The claim that faculty conduct research is one of the main justifications for the modern university. Supposedly, academe carries out important, cutting-edge inquiries in which society has an interest. In fact, states this author, research at American universities is becoming narrow and artificial, out of touch with social realities, and of…

Families across the United States must routinely make difficult choices about child care arrangements because of the need to resume a job, continue an education or training program, or care for other family members. Leaving children in the care of others for the first time can be difficult (Sayer, Bianchi, & Robinson, 2004; Van Horn, Ramey,…

This article examines one major research journal from China and one from the United States. The study compares the two journals with regard to three questions: 1) Who is doing research published in the journals? 2) What are the major issues and concerns represented in the journals? 3) What research methodologies are favoured in the journals? The…

Few in the education field discount the eminently logical idea that teachers should be supported in the continuous improvement of their craft. But as a term for describing ongoing training investments in the teaching force, "professional development" has become both ubiquitous and all but meaningless. Though frequently invoked by…

A child's chance for success in school and in life can be greatly enhanced by their participation in a high-quality preschool program. This message was made loud and clear by participants in a policy forum, "Preschool Education: New Jersey and the Nation," sponsored by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the New Jersey Department of…

There is compelling evidence that teachers' effective use of formative assessment practices improves student learning, yet many teachers have little knowledge of these practices. In this research note, we highlight our exploratory studies about discourse-based formative assessment practices, an aspect of formative assessment whereby the teacher…

Since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified in 1991, children's right to have a voice, and to have their opinions heard, has led many providers and practitioners in the field of early years to seek ways to involve children's perspectives in the evaluation and development of practice. Those who value democracy understand that…

The technical complexities and sheer size of international large-scale assessment (LSA) databases often cause hesitation on the part of the applied researcher interested in analyzing them. Further, inappropriate choice or application of statistical methods is a common problem in applied research using these databases. This article serves as a…

This practitioner research study examined students at an ethnically and economically diverse high school and the impact of replacing the corporate-produced textbook with teacher-created reading packets and questions that asked students to take a critical stance on historical events in United States history. Using critical theories of education as…

In this article, educational scholars L. Janelle Dance, Rochelle Gutierrez, and Mary Hermes share insights from their lived experience as qualitative researchers trying to work in collaboration with diverse populations. They refer to these insights as "improvisations on conventional qualitative methods," reminding readers that their…

The slate of recent reports on youth technology engagement do not explicitly address the construct of "perceived competence," the third main affective state associated with intrinsically-motivated behavior in Edward Deci and Richard Ryan's broader psychological research. In the Spring of 2008, a team of researchers at Syracuse…

Digital video is a growing and important presence in student learning. This paper reports the results of a survey of American educators in Michigan (n = 426) conducted in spring 2008. The survey included questions about educators' attitudes toward the streaming and downloadable video services available to them in their schools. The survey results…

Researchers' social-cultural organization influences the scope, quality, quantity, coherence, dissemination, utilization and impact of research-based, theoretically sound knowledge. Five concepts--paradigm, exemplar, segment, network and gatekeeper--are salient to research on researchers' organization. Autobiographical reflections signal these…

In this paper, we employ cultural sociology and Braj Kachru's model of World Englishes as theoretical and analytical tools for considering English as a form of capital necessary for widely disseminating research findings from local networks of practice to the greater science education research community. We present a brief analysis of recent…

Due to its increasing popularity, youth development (YD) has become a buzzword that is attached to a variety of programs. Several attempts have been made to articulate a unified definition of YD that would enable the field to progress toward measuring the effectiveness of YD programs. In order to determine what constitutes a YD program, we must…