This qualitative study used questionnaires, interviews, and observations to assess what having children with disabilities means to three families. The disabilities include severe mental retardation and seizure disorder, Down syndrome, and neurofibromatosis. Interview data were categorized into the following five areas: the children,…

Action research is a way to examine purposes and practices in teaching. One way of conducting action research is to engage in participant observation, which may be seen as a systematic attempt to discover the knowledge that a group of people has learned and is using to organize the group's behavior. Participant observation has a great deal of…

The thought of shared leadership offers teachers a vision of more control of central issues of concern, opportunities for significant decision making, and the development of a more democratic environment. This paper presents an account of the success and frustrations encountered by an elementary school throughout an 18-month period of school-based…

This paper presents an example of "optimistic research," a qualitative approach which focuses on positive interventions helpful to practitioners, in this case an examination of programs successfully integrating people with severe disabilities. The study evaluated 40 programs through site visits which focus on observation, interviews, and…

The problem of teacher isolation and lack of collegial relationships has been extensively documented and considered one of the obstacles to improvement of instruction. The study reported here analyzed some empirical evidence about how that situation can change in junior high school science. The study investigated: (1) what happens when science…

Using technology to enhance student learning in social studies has become an important area for discussion and study within the field of social studies education. Handheld devices are one of the recently emerging technologies. This article describes an initial study of the TI-83 handheld device in the education of preservice social studies…

This study considers the enrichment of social studies methods through the integration of videoconferencing in a telecollaborative format. The purpose in developing this study was threefold: (a) to describe the perspectives of teacher candidates while participating in a telecollaborative social studies methods course experience, (b) to determine in…

Introduction: Information literacy education is central for students as a building block for functioning citizenship in an information rich world. To support students' development of information skills we need an awareness of underlying factors behind information seeking habits. This article will discuss whether differences in middle and high…

This study reports the out come of a primary qualitative investigation of open and distance learning system of education as a panacea to the problem of socially induced constraints on the acquisition of education, that may lead to the inability to attend higher institutions of learning, acquire certificates, become a qualified skilled worker by…

Introduction: This study sought to answer three questions: 1) Would the level of domain knowledge significantly affect the user's search behaviour? 2) Would the level of domain knowledge significantly affect search effectiveness, and 3) What would be the relationship between search behaviour and search effectiveness? Method: Participants were…

This paper presents ideas for the development and utilization of a comprehensive evaluation plan for an accelerated school. It contains information about the purposes of a comprehensive evaluation, the evaluation design, and the kinds of data that might be gathered and used. The first section, "An Approach to Evaluation: Multiple Purposes and…

This paper reports the results of a qualitative evaluation of the Chapter 1 Program Improvement Workshop Series--Level II, funded by the Educational Testing Service, Technical Assistance Center (TAC), for Region 3. Focus is on the role of commitment in influencing change. The methodological approach, advocated by M. Q. Patton (1986), focuses on:…

Methodologies for evaluating/documenting partnership programs are analyzed and options for evaluating/documenting OERI's Educational Partnerships Program (EPP) are proposed. The EPP supports alliances between public schools and/or higher education and the private sector to encourage excellence in education. This paper reflects…

This paper describes the Primary Science Project in Norway whose goals were to describe the primary (grades 1-6) science classroom and to make recommendations on improvements for primary science teaching. The purpose of this study was to study the classroom climate, specifically focusing on the social interactions between teachers and students.…

Life history interviews with four women holding doctorates in educational administration are presented in this paper, which examines how chances and choice affect women administrators' career decisions. A second focus is on how organizational structure in educational organizations can enhance career opportunities for women educators. Three…