The word "data" connotes math, science, and technology: digits and quantifiable units. Data imply objectification--reducing ideas, and perhaps even students and teachers, to products that can be measured and compared. Ironically, however, this conception of data is itself reductive, and it minimizes the richness and potential of data.…

In the Least Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs), School Based Teacher Development (SBTD) is sometimes advocated as a potential mechanism for improving the classroom practices experienced by millions of children in a complete school system, as quickly as possible. Robust evidence is required for approaches to be implemented with some…

In this essay David Labaree explores the historical and sociological elements that have made educational researchers dependent on statistics. He shows that educational research as a domain, with its focus on a radically soft and thoroughly applied form of knowledge and with its low academic standing, fits the pattern in which weak professions have…

Education, whether formal or informal, is perceived as development and language is the major medium of instruction and communication through which knowledge is transmitted. Documented substantial evidence indicates that Africa was on a positive trend to steady development before colonialism set in. Colonialism ushered in a foreign medium of…

Background: Collaborative action research provides teachers with the framework and methodology to reflect upon their work and take action with regard to specific concerns and situations in their classrooms. Within this approach, internal evaluation could be a useful tool to help teachers develop critical thinking about their work by locating areas…

Argues that classroom research helps teachers (1) explore in a focused way what works with their students; and (2) discover if a problem will be solved by changing the classroom environment. Presents examples of classroom research. Describes procedures for conducting classroom research. (RS)

This action research report describes a program to increase students' reading comprehension and fluency through the use of guided reading. The targeted population consists of second and fourth grade students in a northwest suburban area of a large city located in the Midwest. The problems of low reading comprehension and fluency scores were…

Examined how a curriculum development project, aligned with current mathematics education reforms, affected 18 students in socially diverse mathematics classroom. Found that students of lower socioeconomic status preferred direct teacher intervention as opposed to open discussions among classmates. Higher socioeconomic status students displayed…