Education researchers use surveys widely. Yet, critics question respondents' ability to provide high-quality responses. As schools increasingly use student surveys to drive local policy making, respondents' (lack of) motivation to provide quality responses may threaten the wisdom of using questionnaires for data-based decision making. To better…

This commentary highlights convergent themes from four articles in the March 2009 issue of "Educational Researcher" on measuring classroom instruction. Classroom instruction is a complex enterprise that occurs at the intersection of teachers, students, and texts within the surrounding classroom, school, and community environments. Progress in…

This article critiques the articles by Connor et al., Croninger and Valli, Pianta and Hamre, and Rowan and Correnti, which appeared in the March 2009 issue of "Educational Researcher," by taking a cultural-historical perspective on reading and reading instruction. In this paradigm a number of those authors' assumptions are seen as questionable,…

The authors take the opportunity to respond to the commentaries that were written regarding their article (in the March 2009 issue of "Educational Researcher") summarizing the conceptual and empirical basis for using standardized approaches to observing teachers' practices in classrooms and the potential that such approaches have for addressing…

Interactive immersive entertainment, or videogame playing, has emerged as a major entertainment and educational medium. As research and development initiatives proliferate, educational researchers might benefit by developing more grounded theories about them. This article argues for framing game play as a "designed experience." Players'…