This document describes the exploration and application of effective schools research resulting from university/public schools cooperation in the Springfield (Massachusetts) Public School System. The Academy for Excellence operated as a partnership between the University of Massachusetts School of Education and the Springfield Public School System…

The concept of owning knowledge is somewhat ethereal and until recently had little relevance to academic institutions. In principle any object that is capable of being controlled is capable of being owned. The most basic control concerns decisions about whether to communicate knowledge. The philosophical foundation which is the basis of the legal…

A description is provided of Rancho Santiago College's institutional research program, which uses a traditional centralized research model, augmented with alternative, decentralized approaches. First, background information is presented on the college and the role of the research office in management, decision-making, and educational support.…

Because of an expressed need for staff development for vocational education administrators, research was conducted to identify and verify the competencies needed by vocational administrators; competency-based modularized materials were developed to address those competencies; and a variety of competency-based training program strategies were…

Educational researchers should be aware of the general consensus of the research community as to what is proper and improper in the conduct of educational research, since there is as yet no explicit code of ethics. Accordingly, this paper examines existing ethical standards to initiate discussion of issues specific to the educational research…

A project organized by the Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education at the State University of New York at Albany is described. The purpose of the project was to develop closer linkages between practice and research in didactics in mathematics and science education. A state-wide research network was created of higher education faculty with…

School climate is an elusive but powerful concept that has captured the attention of both researchers and practitioners, but choosing an instrument to assess climate can be very complicated. This monograph accordingly discusses four basic issues that should be considered prior to selecting an instrument to measure school climate: purpose, choice…

This collection of essays by current or former directors of institutional research represents the broad spectrum of size, function, and geography within institutional research in the two-year college. The volume contains: (1) "The Role of Institutional Research in Evaluation of Nontraditional Programs: College Preparatory Analysis at Miami-Dade…

A discussion of the field of applied linguistics looks at traditional and organizational approaches to the discipline and compares them to actual applied linguistics activity. The focus of American and British organizations for applied linguistics and the stated emphases in the field are chronicled for the last several decades, including the…

Education research is, or should be, the systematic investigation and solution of critically important problems affecting what and how children learn. This is a complex undertaking, given the size and complexity of American education. Critically important educational problems can be dealt with by supporting a systematic, national effort to examine…

Important issues, concepts, and research related to international human rights are discussed, and instructional guidelines and creative teaching strategies are presented in this resource for K-12 and college social studies/social science teachers. The bulletin consists of an introduction and seven chapters. The introduction discusses three basic…

Characteristics and contributions of collaborative research studies to educational practice are explored in this paper. Definitions of collaborative research are presented which note its multiple roles and similarity to action research. Reasons for conducting collaborative research are given, centering around increased use of research outcomes,…

To further the National Institute of Education's goal of ensuring a coordinated and nationally linked outreach capability for providing schools with the knowledge and services generated through research and development (R&D), the nation's R&D centers developed an interorganizational and collaborative school improvement program known as the…

A review of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which originated 20 years ago, is presented; and the original political, ideological and social science assumptions for the design of NAEP are examined. The report criticizes the founding principle as hampering NAEP's maximum utility and exploratory power. In examining the form of…

Training and retraining for vocational educators and trainers is badly needed in order for them to keep up with rapidly changing technologies. In order to meet this need, new teaching strategies and new curricula are essential. Some recent research is having an impact on the training of trainers in the United States. This research has focused on…