To provide an accurate reading of students' and schools' rates of progress, and to provide cues for instruction, assessment at every level should be connected to explicit learning goals and standards. To show how this requirement can be fulfilled, and how research-based assessment can effectively support learning and instruction, this article…

Arthur M. Cohen has spoken to community college leaders on a diverse array of issues for many years. This article focuses on his contributions to this leadership in three major areas: (a) providing a vision of community colleges as collegiate institutions, (b) offering valuable and thought-provoking insight into the current context for community…

This article presents and discusses the results of a literature review that was conducted in order to understand ambivalences observed in reflections on the research-teaching nexus. As a result of this literature review, it is possible to attribute these ambivalences to the mixed use of two approaches: on the one hand, a functional approach that…

During the past two decades, the popularity of computer and video games has prompted games to become a source of study for educational researchers and instructional designers investigating how various aspects of game design might be appropriated, borrowed, and re-purposed for the design of educational materials. The purpose of this paper is to…

This narrative acts as an articulation of a journey of many routes. Following Part I of the same research journey of rootedness/routedness, it debates the nature of transformation and transcendence beyond personal and political paradoxes informed by neoliberalism and related repressive globalizing discourses. Through a more personal, descriptive,…

Researchers looking to tap into the treasure troves of long-term student-achievement data that states and districts are starting to pile up say their efforts are increasingly running up against a decades-old federal law designed to protect student privacy. "More and more people are starting to look into questions of the federal…

The author of this article reports in late January 2006, a group of scholars announced the formation of a federally-backed professional society that will focus solely on advancing scientifically rigorous studies in education. The society, which is known as Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, has caused ripples of controversy among…

Large-scale research projects, conducted in a cross-European context, are increasingly attractive to educational researchers and policy-makers. However, this form of comparative research across cultures brings problems concerning the standardization of data collection and analysis, particularly where ethnographic research is concerned, as it…

Globalisation includes not only the changes brought about by the opening up of markets and communication technology, but also those set in motion by shifts in policy relating to the responsibilities of government and the role of research and innovation in development. This paper examines the impact of globalisation on education research, policy…

During the last four decades, educational researchers and practitioners have intensively engaged in bringing about positive changes in schools. Therefore, the kinds of changes introduced to schools have become complex in nature and overwhelming in number--from improving teacher professional knowledge base and teaching repertoires to developing…

Reforming schooling to enable engagement and success for those typically marginalised and failed by schools is a necessary task for educational researchers and activists concerned with injustice. However, it is a difficult pursuit, with a long history of failed attempts. This paper outlines the rationale of an Australian partnership research…

The authors support role changes for educational practitioners who work with children and youth with disabilities as they make important transitions. Principles from critical pedagogy and disability studies are summarized to provide a new theoretical framework to support role changes. Rather than needs-based services that focus on helping those…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a false assumption regarding the motivation of examinees on test construction. Simulated data were generated using two models of item responses (the three-parameter logistic item response model alone and in combination with Wise's examinee persistence model) and were calibrated using a…

There have been numerous attempts in the past few years within education research--and social science research more generally--to alter the character of research practice(s). In particular, there has been a systematic effort to address perceived shortcomings in research practice through a series of "research-capacity building"…

Educational researchers and policy makers have come to rely on data from sample surveys. However, survey research on educational issues poses some special challenges. In many respects, the survey methodology issues in educational research are the same as those throughout the social and behavioral sciences. These issues concern obtaining the best…