As value-added research designs gain in popularity and undergo increasing scrutiny, experts are beginning to wave cautionary flags about how best to make use of them in education. Value-added techniques for measuring student achievement appeal to administrators and policymakers at all levels of education because they quantify the gains that…

This article examines the use of "mixed methods" research in education--studies that blend different research strategies. Although various methodologies have always been part of a researcher's toolkit, much of the renewed attention to that strategy is a reaction to the U.S. Department of Education's current emphasis on using randomized field…