Intended to encourage promising and fresh ideas in education research, the Field Initiated Studies (FIS) Program in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) supports a varied array of research projects that are proposed and justified by the applicants. Of the 29 projects described here, 12 were funded in 1990 and 17 in 1991. The…

Research recommendations on policy issues that have national scope and significance and that are appropriate for research and development centers supported by the National Institute of Education (NIE) are offered to the director of NIE. Five mission statements are presented for the following areas: policy and pupil performance, policy and school…

Many education reformers criticize the mediocre state of learning in high schools in the United States. In order to insure that all students have equal access to high quality teaching, it is argued that educators must explore the potent connections among school setting, ability grouping, teaching methods, and student opportunity to learn. The…

This collection of conference presentations focuses on the twin themes of restructuring and technology in rural schools. Rural America's increasingly polarized demographics, political leadership voids, teacher training, renewal strategies, and ever-shrinking budgets are discussed, along with ongoing media criticism, which is a reality for all…

This collection, which is a product of a 23-day study tour of China, focuses on educational research and changing educational objectives and practices against the background of the changes that have occurred in the country since the Cultural Revolution of 1976. Sheldon Weeks' introduction to the collection explains how the study tour came about,…

This report, stressing India's National Policy on Education (1968), discusses the structure and content of India's educational system. This policy promotes education as a powerful instrument of social and economic change. It provides for the implementation of universal and free compulsory education; agricultural, technical, and adult education;…

Part I of this report outlines the organization and structure of all levels of education in Finland. Part II traces the development of education from 1974-76 regarding policy, legislation, and educational research. Principles, admission requirements, curricula and financing of compulsory, secondary and higher education are described. The basic…

The resource guide for career education opens with discussions of the need for career education and a general introduction to the field. One-third of the guide is a State-by-State survey of career education efforts which contains each State's definition of career education, developmental activities, places to look at, publications, and the name…

A description of a bilingual education program at the elementary school level spanning five years since its inception is presented in this report. The home-school language switch from English to French made by control and experimental classes involved total immersion in the French-taught curriculum. While focusing on the educational objectives of…

This document is the second volume in a 5-part series that reports the results of a project undertaken to critically review and analyze major longitudinal studies of child and student development. These studies were conducted to discover the variables, techniques, methodologies, and problems pertinent to evaluate studies of the effects of schools…

The quarterly publication consists of one hundred and fifty-two abstracts of periodical and newspaper articles on education in India. Some of the many topics covered are courses of study, curriculum, examination and evaluation, guidance and counseling, technical and vocational education, educational psychology, teaching methods, and history. A…

When Shanahan, Meehan, and Mogge (1994) reviewed the issue of professionalization, they characterized previous discussions and debates as controversial, negative, and heated, marked more by discord than unity. A key point of disagreement was whether or under what conditions certification could be considered necessary or desirable. They found only…

Family literacy has developed over the past decade into an increasingly significant--and often contested--area of research, practice, and policymaking in the fields of literacy and family studies as well as in the broader arenas of education and schooling. The purpose of this chapter is to give the reader a better understanding of the general…

In 2001-02, the Queensland Indigenous Education Consultative Body conducted seven research projects examining Indigenous educational policies and strategies. Qualitative and quantitative methods included literature reviews; academic data collection; and interviews and focus groups with Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators, parents, community…

The patterns of word recognition errors among native and nonnative speakers of English in adult basic education classes were compared in a study that focused on the 212 of the 676 learners in the Adult Reading Components Study who scored between grade equivalent (GE) 4 and 6 in word recognition. Key findings were as follows: (1) highly similar…