A decade ago, many education leaders dismissed student achievement data and systematic research as having only limited utility when it came to improving schools or school systems. That was the "old stupid." But now the pendulum has swung the other way. In the "new stupid," data-based decision making and research-based practice can stand in for…

When education issues come to be understood in terms that neatly overlay the standard ideological alignments, they often become proxies for the war between Right and Left. This has been the case in the instance of charter schools, with proponents and critics mustering up researchers and findings to buttress their respective claims and, in general,…

Article shows the difference between educational research techniques and problem-solving practitioners, and explores the base out of which these differences in orientation grow. (Author/ML)

Article discusses and compares successful and unsuccessful programs for educational research. Stresses a need for new research which focuses upon program implementation, quality assurance, direct observation and exportability. (Author/ML)

Research on study techniques indicates that any study technique can help if it enables students to process the right information in the right way. Students often have to be carefully trained to use a technique to advantage. Guidelines are provided. (Author/MLF)

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…

Reviews the research on racial prejudice, suggests how the findings can be applied to reduce prejudice, and poses some questions for further research. (MLF)

The Hunter Model is designed to guide behavior, predict outcomes, and stimulate research. Those who seek more may be expecting too much; those who find less may not be using the model appropriately. (Author)

A work-study team is the core of a school-university collaboration benefiting everyone involved. (Author)

Despite declining public confidence in the schools, education does make a difference in both intellectual and monetary terms. A number of changes are needed, however, including better integration of educational research and practice with other social services, and the development of a more useful system of educational research and development.…

Effective teaching practices identified through research stress the search for meaning and can therefore serve as a foundation for teaching thinking, despite grade-level and subject matter differences in content, teacher role, engagement time, and outcomes sought. Effective teaching is structured, interactive, and conducted in a positive learning…

Educational research is said to influence classroom teaching by affecting the design of curricular materials, providing a model of human learning, and furnishing data applicable to solutions of particular problems. (GW)

Research in cognitive science is providing an increasingly detailed understanding of human cognition. Teachers can help students become conscious of their own reasoning processes and then learn to compare, contrast, interrelate, or coordinate various ways in which they think in order to refine their problem-solving methods. (Author/MLF)

Presents common attributes of effective evaluation systems, which are drawn from studies in Arizona, Michigan, and Vermont. Attributes include participant acceptance of validity, participant understanding of system mechanics and rationale, properly trained evaluators, a variety of evaluation methods, and evaluation as a district priority. (CJH)