The Percentage of Proficient Students (PPS) has become a ubiquitous statistic under the No Child Left Behind Act. This focus on proficiency has statistical and substantive costs. The author demonstrates that the PPS metric offers only limited and unrepresentative depictions of large-scale test score trends, gaps, and gap trends. The limitations…

Discusses problems for educational research posed by the unpredictability and indeterminism of human behavior. Presents a theory of purposeful behavior (perceptual control theory) to provide an explicit working model of how individuals produce repeatable outcomes via variable means. Describes primary characteristics of this theory and its…

Responding to Bulterman-Bos (2008), the author argues that the effort to make education research more relevant is counterproductive. Teachers and researchers have different orientations toward education that arise from different institutional settings, occupational constraints, daily work demands, and professional incentives. These are not…

Argues the good and the bad aspects of constructivism as revealed through the literature, and describes the framework of the three different dimensions constructivist writers fall into. The author also discusses the degree to which each dimension harbors various sociopolitical versus educational concerns. (GR)

This article raises a number of questions about the current unified theory of test validity that has construct validity at its center. The authors suggest a different way of conceptualizing the problem of establishing validity by considering whether the focus of the investigation of a test is internal to the test itself or focuses on constructs…

In response to Bulterman-Bos (2008), this article discusses three kinds of research needed in education: problem-finding research, which helps frame good research questions; problem-solving research, which helps illuminate educational problems; and translational work, which transforms the findings of research into tools that practitioners and…

The way in which researchers view education differs fundamentally from the way in which teachers view education. These different outlooks are (partly) a consequence of the different work roles of researchers and teachers. This article explores the question of whether it is really inevitable that research and practice each establish different views…

Worldwide immigration and quests for rights by minority groups have caused social scientists and educators to raise serious questions about liberal assimilationist conceptions of citizenship that historically have dominated citizenship education in nation-states. The author of this article challenges liberal assimilationist conceptions of…

Clarifies misperceptions of the author's analysis of the theory-practice dualism manifest in reconceptualist curriculum theorizing, replying to Henderson's inquiry about the author's perspective on curriculum practice by discussing the ideas of Tyler and Schwab and curriculum enactment. Proposes further deliberation on testing the new theories in…

Lissitz and Samuelsen (2007) propose a new framework for conceptualizing test validity that separates analysis of test properties from analysis of the construct measured. In response, the author of this article reviews fundamental characteristics of test validity, drawing largely from seminal writings as well as from the accepted standards. He…

Although intellectual conflict may be an important instructional tool (because of its potential constructive outcomes), conflict is rarely structured in instructional situations (because of its potential destructive outcomes). Many educators may be apprehensive about instigating intellectual conflict among students because of the lack of…

Reiterates the author's convictions about the inadequacy of mainstream educational research. If perceptual control theory is correct in positing a closed-loop, negative feedback relationship between individuals and their environments, then current and mainstream educational research is not adequate for explaining purposeful behavior. (SLD)

Discusses challenges related to educational theory and practice, focusing on arenas for theoretical development (unifying the cognitive and the social, learning, the brain, transfer, reconceptualizing the nature versus nurture discussion, and social systems); theory and applications in synergy; and arenas for practical development (curriculum,…

Argues that the regularity theory of causation, which underlies traditional conceptions of validity, is inadequate for describing and explaining many causal inferences made in professional practice and everyday life. Advocates an expanded, pluralistic conception of validity that allows for the validity of inferences made in a variety of ways. (FMW)

This article explores the use of the methodology of portraiture and the analytic framework of critical race theory (CRT) to evaluate success and failure in urban classrooms. Portraiture and CRT share a number of features that make the two a viable pair for conducting research in urban schools. In combination, portraiture and CRT allow researchers…