Claims that education research is flawed and that it has little or no impact on school practices have been circulating for at least 75 years, and this chorus of criticism has intensified in the past three decades. Yet the validity of such claims has not been investigated, write Biddle and Saha. The authors interviewed 120 school principals (81 in…

Schools have recently begun to place increased emphasis on the use of rigorous research evidence in guiding instructional decisions. Turning education into an evidence-based field is easier to advocate than to achieve, particularly in an environment of competing claims about what works. In this article, the author discusses the factors which…

The Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study (BTES) newsletter presents news and an overview of the BTES project. Major articles recount the story of what happens when public school teachers and principals implement the BTES into their individual schools. (LH)

Unnecessary polarization between research traditions (basic vs. applied, experimental vs. correlational, and laboratory vs. field research) has resulted in extreme, nonproductive conflict between experimental rigor and policy relevance. The analogue model (described) grounds experimental studies in social problems without losing the unique…

This paper summarizes recent experience of large-scale, nationally representative longitudinal youth transition studies in the United States. Two study series are considered. First is the longitudinal youth cohorts of the U.S. Department of Labors Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Longitudinal Youth Study, with cohorts that started in 1979…

Explores the purposes of reviews of educational literature in the context of contemporary educational theories. A review, whether explicitly seen as interpretive or not, represents a form of technical knowledge appropriate to a particular conception of education as technical, effective action. (SLD)

Reports that some universities are starting their own venture-capital funds to develop campus companies, or are investing endowment funds with established venture-capital firms inclined to finance potential spinoffs from campus research. Examples cited are from the University of Alabama, Vanderbilt University (Tennessee), University of…

A nurse preceptorship program used narrative to help participants explore the complexity of pediatric clinical practice. Through narratives they shared clinical decision making, knowledge, and skills, transforming knowing into story telling into learning. (SK)

As the evidence-based practice movement gains momentum, continuing education practitioners increasingly confront the challenge of developing and conducting opportunities for achieving research uptake. Recent thinking invites new approaches to continuing education for health professionals, with due consideration of what knowledge merits uptake by…

The accountability imperative requires schools to evaluate the effectiveness of educational programs. Florida answered the accountability imperative by instituting statewide objective assessments and assigning grades to schools. The latter move led to several initiatives concerning the practices that improve schools in Florida. This article…

The paper suggests the application of a research and development (R and D) process in an ongoing project at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Four phases/stages of the process are discussed: research, development, implementation, and maintenance. It is pointed out that the objective of the project has been to train normal hearing…

This book is a report of a systematic study based on interviews with 120 school principals that addresses questions about the utilization of knowledge from social research. It offers evidence that challenges allegations about the "awful reputation" of educational research and its supposed lack of impact. The Untested Accusation: (1)…

Purposes and methods of attracting articles on educational research to the Journal of Teacher Education are discussed. Three research-oriented formats are introduced that will appear in future issues: (1) Teacher Education Research Commentaries; (2) Research Briefs; and (3) research articles. (FG)

Describes how the American Association of University Professors' (AAUP's) "Statement on Copyright" addresses issues of control and ownership of academic work, including the implications of new technology. (EV)

Discusses the importance of the Web as a new medium for disseminating and promoting scholarly research, particularly its potential to provide wider evidence of research impact than citation analysis. Recommends strategies for reporting the online impact of research leading to the production of a Web Invocation Portfolio. (Contains 58 references.)…