This Policy Research Brief explores the strengths of qualitative research and the types of information it can make available to policymakers concerned with issues affecting persons with disabilities. The naturalistic methodology employed in qualitative research is described. Three specific studies using qualitative methodology are excerpted and…

An observational study of school principals confirms findings from earlier Australian and U.S. studies that emphasized the brevity, variety, and fragmentation of principals' work. Three secondary school principals in Victoria (Australia)--one in a public school and two in private schools--were observed for three weeks each. The study found that…

Girls tend, far less than boys, to opt for science or technical subjects in upper secondary school and higher education. A plan to study females' experiences, ideas, and attitudes to science and technology is reviewed in this report. The study's intent is to follow two groups of Swedish students from the beginning of grade 7 to their choice of…

Two papers on performance indicators are presented: (1) "Quality Control in Education: The Use of Performance Indicators," by Ernest Theodossin, and (2) "Developing and Using a Performance Indicator Instrument," by Theodossin and Craig Thomson. The first paper looks at the relationship between colleges and the manufacturing…

Writers attempting to describe administration have approached the subject from a number of perspectives. Researchers such as Gulick (1937) identified planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting as functional elements of administration. Hemphill, Griffiths, and Fredericksen (1962), using simulated job settings,…

This article examines first discusses the three components of clinical supervision: (1) the planning conference; (2) the six steps of observation; and (3) the meeting with the teacher to analyze and interpret data as well as to reach decisions about alternatives, changes, and resolutions for future efforts by the teacher. Four approaches involving…

Most Australian teachers do not hold traditional methods of supervision in very high regard. A more acceptable form of supervision, clinical supervision, utilizes the information gathered from classroom observations to allow the teacher to gain a wider perspective on his or her own performance under non-threatening conditions. A limited survey,…

Work done in Sweden under the purview of the Creativity and Communication: Music and Art Education Project included (1) developing theoretical premises and central research problems; (2) surveying art and music teachers at various levels of compulsory school concerning their views of the purpose, function, and conditions of art and music…

As an extension of a two-year longitudinal study involving various aspects of children's writing, a study examined the function of children's oral language during creative writing sessions in typical classroom settings. Using ethnographic style techniques, researchers conducted 46 writing episode observations of seven fifth graders in the spring…

Articles and essays in this journal issue focus on explaining ethnographic (observation taking into account socioeconomic and cultural factors) research procedures and showing how this methodology can be applied to English classes and reported in ways useful to teachers. The first article, by Paul Diesing, provides background on ethnography. The…

Story telling is defined as a kind of journalistic documentation, based on directly observable referents, and used to contribute to an understanding of educational problems. In the area of educational research, story telling is part of the genre which includes case studies, ethnography, and ethnology. Story telling describes an environment in…

This document is comprised of the four issues in the second volume of a quarterly journal for parents of children in Montessori infant and toddler programs. The May 1998 issue contains an article on Treasure Baskets which are designed for non-mobile babies who can sit up, an article discussing the personal growth of a Montessori teacher who became…

The purpose of this study was to identify effective and ineffective strategies for teaching Title I students. The data collection took the form of direct observations of teacher-student interactions and classroom activities in the classes of 79 Oklahoma City Public Schools Title I teachers. The data on achievement gains came from the California…

Instructional leadership is long-term dedication to instructional excellence that includes both instructional and school management issues. Recent research suggests that effective principals can make a significant difference in their schools' instructional programs through a combination of personal traits, particularly a strong belief in their…

The role of principal as supervisor and evaluator of teachers is central to instructional leadership, and this means direct involvement through classroom observation and interaction with each teacher. Principals often neglect this role, with lack of time usually given as the reason. There are other reasons: Interacting with teachers about their…