After reviewing suggestions offered in the other papers in this volume for addressing the research/practice gap in higher education, this final paper discusses how national organizations and professional associations can serve as change agents in building bridges between researchers and practitioners. (DB)

Presents an overview of the types of research on community colleges. Proposes that research literature falls into four, often overlapping categories: informative and promotional research (with little or no analysis), advisory research (what "should" be done), descriptive research, and scholarly research. Concludes that variations in the literature…

Results from a survey of 199 secondary special education teachers indicate they employ a variety of instructional strategies, some judged more effective than others, and that their use of instructional methods does not appear to significantly change with the number of years of their experience nor necessarily parallel effective practice. (Contains…

A study examined 127 teachers' assessments of the trustworthiness, usability, and accessibility of intervention information obtained from other teachers or colleagues, workshops, college courses, and professional journals. Teachers generally rated their colleagues and workshops not only as more accessible but as providing more trustworthy and…

A three-step framework to help teachers examine and modify teaching practice based on data analysis includes: specify current levels of student performance, create action plans, and evaluate and communicate progress. A case study of a teacher who used the framework to pinpoint one student's writing problems, create change in practice, and assess…

This article considers how good teaching in general education classes can be good intervention for students with learning disabilities. It urges combining Big-S Science (the educational research literature) with little-s science (a teacher's study of what works in his/her classroom). It stresses the teacher's beliefs about students with…

This article reports on research on the effectiveness of a peer-assisted learning strategy (PALS) intervention to develop fluency in beginning readers with and without disabilities. Pairs of students complete phonically based activities and then repeated readings of a shared text. Evaluation indicated that the peer-mediated, repeated reading…

Professional practice is built on sound knowledge specific to each discipline. This knowledge is developed and validated through a process of scientific investigation or research. However, lack of knowledge about the research process acts as a barrier to applying evidence-based practice within the school setting. Understanding the components that…

School leaders are faced with the daunting task of anticipating the future and making conscious adaptations to their practices, in order to keep up and to be responsive to the environment. To succeed in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex world, it is vital that schools grow, develop, adapt and take charge of change so that they can…

A common problem in teaching undergraduate courses in the experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) is that the contemporary research literature is largely not comprehensible to most undergraduates. A suggested solution is the use of research articles from the early days of EAB. These are not only easy to understand but provide additional…

Faculty need to be supported and encouraged to integrate disciplinary research and scholarship into undergraduate courses and programs in ways that are beneficial to their students' learning. (Contains 1 figure.)

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) have contributed to test development and validation in counseling psychology, but additional applications have not been fully realized. The author presents an overview of the goals, terminology, and procedures of factor analysis; reviews best practices for extracting,…

Current policies place unprecedented demands on districts to use evidence to guide their educational improvement efforts. How districts respond is likely to be influenced by how individuals in the district conceptualize what it means to use evidence in their ongoing work. This study draws on sensemaking and institutional theory to investigate how…

The kinds of inferences that can be drawn from international educational assessment are explored, considering the evidence that can be obtained and how it can be interpreted. International assessments have been thought of as yielding information that allows comparisons of relative achievement by country and subject, or that allows the improvement…

Between 1977 and 1981, the Basic Skills Component of Research for Better Schools worked with education agencies to develop a research-based approach to improving basic skills instruction and student achievement. Called Achievement Directed Leadership (ADL), the approach was field tested extensively in three school districts during the 1981-82…