This document presents findings of Project SEARCH, a qualitative research study of how charter schools interpret laws and regulations governing the education of children with disabilities, especially the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The project involved a preliminary 15-state policy analysis followed by in-depth case…

The Simi Star Project, a collaborative grant among six southern California school districts (Simi Valley, Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, Orcutt, and Point Hueneme) and IBM, tested the effectiveness of computers in the classroom and the effects of integrating technology into the curriculum. Six networked computers were placed in kindergarten and…

Little research exists that examines how children experience listening to stories, and few studies have been done that ask students to discuss their own experience with storytelling. A qualitative grounded study designed to focus upon children's responses and experiences to storytelling in the classroom was conducted in a public middle school in a…

A new approach has been proposed to increase the success of Chicana/o students in college. Rather than studying only students who leave college without completing their degrees, the new approach focuses on those students who succeed in college by completing their programs of study. The campus experience for students is conceived as a "black…

The purpose of this study was to examine students' perceptions of mentoring in a university cooperative education (co-op) program. Within this setting, students report to a supervisor. This supervisor has direct responsibility for the student and may influence the quality of the co-op experience by providing a mentoring role. A need existed to…

This new version explores the philosophical underpinnings, history, and key elements of each of five qualitative inquiry approaches: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. Using an accessible and engaging writing style, the author compares theoretical frameworks, ways to employ standards of quality, and…

This report compares district leaders' perspectives on changes in school capacity, student outcomes and district policy over three years of implementation of Middle Start (MS), a comprehensive school reform program to demonstrate the potential for improving the effectiveness and sustainability of CSR at the school level through integrating…

Presence in online classrooms has been linked to immediacy behaviors, instructor-student interaction, and participation. Research shows that presence can be managed and sustained, but little documentation exists about perceptions of the meaning of presence. An interview-based qualitative inquiry of three online instructors was conducted to…

This paper presents an empirical case study on the expansion of education in China (excluding Taiwan) since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to 1995. The study uses an estimation of the national primary school enrollment rates from 1949-1951 and that in the period of "the Cultural Revolution," and uses the…

This paper reports on the design and results of a paired sample survey of 226 graduates and 110 of their employers in one professional area at a university. This study was designed to explore the usefulness of a method of data collection for paired surveys and the potential benefits of surveying both graduates and employers. Survey development and…

Hmong students represent how a relatively infant culture in the United States adapts to the education system. A study of three Hmong male university students and how they dealt with diversity on a personal and social level is presented here. The intent was to explore Hmong men's experience in college with their potential need to utilize student…

This document consists of the two issues of the "Alabama Counseling Association Journal" published during 1996. The focus of the journal is on communicating ideas and information that will help counselors to implement the counseling role and develop the profession of counseling. Issue number 1 includes the following articles:…

A study examined the situated and idiosyncratic writing strategies of a stratified purposeful sampling of five second and third grade children and the interplay between their strategy use and the multi-layered instructional contexts created by their teacher. Over a period of one school year, qualitative data (field notes, interviews, tape…

A study in Australia is examining home and school computer-mediated communication (CMC) practices in low socio-economic communities. Using qualitative methods, the study aims to enhance the understanding of emerging communication practices associated with the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The research has already begun…

Based on the work of Paulo Freire (1970), this study employed dialogical research methods (Padilla, 1993) to reveal overt and hidden aspects of Latina/o doctoral student experiences. Six Latina/o doctoral students, representing various Research I institutions, participated in the study. The design of the study included two phases. The first phase…