Describes an attempt to study and map the development of children's conceptions of materials. Interviews with preschool, first-grade, fourth-grade, and seventh-grade students revealed a dramatic improvement during the years studied in children's abilities to talk and think about materials. (ML)

Evaluation of campus activities is essential if the programs are to be justified, credited, or improved. Formal qualitative evaluations can provide a wealth of information beyond what could be obtained from traditional quantitive approaches. (Author/MLW)

Investigates patterns in readers' ratings of imagery, affect, and story structure in selected short stories read in a college classroom. Concludes that texts constrain the renditions of individual readers when they read for enjoyment. Finds that imagery appears to mediate affective associations of text viewed as structurally important. (MM)

Considers both qualitative and quantitative research approaches on second language learning, with focus on second language classroom research. Concludes that both approaches are relevant to determining the important variables to investigate and the relationships those variables have to second language learning outcomes. (Author/CB)

A methodology is described for conducting qualitative research on gender issues in education. Qualitative research, a critical step for achieving the global Education For All (EFA) goals, will assist identifying the issues, analyzing the contents, and formulating viable policy. "Gender" refers to the social roles and responsibilities that belong…

This study explores the intersection of placement in foster care and the emotional disturbance (ED) classification. It compares the demographic, placement, and educational experiences of students in foster care who are classified with an emotional disturbance (ED) with students in care who have other special education classifications, and with…

This document presents findings of Project SEARCH, a qualitative research study of how charter schools interpret laws and regulations governing the education of children with disabilities, especially the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The project involved a preliminary 15-state policy analysis followed by in-depth case…

The Simi Star Project, a collaborative grant among six southern California school districts (Simi Valley, Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, Orcutt, and Point Hueneme) and IBM, tested the effectiveness of computers in the classroom and the effects of integrating technology into the curriculum. Six networked computers were placed in kindergarten and…

Little research exists that examines how children experience listening to stories, and few studies have been done that ask students to discuss their own experience with storytelling. A qualitative grounded study designed to focus upon children's responses and experiences to storytelling in the classroom was conducted in a public middle school in a…

A new approach has been proposed to increase the success of Chicana/o students in college. Rather than studying only students who leave college without completing their degrees, the new approach focuses on those students who succeed in college by completing their programs of study. The campus experience for students is conceived as a "black…

The purpose of this study was to examine students' perceptions of mentoring in a university cooperative education (co-op) program. Within this setting, students report to a supervisor. This supervisor has direct responsibility for the student and may influence the quality of the co-op experience by providing a mentoring role. A need existed to…

This new version explores the philosophical underpinnings, history, and key elements of each of five qualitative inquiry approaches: narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. Using an accessible and engaging writing style, the author compares theoretical frameworks, ways to employ standards of quality, and…

This report compares district leaders' perspectives on changes in school capacity, student outcomes and district policy over three years of implementation of Middle Start (MS), a comprehensive school reform program to demonstrate the potential for improving the effectiveness and sustainability of CSR at the school level through integrating…

Presence in online classrooms has been linked to immediacy behaviors, instructor-student interaction, and participation. Research shows that presence can be managed and sustained, but little documentation exists about perceptions of the meaning of presence. An interview-based qualitative inquiry of three online instructors was conducted to…

This paper presents an empirical case study on the expansion of education in China (excluding Taiwan) since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to 1995. The study uses an estimation of the national primary school enrollment rates from 1949-1951 and that in the period of "the Cultural Revolution," and uses the…