Critiques the methodology of a study that found that teacher certification had little effect on the achievement of students and presents additional data on the characteristics of the small sample of teachers in the original analysis. Results suggest that most of those teachers had qualifications equivalent to certification. (SLD)

Further commentary on distributed practice and the acquisition of motor skills points out that there are at least two viable theoretical perspectives that can be brought to bear on issues surrounding the acquisition of perceptual-motor skills. (JD)

The criticisms of the reading literacy study conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) are addressed. It is argued that the IEA literacy survey met requirements for valid international comparisons, and that its rank order of nations is fair. (SLD)

Bottom line regarding veracity of assertion of Michael L. Penn, Stanley O. Gaines, and Layli Phillips in their article "On the Desirability of Own-Group Preference" (1993)--that the preference toward one's same group (racial or otherwise) is neither a valid measure of ethnic identity nor a predictor of psychological health--is that it is…

To the debate between the Rortyan pragmatic model of scientific research advocated by Cleo Cherryholmes and the scientific realism espoused by Ernest R. House is added another model for educational research based on the realism of John Dewey's pragmatism. Constructivist and behaviorist aspects of Dewey's philosophy are explored. (SLD)

Discusses various responses to the author's book "Ways with Words--Language, Life and Work in Communities and Classrooms" (1983). Describes how these reactions have led the author to see things in the work that she had not seen before. Strengths and weaknesses of the book she identifies have implications for the conduct of future ethnographic…

Articles in this special issue deal with the assessment of the impact of research and are divided into segments concerning semiquantitative approaches; qualitative approaches; and quantitative and fiscal approaches. These articles illustrate the importance of the role of motivation and associated incentives. (SLD)

Reviews six works by Connie Miller, Comp., and Corinna Treitel (1991); Margrit Eichler (1987); Carol A. B. Warren (1988); Beth Hartung, Ed., and others (1988); Joyce McCarl Nielsen, Ed. (1990); and Liz Stanley, Ed. (1990). Works span diversity of current writing about feminist methodologies, offer guidelines for producing nonsexist or feminist…

A set of concerns related to home education that is infrequently studied, namely, the content and direction of research in education, is examined. Issues surrounding home education have not been given adequate attention. A sample of home education researchers was gathered by compiling a list of authors who had published in the "Home School…