In any democratic system, the schooling of technology is ultimately a matter of negotiation at a variety of levels, even when, as currently in England and Wales, the central government seeks to define a statutory technology curriculum. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the technology education provided in three high schools in…

This article presents a survey of the state-of-the-art in leadership theory and research in educational administration. First, it reviews major issues in educational leadership: defining the concept, building a knowledge base, choosing methodologies and analytical approachers, and training educational leaders. Second, it treats theory in…

Six strategies for using reflective narratives to promote the professional development of school leaders are briefly described in this paper, which is designed to accompany "School Leadership: Reflections on Practice by California's Instructional Leaders." Narratives are characterized by subjective perceptions that are shaped by personal…

The relationship between educational policy and instructional practice is explored in this paper, with a focus on the impact of state and federal policies on instruction. The relationship between government structure and policymaking is discussed in the first section, which concludes that conflict between rapidly expanding policymaking and…

Some aspects of fourth generation evaluation procedures that have been advocated by E. G. Guba and Y. S. Lincoln were examined empirically, with emphasis on areas where there have been discrepancies between theory and field-based experience. In fourth generation evaluation, the product of an evaluation is not a set of conclusions, recommendations,…

Intended to help teachers think of ways to broaden the range of intelligences students use in language arts classes within the constraints of the content area, this book offers help for teachers who want to create classes in which students enthusiastically participate in constructive activities. In its first section ("Theory and…

Ways in which the application of positivistic, phenomenological, ethnomethodological, and critical theories affect educational administration theory and practice are explored in this paper. A review of literature concludes that positivism separates practice from abstract theory; phenomenology offers a different view of reality; ethnomethodology is…

Some item response theory (IRT) techniques work in applications even though the usual structural IRT assumptions, and local independence (LI) in particular, do not hold. When the departure from LI is too great, traditional procedures will break down. Although violations of strictly unidimensional, monotone, locally independent latent structure can…

Although much of the current school reform movement relies on the basic assumption of effective elementary school administration, insufficient effort has been made to synthesize key concepts found in organizational theory and management studies with relevant effective schools research findings. This paper attempts such a synthesis to help develop…

Based on a definition of public relations that recognizes the field as a purposeful management function, this paper provides a perspective on public relations to help practitioners develop strategies for the use of new media forms in public relations programs. The paper begins with a historical review of mass media effects research and proceeds…

This report is based on selected surveys of research practices used in eight countries (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States). It is designed as a technical approach to help both scientists and decision makers unfamiliar with these procedures to define the most relevant practices in…

Teachers often regard educational and psychological research as irrelevant to the actualities of classroom teaching. There are many ways that researchers can increase their audience among teachers. More research should be done in the classroom with the teacher acting as a co-investigator. Applied developmental research can increase the base of…

The complex theory of knowledge and cognitive interests by the sociologist Jurgen Habermas, the dominant critical theorist in present day Germany, is applicable to current composition pedagogy. According to Habermas, all knowledge is shaped and used in three ways: in technical ways for instrumental reasons; in practical ways for socio-cultural…

This report is intended to provide publishers and product developers with a summary of background information about strategy instruction for disabled learners. It also offers suggestions for how media and materials could be produced and designed to facilitate the teaching and learning of strategies. The first section looks at cognitive and…

This book examines the methods, materials, outcomes, and technologies of past literacy practice, with special focus on the teaching of reading comprehension. The book presents a study of published texts on reading comprehension instruction in America in the "preresearch" period (1783-1910), as well as published research reports from 1910 through…