Instead of presenting a body of research attesting to constructivism's effectiveness, Lynn Chrenka cites a litany of "supportive" comments from dead geniuses. The teacher as expert and lecturer is anathema to constructivist doctrine. Sages who speak passionately and authoritatively about a subject they love are increasingly rare in public schools.…

Examines the introduction and evolution of the Strategic Management Process in England's further education sector. Critiques the transfer of business-sector management models to postsecondary education, reviews related policy literature, and summarizes a detailed longitudinal study of cultural change in one college embarking upon incorporation.…

This article examines what science offers general and special educators who teach reading. It reviews scientific findings about reading and their practical implications and considers some broader ways that science may be useful to educators. Suggestions for educators interested in becoming more astute consumers of research are provided. (Contains…

Presents an overview of the goals and procedures of qualitative research, and discusses linkages between epistemologies and methodology. Reviews possible guidelines involved in the several steps of the evaluation process of qualitative research, emphasizing naturalistic research with families. Reviews common problems with qualitative research.…

Data of Skodak and Skeels (1949) are reinterpreted to suggest that at least one-third of the reported advantage of adopted children's intelligence quotients (IQ) over adoptive mothers is an artifact of the IQ test norms. The children's mean IQ could easily be higher than the estimated figures usually quoted. (SLD)

Reviews "Writing the Rural," five "cultural geographies" by Paul Cloke, Marcus Doel, David Matless, Martin Phillips, and Nigel Thrift that focus on proliferating meanings of "rural" and on understanding the "rural" as something fashioned by both rural residents and various outside actors. Highlights the…

This article discusses how interpretive research can challenge the special education field to think differently about what is already known and to factor in different ways of knowing and different meanings. Three dimensions of interpretive research are explored: "truth" value and accuracy, context and relations, and utility and relevance.…

Relates the journeys of two English teacher/professors through their changing field: how their approach to teaching and research has been challenged along the way by critical incidents in classrooms and with individual students; and how their stances on what literature teaching is and should be, and what research is and should be, have changed.…

The possibility of differential sex proportions as a confounding factor in the Lovaas (1987) study is raised. It is argued that the chi-square analysis was inadequate and that the appropriate comparison should be made between the experimental and the control group using population data to estimate expected cell frequencies. (Author/CR)

Discusses the limitations of "The Academic Ethic and College Grades: Does Hard Work Help Students to 'Make the Grade'?" by William Rau and Ann Durand. States that it is partly a replication of the author's research, performed with three colleagues, on the association between the amount of studying by students and their grades. (CMK)

Responds to the article "Students' Effort and Reward in College Settings" by Howard Schuman. States that there were two reasons why the author and Ann Durand did not copy Schuman et al.'s research design: (1) key questions on study hours contains serious flaws; and (2) the research lacks a theory. (CMK)

In three experiments, the authors investigated whether statistical language influences readers' interpretations of research results. Although the authors argue that "significant" language changes should not be mandated for quantitative research studies in scientific journals, if such changes are mandated, then use of the term "statistical" is…

Refutes the claim that top-rated programs in library science tend to maintain and enhance their reputation by hiring their own and each other's graduates and that this pattern of inbreeding was likely to be harmful to the field. Concludes convincing evidence was not provided and the true situation may be other than claimed. (PEN)

School reform implementations most often proceed from an ahistorical position. A study analyzing articles in three volumes of each of two education journals ("Phi Delta Kappan" and "Educational Leadership") revealed that 17 to 48 percent had no references to support assertions; few references were older than 15 years. (Contains…

Addresses concerns raised in Neale's commentary regarding the Bussell et al. (1999) Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development study. Discussion of assumptions focuses on those most relevant to study sample. Because Neale's proposed alternative models did not provide a better fit, the appropriateness of Bussell's model and importance of…