This chapter will examine characteristics of first-year experience programs in community colleges, with specific attention to the extant research about their effectiveness, the ways in which research and program delivery can be integrated, and the unique challenges of delivering FYE programs and conducting research about them in community colleges.

This "What Works Clearinghouse Procedures and Standards Handbook (Version 3.0)" provides a detailed description of the standards and procedures of the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC). The remaining chapters of this Handbook are organized to take the reader through the basic steps that the WWC uses to develop a review protocol, identify…

The professional development school (PDS) is a model of choice for many teacher preparation programs. This approach integrates the functions of teacher preparation, professional development, inquiry and research, and student achievement to bring about whole-school improvement and the simultaneous renewal of the teaching profession. Ideally,…

This account identifies some of the tensions that became apparent in a large interdisciplinary technology-enhanced learning project as its members attempted to maintain their commitment to responsive, participatory research and development in naturalistic research settings while also "enacting" these commitments in formal research review…

The discussion of the gap between theory and practice has a long tradition in educational psychology and especially in research on learning and instruction. Starting with a short analysis of more or less elaborated approaches focusing on this problem, a complex procedure called "integrative research approach", specialized in reducing the gap…

The symbiotic use of microcomputers and large-scale computers in educational research to greatly improve the ease and efficiency of analyzing research data is discussed. Two case studies of recent research are used to illustrate some of the procedures that are now possible. (MP)

Urges a reassessment of research on graduate programs in art education produced by Anderson, Eisner, and McRorie (1998). Asks how master's programs centered on studio art will produce teachers capable of meeting new national standards, and how highly specialized doctoral programs will produce people capable of teaching K-12 instructors. (DSK)

Urges a reassessment of research on graduate programs in art education produced by Anderson, Eisner, and McRorie (1998). Suggests that a few key findings of the study may be overstated or, at least, underinformed. Emphasizes a number of key problems with art teacher education illuminated by the study. (DSK)

The authors trace the development of the King's Formative Assessment Programme from its origins in diagnostic testing in the 1970s, through the graded assessment movement in the 1980s, to the present day. In doing so, they discuss the practical issues involved in reviewing research and outline the strategies that were used to try to communicate…

In a review of the challenges to progress in providing social research evidence that might usefully inform policy, Oakley (2004) argues strongly that the "paradigm divide" between qualitative and quantitative research communities continues to constitute a major problem. Oakley refers to a number of recent critiques of what is seen as "misplaced…

This paper addresses problems in research on urban education and outlines several National Institute of Education (NIE) proposals for dealing with these problems. It is argued that research should not stray too far from the basic educational goals of inculcating literacy, that educational research must become more diverse and sophisticated in its…

Presents profiles of the Parent-Teacher Action Research projects of seven schools in the national reform network, the League of Schools Reaching Out, and one in Spain. Each school is carrying out a family and community involvement project, and each has an action research team to collect information on program effects. (SLD)