Education researchers often encounter scenarios where an abrupt policy change occurs within or across jurisdictions or populations that affect key student outcomes. Difference-in-differences is a research design analysts can use to estimate causal effects of these "natural experiments." This article introduces education researchers to…

At this particular historical juncture of the Anthropocene, when it is clear that humanity is responsible for fundamental changes to the biosphere, the political necessity of questioning the normative status of human life at the center demands reconfiguring our relationship with each other. And while environmental educators and researchers have…

Purpose: This article aims to subvert the nature/culture and subject/object divides that structure the dominant Western educational research paradigm by stepping beyond an exclusively human conversation and activating our ecological imaginations in the face of intensifying anthropogenic climate change. Design/Approach/Methods: Informed by animist…

Focused reflection is teacher directed professional learning that uses ongoing formative assessment aligned with research-based instructional practices and standards. It allows teachers to operate as researchers and hold themselves accountable for what they are teaching and what students are learning. This article provides a table that outlines…

For the first time in twenty years the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS, 2009) is considering changes to federal regulations governing research. The Common Rule provides the basis for government regulations and Institutional Review Boards (IRB). Proposed changes will have a significant impact on Institutional Review Board…

Given decades of lucid, blunt admonitions that statistical significance tests are often misused, and that the tests are somewhat limited in utility, what is needed is less repeated bashing of statistical tests, and some honest reflection regarding the etiology of researchers' denial and psychological resistance (sometimes unconscious) to improved…

Narrative research offers unique possibilities for fostering dialogues of discovery between oneself and others. There is an increasing use of narrative inquiry within the field of educational research. A researcher's work with a Hmong refugee from Laos illustrates representational and interpretive dilemmas in narrative research. Narrative…

Suggests that action research provides ownership and often results in a sense of efficacy by engaging practitioners in the change process. Describes the practitioner-based movement in professional development and program improvement in Pennsylvania. (JOW)

Twelve proposed priorities, drafted by the Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement, will dictate the aims and lines of inquiry of research centers whose contracts will expire next year. The new competition is especially large because the contracts for 14 of the 21 present centers expire. (MLW)