Organizational differentiation of students is defined as the division of a student body into subgroups (classes, sections, streams) of a relatively permanent character for instructional purposes. A vast body of research exists on the effect of organizational differentiation, especially the effects of grouping according to ability. No coherent…

As part of a national evaluation of Head Start, a comparison of school readiness and childhood development approaches to preschool education was attempted, but major methodological problems were encountered. It was not possible to find the study samples called for in the original plan, i.e. a child-readiness program of the Bereiter-Engelmann type,…

The experience of a research group in studying Neighborhood Youth Corps (NYC) programs provides the framework for a discussion of the methodological difficulties of conducting research on disadvantaged groups. However, the report does not deal with the programs and operations of NYC itself. Four problem areas are described: (1) criterion, program,…

This volume contains the proceedings of six Head Start research seminars held in Washington, D.C., from June 11, 1968 to April 18, 1969. The subject areas for each seminar were drawn from what was considered to be the most pressing issues in early childhood education research. There were (1) motivation, (2) the teacher and classroom management,…

The contents of this book, an outgrowth of a symposium held at the meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington on December 30, 1966, are organized in three sections. Section one, "Behavior-Genetic Analyses and Their Relevance to the Construct of Race," includes the following essays: "The Construct Race and the…

This report evaluates the success of a student project at a community mental health center both in terms of the reasons for client attrition and in terms of the difficulties of doing field research. The administration of the project was conducted by a class of 17 undergraduate psychology students. The subjects qualifying as dropouts were people…

Research on the utilizations of evaluations was based on a followup of 20 Federal health program evaluations to assess the degree to which the evaluations had been used and to identify the factors that affected varying degrees of utilization. Interviews were conducted with project officers or people they identified as decisionmakers who would…

This "Frame of Reference Study" consists of the fifth section of the final report of the Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Program in Educational Research of the University of Pittsburgh. The term, "frames of reference," is used to mean the context of assumptions, procedures, rules, cognitive models, and conceptions of the nature of…

Presents a framework for conceptualizing development of individual differences in reading ability that emphasizes the effects of reading on cognitive development and on "bootstrapping" relationships involving reading. Uses the framework to explicate some persisting problems in the literature on reading disability and to conceptualize…

Introduces the other articles in this special issue. Restructuring the schools to some means changing the "mechanics" of schooling; to others it refers to changes in relations of authority. However, there is uncertainty whether any restructuring will take place because a restructuring program will be difficult to implement. (BJV)

Describes the 1927 American Library Association's job classification and compensation plan, which attempted to identify job duties and minimum qualifications for the entire library profession. The development of the plan, problems with the research methodology used, and the relevance of the plan to current problems in librarianship are discussed.…

Discusses the work of Donald Graves, who has achieved wide recognition for propounding a method of teaching writing that stresses unstructured expression of personal experiences, using a case study of 16 children as his research base. Concludes that because Graves never considers negative evidence for his hypotheses, his work constitutes reportage…

This article considers relatively neglected resources for the "bootstrapping" of cognitive growth, including chance plus selection, the affective boosting of relevant schemas, the operation of innate biases, and use of spare mental capacity. Implications for educational research are illustrated with reference to recent work on the…

Reviewing their "Classroom Environment Study: Teaching for Learning" and other teaching research literature, project personnel examine the limitations of the process-product paradigm typically used in research on teaching. Topics covered include a conceptual model for teaching; preservice and inservice teacher training; appropriate…

Describes a case study in the use of stimulated recall, a method of evoking an individual's thoughts about a previous episode in his/her life, to evaluate a science education videotape. The method's general value to researchers and material developers is discussed and its potential in educational media research is assessed. (Author/MBR)