"The Integration Anomaly" explores a "puzzling divergence" between changes in metropolitan residential and school segregation. Based on a review of existing literature, it argues that the best way to address rising school segregation is to decouple school assignment from neighborhoods through universal school choice. The report…

The article "Getting lost in translation" by Harris, Chapman, Muijs and Reynolds addresses the engagement of policy-makers and educational practitioners with (the results of) educational effectiveness and improvement research. In this commentary the article is discussed from the perspectives of research utilisation, the solidity of the…

The Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) at the University of Chicago was founded in 1990, two years after the passage of the Chicago School Reform Act that decentralized governance of the city's public schools. Since then, CCSR has distinguished itself as a unique organization, conducting research of high technical quality that is…

The last article in a special issue on organizational research utilization, this paper discusses "solution environments" (the real or assumed distribution of good and bad solutions to problems), the models underlying the environments, the generation of these models, and solution environments' relationship to research utilization.…

This article explores ways in which evidence contributes to individual thought and to the formation of shared knowledge and shared decisions. It also distinguishes among sources of evidence intended to attribute causality and those designed merely to describe. It is based on data from a naturalistic study of 16 school districts. (BW)

States that low research productivity in occupational therapy is primarily motivational and attitudinal. Suggests the need for (1) research and scholarly behavior models, (2) positive reinforcement, (3) a focus on clinical significance, and (4) multiple research approaches. (CH)

"Research-transfer" and "adult education" program models are barriers to closer working relationships among extension and other agencies; an interdependence model that combines the perspectives of extension held by the other two models should improve cooperation and collaboration and build support for extension. (Author/JOW)

Suggests a new model for the relationship between research and practice in adult education. Concludes that the active involvement of both researchers and teachers is necessary if research is to solve educational problems. (CH)

The technique of causal modeling as applied to theoretical constructs in teacher education is demonstrated. The abstract principles of causality are explained, and are applied to various educational research needs. An example is made using data collected from a sample of 44 secondary level students who participated in a one semester student…

Several factors determine whether it is in the interest of educational practitioners to utilize educational research. The first factor is the amount of work that is involved in utilizing research. Anything that makes it easier to use research weakens resistance to utilization. A second factor is the incentive structure of the schools. To motivate…

Suggests a framework for federal leadership in redesigning national education dissemination system to enhance use of educational research and development. Components of framework are education resources, dissemination functions, bureaucratic levels, content focus related to users' needs, and participants' roles and skills. Described are current…

Modern reading theories that are concerned with the reading process of either mature or immature readers show no clearcut concern with unit size. The various graphic units that are encountered by the reader include letters, graphemes, clusters (such as blends), syllables, phonograms, affixes and roots, words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs,…

The paper deals with the contribution of empirical psychology to the problems of instruction and proposes a conceptual framework to promote helpful interactions between experimenters and teachers of children with learning difficulties. Both groups share a common concern, the definition of tasks by testing instructions in action. (Author/DB)

Describes four stages of policy formulation (issue definition, deliberation on policy options, authoritative allocation, and performance oversight) and four types of policy-relevant social research (descriptive, explanatory, critical, and forecasting). Proposes a model showing the linkages among research types, policy-making stages, and policy…

Part of a special issue on organizational research utilization, this article reviews 27 empirical studies on the utilization of social science research. Its conceptual framework for utilization includes action generation, information processing, affective bonding, and strategy formulation and control. The authors identify 3 types of utilization…