Executive Order 13096 seeks to improve the educational achievement and academic progress of American Indian and Alaska Native students. Section F of the Order requires the U.S. Department of Education to develop and implement a research agenda for that purpose. Among other things, the research agenda is to include an evaluation of the role of…

This book includes 22 papers in three parts. After (1) "Teacher Inquiry: A Defining Feature of Professional Practice" (Anthony Clarke and Gaalen Erickson), Part 1, "Enacting Teacher Research in Practice Settings," includes (2) "Writing Matters: Exploring the Relationship between Writing Instruction and Assessment"…

This document is comprised of volume 13 of the Harvard Education Letter, published bimonthly and addressing current issues in elementary and secondary education. Articles in the six issues of this volume include: (1) January-February --"Making Detracking Work" (Lynn and Wheelock), "Developing a Culture of High Expectations for…

Analyzes Kenyan educational research conducted over the past 25 years. Examines choice of research topics, research methodologies, training of researchers, funding, and research utilization. Advocates more action and participatory research, greater regional cooperation and coordination, publishing findings in accessible sources, and greater…

Describes one university's Field Based Masters Program. Designed around intact cohorts of experienced teachers who meet weekly over two years, the program involves integrated curriculum and action research projects. The paper describes how group process and collaboration are integral to teachers' learning experiences and ongoing professional…

Contends British educational researchers must begin investigating what is taught in the classroom and how teachers might best manage content within the constraints of the National Curriculum. Reviews U.S. research concerning the importance of subject matter in educating students. Illustrates research possibilities for problems in primary…

This study offers ways to understand how a fifth-grade student and her teacher co-constructed academic and social positions within classroom writing practices and how these positions constrained and enabled literacy learning. Positioning is viewed as central rather than optional to learning. Classroom writing practices enabled the case-study…

The new Science and Technology Curriculum Framework recently issued in Taiwan advocates the teaching of integrated science and technology with greater emphasis on basic skills. Science teachers are not used to teach in this way, they need different abilities and skills in order to do so. Using various effective professional development strategies,…

When the author was a little girl, her father told her the story of how he once saw the great Harry Houdini escape from a straight jacket. In the early 1900s, Houdini fascinated thousands of people by performing feats of life-threatening daring and agility. Houdini was a professional in the traditional sense: he acted alone, kept his trade secrets…

The report summarizes five Colorado teacher research projects in teaching students with disabilities. The five projects described demonstrate that teacher initiated classroom based research allows educators to develop innovative approaches to instruction and to analyze their results in an objective way. The following projects are presented: (1)…

Students in two college freshman composition classes (one American and one English as a second language) at a southern university researched the theory of contrastive rhetoric by exchanging pen pal letters and by progressing through a sequence of five formal assignments with revisions. These assignments led the students to consider their own…

Statewide competency testing as a high school graduation requirement represents a threat to those who encourage broad notions of reading and writing, even when a number of testing innovations in reading and writing mean a step forward in education. In Alberta, Canada, the English exam comes in a non-academic and an academic version, and…

Detailed findings are presented from the National Science Foundation's 1981 Survey of Scientific and Engineering Personnel Employed at Universities and Colleges. Information on characteristics of scientists and engineers employed by approximately 2,200 higher education institutions and data from 19 university-administered federally-funded research…

The University of Tennessee-Knoxville program for advancement of minorities and women in the field of educational research is described in terms of accomplishment of the five objectives of the program. These objectives are as follows: (1) to develop and demonstrate an effective training program combining postdoctoral (Law Enforcement…

A group of adult educators in England conducted seven case studies to identify strategies for recognizing adult students' learning progress in nonaccredited programs. The case studies identified the following elements of good practice in the process of recording and validating achievement: (1) initial identification of learning objectives; (2)…