While traditional literature reviews have functioned to clarify a single field, the interpretive review may contribute to research that challenges the perceptual habits of reviewers and extends the ways in which research questions can be constructed and studied. The interpretive review may bring many disciplines together for a new approach to the…

Explores the purposes of reviews of educational literature in the context of contemporary educational theories. A review, whether explicitly seen as interpretive or not, represents a form of technical knowledge appropriate to a particular conception of education as technical, effective action. (SLD)

Introduces a set of companion essays that examine reviews as a mode of inquiry. Explores the practice and outcomes of reviews in their political and conceptual contexts as research methodology and considers what a review is, what it reveals, who benefits from a review, and the actions implied by review findings. (SLD)

Kathleen Metz has suggested that application of theories of developmental psychology to children's science instruction has led to underestimation of children's competence and potential. This review proposes use of developmental psychology as a guidepost rather than a constraint in developing science curricula. (SLD)

In an attempt to understand why the promise of educational innovation has not been realized, educational innovation, its ideological and paradigmatic underpinnings, and the major stages of the innovation process are critically examined. The centrality of power and the generation of correspondence and contradiction as key analytical concepts are…

Expresses doubts about whether the evidence presented by M. Wang, G. Haertel, and H. Walberg provides robust and consistent findings that could, or should, be used to inform educational policy and practice. Discusses five questions about the methodology of the study, and indicates that basing educational policy on their findings would be merely an…

Explores the role and purpose of research synthesis, and defends the conclusions drawn about school learning. The selection of the broad outcome "school learning" was an attempt to show that educational research and development can answer important questions about schooling. (SLD)

The research and development of mental (standardized) testing and its relationship to educational practice is traced historically from its pre-World War I roots to its controversial national prominence in the 1970s. How standardized tests have been used in research and in schools is analyzed. (BS)

Relevant studies from curriculum research are reviewed and presented under the categories of the relationships of research to practice, and the nature of knowledge production and utilization (KP&U). Each of the three topics deal with KP&U in general, related work within education, and work specifically related to the curriculum. (Author/SM)

Basic and methodological considerations, organizational context of social action programs affect the introduction, execution, and utilization of evaluative research. Tensions between administrators and evaluators, and client activism are two of the problems discussed. (VW)

Asserts that the central problem of the analysis by M. Wang, G. Haertel, and H. Walberg is that they tend to view the teacher, at least implicitly, as the compliant beneficiary of the knowledge of the educational researcher. Any knowledge base that aims to affect classroom practice should take into account and respect the teacher's world.…

Asserts that because M. Wang, G. Haertel, and H. Walberg never clarify the contours of their "knowledge base for school learning," it is difficult to know what their broad-based comparison of research studies has really yielded. Explores dilemmas posed by the methodology of the study. (SLD)

Considers the potential impact of the study by M. Wang, G. Haertel, and H. Walberg. Their analysis is the first step in understanding and explaining the factors that really do make a positive difference in quality of school learning, rather than simply describing associations between school-related input and output measures. (SLD)

Explores what the "knowledge base for school learning" described by M. Wang, G. Haertel, and H. Walberg might mean for education by describing some cases of school learning from fieldwork in elementary schools. The focus is on psychological dimensions of school learning. (SLD)