The Dissatisfaction Theory of American Democracy (Iannaccone and Lutz, 1970) describes the political process whereby citizens in a reform governmental system, particularly in local school districts, make their values manifest in terms of public policy. The theory consists of four causally related factors; (1) community member values; (2) citizen…

In most industrialized countries, especially in urban areas with a heavy concentration of cultural minorities, teaching a standard second language to schoolchildren is a misleading concept and an ambiguous enterprise. In a country that fosters official unilingualism, schoolchildren have to learn a standard second language as if it were a first…

Meta-analysis, as a quantitative approach, requires a determination of a basic comparability between phenomena so that the data can be aggregated for the analysis. This is the crux of the problem with the meta-analysis analogy for a meta-ethnography. It implies an aggregate theory of social explanation, and thus may violate the qualitative,…

Suggestopedia, the psycholinguistic second language teaching methodology of Georgi Lozanov, has received both favorable and unfavorable evaluations from well-known scholars in the field of language learning. Some suspicious views by Western scholars may be due to the paucity of interpretable scientific evidence for the method's claims. An…

Extensive research efforts in the past decade have measured academic proficiency and progress in both theory and practice of large-scale writing assessment. The following major situational variables were identified in these investigations: (1) topic variables such as writing prompts, subject matter, mode of discourse, length, and rhetorical…

Whether termed "quality indicators,""student outcomes," or "measures of accountability," the concern for educational effectiveness is surfacing as the new focus for community colleges. Key to the realization of educational accountability is the availability of solid research information that can assess to what extent results are being achieved.…

Little is known about "teacher educators," the higher education faculty responsible for teacher preparation. Reasons include the lack of a definition and consequent difficulty in identifying the population, scarcity of research on teacher educators specifically, and inclusion of teacher educators in research on the education…

This report summarizes research on retention and dropouts. Although there has been a recent resurgence of retention programs aimed at students who encounter subject-area difficulties, many studies have questioned the value of retention, especially if it is not accompanied by programs of remediation and individualized learning. However, researchers…

Current thinking about academic language and the variety of language appropriate to school and similar settings is discussed. Recent literature concerning academic language is explored, and common themes and significant observations that emerge when the concept is viewed from a sociological perspective are examined. The research reviewed includes…

Updating a 1977 review, this review of the research concerning parents' effects on their children's development asks what progress has been made in understanding such effects during the last decade. After presenting findings of the earlier review, discussion focuses on five areas of research: temperament, attachment, cognitive development,…

This paper provides a review of research in consultation. The research is analyzed in terms of future directions, methodological shortcomings, and program emphasis. Input, process and output are suggested as a framework to examine components of consultation. A number of studies are mentioned for each component, and a short summary of the studies…

A research and policy agenda for addressing issues related to the Hispanic worker in the United States is provided in this report, which was prepared by the Ford Foundation's Task Force on Employment and Economic Well-Being. First, the theoretical basis of the Task Force's recommendations is outlined. This was based on the observation of three…

The results of a survey which sought to determine the science education research needs of elementary teachers are discussed in this report. The survey was intended to provide science education researchers with information on what research areas might be of greatest interest to elementary teachers. The sample consisted of 553 elementary teachers in…

Examining SQ3R research from 1953-1984, this paper provides an update of an earlier review of the literature that was taken from the ERIC database, "Psych Abstracts," and "Dissertation Abstracts." The paper divides the studies by educational level: elementary, junior and senior high school, and college/university. It presents…

A synthesis is presented of the outcomes of the "Beyond the Looking Glass" Conference which brought together educational practitioners, policy makers, and researchers to make concrete suggestions for what should be done to improve the conditions, processes, and effects of teacher education. Three major points of agreement formed the…