District leaders often feel that working with researchers is not mutually beneficial. Researchers do not provide enough practical guidance, and they are often unable to present their findings in time to inform district decision making. Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are a potential new strategy for addressing these challenges. RPPs are…

Too many researchers have built careers on the quantitative/qualitative research debate. Social scientists have largely abandoned their responsibility for popular education, focusing primarily on schooling's limitations, rather than its potential for furthering social progress. Standard-setting is highly politicized; research is becoming too…

A six-year investigation of schoolwide action research shows that teachers were reluctant to collaborate outside their immediate grade or subject area and to open up their classrooms. Teachers relied on intuitive program-evaluation approaches and held differing definitions of action research. Schools making the most progress had the most technical…

A Georgia middle school's action-research project had three goals: understanding its students; improving the classroom curriculum and developing the requisite teaching skills; and examining the consequences of team or school policies and programs. Evaluations are discussed from varying staff perspectives. (MLH)

Educational researchers have paid little attention to "critique"--an activity young artists routinely use to assess and advance their creative projects. It is an activity from which they have a lot to learn, particularly in the context of community-based arts collaboratives. In school classrooms where teachers emphasize group projects…