Advice for doctoral students and fledgling educational researchers presents the following suggestions: (1) use what is known about problem finding to choose a dissertation topic, (2) be persistent in productivity and in the face of discouragement, and (3) replace the typical dissertation structure with a more functional one. (SLD)

Argues that geography education lacks empirical data that might inform and underpin decisions about standards setting, curriculum design, materials development, teaching strategies, and assessment procedures. Identifies four needs: (1) a new attitude toward research; (2) baseline studies; (3) a research agenda; and (4) a research clearinghouse.…

Discusses how clinicians and researchers can critically evaluate information from efficacy studies of language intervention programs. It argues for combining both experimental and nonexperimental approaches and suggests that the use of matching in nonrandomized studies allows for comparison of groups of children participating in an intervention…

We describe a four-level spectrum of pedagogical awareness (SPA) that emerged from the analysis of six undergraduate mathematics tutors' (1) conceptualizations of their first-year students' difficulties; (2) descriptive accounts of their strategies for facilitating the overcoming of these difficulties; and (3) self-reflective accounts regarding…

The research discussed in this manuscript was supported by a capacity building grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education as a "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to use Technology Grant (PT3)". The problem was to determine the effect on teacher candidates of a field experience in which candidates used technology to support the teaching of a…

This research investigated stability and change in the self-appraisal of having lived up to one's abilities from midlife to later aging. The subjects were 185 participants in the Terman Study of the Gifted, who had been asked to rate themselves with respect to living up to their abilities in 1960 (at an average age of 48) and in 1996 (at an…

This Northern Illinois University College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) initiative represents the authors' first attempt to prepare engineering and technology professors for teaching to improve student learning and the Scholarship of Teaching. This college portfolio is nontraditional in that it combines a learning paper approach…

Research studies that have focused on the educational effectiveness of "Sesame Street" are reviewed, and a summary and synthesis of research results are presented. Educational effectiveness is defined as effectiveness in areas related to beginning schooling and the early years of the child's formal education. From the more than 100…

The 1995 National Household Education Survey (NHES:95) was a random digit dial telephone survey of households developed by the National Center for Education Statistics. The NHES:95 included two topical survey components: the Adult Education component, which collected information about adults' participation in adult education, and the Early…

As part of a graduate research course, nine students formed a research team to carry out all aspects of a multimethod research study, including design, data collection and analysis, interpretation, and presentation of results in a final evaluation report to a local school corporation. Benefits and challenges were noted by both the instructor and…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducts a unified set of surveys that facilitates comparison between public and private schools, school districts, and administrator data. The integrated set of surveys is called the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). A Teacher Followup Survey (TFS) is conducted a year after the SASS survey to…

This book in intended to train students in reading a research report critically. It uses actual research articles as examples including both good and flawed studies in each category and provides interpretation and evaluation of the appropriateness of the statistical analyses in each study. Individual chapters usually include two sample studies and…

A longitudinal study of otitis media in young children, begun in 1981, aimed to provide information on the incidence and prevalence of otitis media in young children in the Newcastle (England) region and to follow their academic progress. Subjects selected for the study were kindergartners in five schools and represented an ethnically homogeneous…

"PBS Mathline Middle School Math Project" is a national program offered by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) to local affiliates to increase middle school teachers' understanding of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards, encourage discourse among teachers, and develop classroom applications based on video models of…

The regression-discontinuity approach to evaluating educational programs is reviewed, and regression-discontinuity post-program mean differences under various conditions are discussed. The regression-discontinuity design is used to determine whether post-program differences exist between an experimental program and a control group. The difference…