The latest national report card on higher education, as in the past, handed out a lot of "incompletes." Like the student who keeps forgetting to turn in that lab report, the grades can't be computed without all the data. There's a lot policy makers don't know about their states' higher-education performance, and the gaps in information limit the…

There has been criticism about STEM education not focusing enough on problem solving, especially in authentic real-world contexts which are most often associated to ill-structured domains. To improve education, it is essential that curricula bring students to high levels of cognitive development by exposing them to authentic problems.…

This review examines a research study that compares high school graduation rates of students who used vouchers to attend private high schools in Milwaukee and students who attended public high schools in that same city. The study reports that for the most recent year of data, a sample of voucher students had estimated graduation rates 12…

I argue in this article that recognizing the role of subjectivity and bringing in the researcher's positionality as a tool in the research process can not only enhance the ethical integrity of the research but also enhance both the research process and the analysis and interpretation of the data. Cultural studies theorists have long argued that…

From year to year, child welfare directors allocate resources in the hope that their efforts will improve children's outcomes. Recently, with the help of the federal government, states have invested significant resources in the sort of information technology needed to run a smarter, more accountable child welfare system. In addition, science has…

The interpretation of cognitive test scores often leads to decisions concerning the diagnosis, educational placement, and types of interventions used for children. Therefore, it is important that practitioners administer and score cognitive tests without error. This study assesses the frequency and types of examiner errors that occur during the…

This study compares three variations in how researchers construct middle childhood social networks: (1) with "friendships" or "affiliations" as a relational tie; (2) with children providing "self reports" of relationships, or in addition, "multi-informant reports" of relationships in which they are not involved; and (3) whether network computation…

This article examines the potential contradictions of conducting a collaborative self-study research project within a poststructural framework. It is a discussion about the use of theory in self-study research, rather than a report of research findings. The discussion is shaped through (re)consideration of a collaborative self-study doctoral…

"Expanding Choice in Elementary and Secondary Education: A Report on Rethinking the Federal Role in Education" presents a seemingly egalitarian prescription for the federal government to expand school choice. An examination of the arguments and evidence for increasing choice, however, reveals at least three important shortcomings. First, the…

A recent report from the Reason Foundation argues for significant changes in how public education is organized and delivered in large cities. The report argues that city schools should move toward a "portfolio" of schools model. In such a model, the district does not necessarily operate schools, but instead focuses on closing low-performing…

A study by Mullen and Tallent-Runnels (2006) found significance in the differences between online and traditional students' reports of instructors' academic support, instructors' demands, and students' satisfaction. They also recognized that the limitation to their study was their demographic data. In an original report funded by the Alfred P.…

College students from the working class have interesting stories to tell about the meaning and operation of mobility through education. The author, herself a "working-class academic," explores some of the issues and dilemmas of uncovering and presenting these stories. Specifically, the author addresses: (1) the effects of interviewing those…

The study evaluates a semester-long workbook curriculum approach to teaching a college level introductory statistics course. The workbook curriculum required students to read content before and during class and then work in groups to complete problems and answer conceptual questions pertaining to the material they read. Instructors spent class…

Programs representing various instructional strategies have been designed and implemented in public schools to teach non-English speaking students. This study addressed the relative effectiveness of two strategies designed to enhance non-English speaking students' chances of academic success. The research problem was: Do language-based…

This paper describes the analysis of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program's January 2008 Learning Network Conference (LNC). This study focuses on the methodologies used by the MSP community to generate evidence and seeks to understand topics of interest to the 320 LNC participants. The data set for this…