Examines the literature on ability grouping and cooperative learning. Solid research evidence supports both. Ability grouping and cooperative learning should be used to address particular student needs. Selecting a variety of educational options to match the needs of each student would be the best way to serve all students. (SLD)

This paper examines the development of service policy for people with intellectual disabilities in Australia, noting the minor role of research and empirical enquiry. Research's significant role in monitoring policy during the implementation phase is, however, acknowledged. A coordinated research program contributing to both policy development and…

Discusses the time, personnel, resources, and aids needed to support six phases of institutional assessment: clarifying the assessment object and context, designing the assessment, collecting and analyzing data, communicating findings, using findings, and evaluating the assessment. (DMM)

As colleges and universities increasingly seek for-profit corporate sponsors for their research programs, collaboration may be complicated by differential missions leading to potential conflicts of interest. Ethical issues include corporate influence on research topics, secrecy and publication restrictions, patent ownership, unfavorable…

These reflections on EC 606 263 (a paper examining the effectiveness of student versus teacher monitoring of behavior of students at risk for referral to special education) examines the development of interest in the topic, acceptability of the interventions to study participants, potential usefulness of the intervention, and evidence of changes…

Examines the importance of improving the student teaching context, describing a research-based supervisory program that addresses preparation of cooperating teachers to function in their role and develop skills for providing effective guidance to student teachers. Cooperating teachers require course readings and activities that enable them to…

Suggests ways music teachers can improve their teaching and solve instructional problems by using existing research and conducting their own. Also offers strategies to help music district supervisors encourage effective use of research. Identifies several useful publications as sources of research reports. Includes a chart listing reasons and…

This commentary on EC 231 901 discusses whether resource allocations and service policies for mentally retarded individuals should be based upon purported findings of scientific theory or the purported needs of service systems. The paper calls for improved research utilization and understanding of what makes a social movement work. (JDD)

Staff development programs should be established by using a set of assumptions grounded in research and best practice. The article examines faulty assumptions that guide too many programs, then presents 14 new assumptions that should guide effective practice and successful staff development. (SM)

Examines implications of IEA international educational research for educational policies in three areas: overall quality of the national educational system, including success in achieving social and economic objectives; structure of the formal system and its influence on student achievement; and influence of school resources and instructional…

Discusses the utility of IEA cross-national studies of achievement and its determinants, why some countries appear uninterested in such information, the comparability of achievement data between nations, how to improve the selection of input and process variables, other international research needs, and the role of national funding agencies. (SV)

The article suggests a method for organizing the research on teaching thinking and provides examples of indicators of teacher performance within various domains (hypothesis testing, argument assessment, problem solving, probabilistic thinking, and flexibility). Examples of empirical evidence supporting each indicator are included. (SM)

Discusses various responses to the author's book "Ways with Words--Language, Life and Work in Communities and Classrooms" (1983). Describes how these reactions have led the author to see things in the work that she had not seen before. Strengths and weaknesses of the book she identifies have implications for the conduct of future ethnographic…

Schools can do a much better job of educating students, especially low income and minority students, if they draw on information already available and replicate educational programs that have been successful. Suggestions are made for replicating proven programs. (SLD)

There is little research-based analysis of education's past or prospective contribution to the constitutional reconstruction of Scottish participatory democracy. Describes the constitutional changes occurring in Scotland and the relationship between educational research and policy. Analyzes positive and negative elements of educational research…