pre-posttest measure. Scores from the Communicator Style Measure (CSM) were analyzed with the PRCA—24. University supervisors and public school cooperating teachers completed a modified version of the CSM on two separate observation occasions.

The problem of this study was to compare the achievement and attitude of students in an individualized biology program, modeled after parts of the Proposed Texas Science Framework, with the achievement and attitude of students in conventional biology classes. The subjects used for the study were tenth grade, first year biology students in three high schools in a large North Central Texas city. Each of the three high schools was selected to represent a particular category of high schools. The categories were based upon the mean achievement scores for the students within a school. The categories of schools were above average, medium low, and very low. In each of the schools the classes and teachers in the experimental group and the control group were matched as closely as possible.

The purposes of this study were (1) to determine the difference between the cognitive style of low and high achieving students in an algebra course in a traditional high school and the cognitive style of low and high achieving students in an algebra course in a high school for dropouts, and (2) to determine the difference between the cognitive styles of low and high achieving males and females in an algebra class in a traditional high school and in a high school for dropouts. It was hypothesized that (1) low achieving mathematics students are more field-dependent than high achieving mathematics students in both the traditional high school and in the high school for dropouts, (2) female students are more field-dependent than male students in the mathematics classes of both schools, and (3) there will be a significant interaction on the achievement variable and the sex variable with respect to field-dependence in both schools.

This study's purposes were to (1) determine perceptions toward citizenship and the Bill of Rights among social studies students and teachers and (2) examine variables useful in predicting their degree of support for the Bill of Rights. To accomplish these purposes, a thirty-item perceptions scale and a demographic questionnaire was administered to 72 teachers and 249 5 students in 25 racially mixed Texas public high schools. A random sample of 703 students was drawn for statistical analysis with the original teacher sample. A mean score was computed for each subject and analysis of variance utilized to test for differences between means of various groups

This thesis resulted from an examination conducted to determine teacher ability to identify individual student capability based on rapport between the two parties.