This commentary on EC 605 442, which indicated long-term gains for children with autism who experienced intensive behavioral intervention as preschoolers, questions the magnitude of the student changes and their significance, because of concerns about the representativeness and comparability of the sample group and the failure to measure skills…

This commentary on a study reported in EC 605 442, which indicated long-term gains for children with autism who experienced intensive behavioral intervention as preschoolers, criticizes the outcome measures used in the study as inadequate in determining whether normal functioning in cognitive, emotional, and adaptive functioning was achieved as…

Criticizes the research design in "The Small ICF/MR program: Dimensions of Quality and Cost" (Conroy), that found small Intermediate Care Facilities (ICF) for individuals with mental retardation are inferior to other community programs. Discusses the problem in selecting a control group on the basis of pretest matching. (CR)

In this keynote address presented at the Mid-western Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in October, 2004, the author discusses the increasing interest of federal policy-makers in scientifically-based research. A comparison between education and other disciplines is offered, and a proposal for increased rigor in educational research is…

The local school board has traditionally been the predominant control mechanism for public education in this country. Since the 1970s however, increased legislation and reform in statehouses across the nation have functioned to reduce the discretion enjoyed by local boards. This paper represents an attempt to sketch this increase in state…

In August 1996 Jay P. Greene, Paul E. Peterson, and Jiangtao Du, with Leesa Boeger and Curtis L. Frazier, issued a report called "The Effectiveness of School Choice in Milwaukee." The report, referred to as GPDBF, presented data that indicated that low-income minority students in their third and fourth years of participation in the…

This paper recommends that rural education researchers adopt an ecological approach that acknowledges both family and community influences on child development and school outcomes. Although rural researchers have generated useful information about children, few studies have provided a full portrayal of rural children's lives. A fundamental…

Researchers of gender differences in computer-related behaviors have reported a confusing picture. When asked which sex is more positive toward computers, more apt at using computers, and more likely to use a computer, one would be best advised to answer "it depends." It depends on what attitudes you are measuring, what skills you are…

This study weighs the validity of current arguments about the efficiency of public versus private schooling by critically examining the research that has compared the expenditures of public and private schools and by questioning common assumptions in the debate. Simple comparisons of per-pupil costs are found to be misleading as indicators of…

Methodologies and trends of judicial behavior research (the study of how and why court judges make decisions) are traced from the 1920s to the present. Arranged into five sections, the first two sections of the report identify principal points of social science research in general. A summary of methodology in judicial behavior research reveals…

The value of statistical research depends on valid comparisons which can usefully influence educational policy. Educational research needs to extend the measures of learning (such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress) through nationally-calibrated absolute measures and through computer-assisted and adaptive testing. Direct sampling…

A major problem in mainstreaming and implementation of Public Law 94-142 has been in establishing evaluation criteria to determine appropriate learning environment placement. Providing appropriate education in the least restrictive environment is primarily the classroom teacher's responsibility, requiring decision-making based on these questions:…

A systematic approach to disseminaton of vocational education research and development program improvement efforts is comprehensive, effective, and efficient. Systematic dissemination is a prerequisite link to assessing impact of research and development--for program improvement to occur, successful dissemination is crucial. A systematic approach…

Information processing, beliefs, and motivations can be coupled with the principle of causal attributions to provide a framework for assessing the causes to which individuals attribute their own behavior. For example, an elderly man who forgets to buy something at the store presents himself with an identity based on cultural stereotypes--in this…

The theoretical relationships between employee job satisfaction and employee behavior, and the factors that influence job satisfaction among nurses are considered, along with the type of research that should be conducted on this topic. Although major contributions to the theory of human needs have been made by Maslow and by Herzberg, the…