Accreditation bodies for institutions of higher education like the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) require colleges and universities to create campus climates and experiences for students that foster diversity. In particular, schools of education have the…

Teaching children to write successfully is an area of great concern to educators in the 21 st century. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data, the writing skills of two-thirds of the students in elementary, middle, and high school are below grade level proficiency (Persky, Daane, & Jin, 2003). In 2003, the…

The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on behalf of the United States Department of Education in order to collect extensive data on American public and private elementary and secondary schools. SASS provides data on the characteristics and qualifications of teachers and…

This book is a guide is for school practitioners who want to know more about planning and conducting focus groups as an aid to decision-making. It emphasizes practical and cost-effective ways to ensure accurate results. After defining the focus group, chapter 1 offers ways focus groups can be used in schools and reasons for using them. Chapter 2…

This paper attempts to show how the effective use of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies can provide a more complete picture when conducting research and can serve as a means of validation. The context is research on special education reform in South Carolina. The first phase of the research project focused on constructing…

This article provides guidelines that educators can use to evaluate their own inclusion programs. The advantages of questionnaires, interviews and focus group interviews are reviewed, and tips are included for conducting interviews and focus groups. Sample interview questions, and possible concerns of teachers and recommended solutions are also…

The focus groups technique is described, giving details about the methodology. As a practical application, a study of teacher perspectives toward reform in the Spanish educational system is presented. Issues of group size, the moderator's role, and drawing conclusions from group responses are discussed. (SLD)

Reviews focus groups as a way of determining community opinions and explains how to use them. Designing a focus group series, conducting the group, and reporting the results are described, and examples are given of focus groups in educational change. (SLD)

Describes the use of focus groups with teacher candidates to evaluate a pilot program within the Queen's University Faculty of Education. The pilot study was designed to uncover problems in implementing the program before candidates registered. After reviewing focus-group techniques, the article describes how they were used in the pilot study's…

Data are not available to inform education policy discussion regarding how resources are allocated both within and among schools. This study was conducted to develop and pilot test a questionnaire that would collect school-level expenditure data. This report describes the three site visits and focus group conducted for this project, findings from…

Discusses the use of focus groups and surveys to examine the characteristics and needs of nontraditional teacher education students, explaining the importance of open lines of communication among students, faculty, and college administrators to ensure successful programmatic implementation. Data from Bradley University nontraditional students…

Case studies of focus groups as a useful educational research strategy for evaluating noninstructional interventions are described. Focus groups were used to evaluate the effectiveness of programs in the following Virginia school settings: (1) peer counseling programs in 4 high schools with 49 student counselors; (2) gifted programs in 7…