Data drive policies; a lack of information results in unresponsive or biased public policies. This book argues that current methods of gathering and interpreting data are not sensitive to the diversity and needs of people living in rural America. Emphasizing the goals of complementarity, cooperation, and responsiveness, it suggests how federal and…

The Coalition of Essential Schools is involved in a 3-year study to translate collaborative inquiry into a research process to simultaneously build schools' capacities for change. A current collaborative project is described, with a dialog between a principal, a teacher, and a researcher who are engaged in a process of school improvement. Members…

In September 1991, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) announced standards for basic, proficient, and advanced achievement in mathematics and reported that few American students had reached these standards. Expert reviewers noted technical problems with the NAGB approach and questioned its results. In this report, the NAGB…

This publication reviews and analyzes the research on issues affecting faculty supply and demand in higher education and looks at how recent research can assess future trends. An introduction describes many researchers' prediction that three trends will soon create a faculty shortage: (1) increasing faculty retirements based on extensive hiring…

Issues unique to survey research among limited-English-proficient (LEP) populations are discussed, with illustrations drawn from one recent doctoral study. The research in question was on language, culture, and ethnicity in five Chinese-language schools in northern California. Its aim was to investigate the role of the schools in maintaining…

JOBS (Job Opportunities in the Business Sector) implementation faces major challenges in every state, but two issues are of particular importance in the South: the impact of low welfare benefits and the impact of low educational levels among Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients. The impact of low welfare benefits shows up…

A study was conducted to determine how parents perceive their involvement in planning the transition from school to work for their children with disabilities. A random sample of 240 parents in 9 school districts in Texas identified as having exemplary disabilities programs were contacted with a mailed survey, and 17 parents volunteered as a result…

A study investigated the differences in the teaching of methods courses in Research and Development (R & D) institutions and in other teacher education programs. The study's major interest was in discerning the emphasis given to "research" in methods courses offered in institutions having an R & D emphasis and comparing it with the emphasis found…

Whether students learn more in private schools is a point of controversy among researchers, though the argument for tuition tax credits for parents of private school students often rests on it. In different studies comparing private and public schools, the main area of disagreement is the extent to which nonschool factors affect achievement. The…

Over the past 25 years, five large-scale research studies of community college students have been conducted in North Carolina, involving cooperation between Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the North Carolina Department of Community Colleges. The different research strategies employed in these studies can be seen as taking one…

In March 1990, the Center for the Study of Community Colleges in Los Angeles hosted a Transfer Assembly as part of an on-going effort to stabilize the imprecise definitions and data relating to student transfers from community colleges to four-year institutions. This report provides excerpts from six of the presentations given to the assembly.…

This pamphlet provides suggestions for students concerning how to best use and interpret educational research. Students should recognize that there is nothing wrong with questioning research. Among the myths that must be challenged are that if something is published, it must be true, and that scientists are objective and uninfluenced by societal…

A study was conducted to determine the relative effectiveness of the traditional and infused (computer-assisted instruction or CAI) approach to basic skills instruction for students in a vocational education program. The sample for the study consisted of 41 male students in the air conditioning/refrigeration program at the Houston Community…

The relationship between bilingualism and cognitive development is explored as an exemplary area in which the disciplinary concerns of cognitive psychology, social psychology, and sociology occur together. A historical review of research shows that many of the apparently contradictory findings about the effects of bilingualism on mental…

A number of issues involved in the large-scale assessment of science and mathematics education were illustrated during the conduct of two national surveys: the 1977 National Survey of Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies Education and the 1985 National Survey, Science and Mathematics Education. Development of the survey questionnaires started…