This commentary on the special issue, entitled "Models and Tools for Systems Learning and Instruction," highlights the accomplishments of the papers in this collection. It also points to some avenues for further strengthening research on promoting systems understanding. Collectively, the papers make advances in our understanding of how…

In this article, I respond to Noel Card's "Methodological Issues in Measuring the Development of Character." I focus on the ways in which social scientific knowledge represents human constructions of the world and the implications of this stance for the measurement of character. Further, I consider how context influences those…

Systematic Direct Observation (SDO) has played a pivotal role in the field of Emotional and/or Behavioral Disorders (EBD) since its inception as a key part of understanding more about the behaviors, contexts that impact them, and the effective supports necessary for this population. This methodology is an ongoing charge for everyone. The authors…

In this rejoinder, the authors describe the aim of the original study as an effort to conduct a critical test of an important postulate underlying the Cross-Battery Assessment PSW approach (XBA PSW; Kranzler, Floyd, Benson, Zaboski, & Thibodaux, this issue). The authors used classification agreement analysis to examine the concordance between…

On April 11, 2014, the TESOL/AL Web Journal (represented by Rongchan Lin, Yuna Seong, and Catherine Box) had the opportunity to sit down with Professor Alister Cumming, guest speaker for the 2014 Applied Linguistics & Language Education (APPLE) Lecture Series, hosted annually by the TESOL/Applied Linguistics Programs at Teachers College,…

Latent variable structural equation modeling has become the analytic method of choice in many domains of research in psychology and allied social sciences. One important aspect of a latent variable model concerns the relations hypothesized to hold between latent variables and their indicators. The most common specification of structural equation…

In this article, the authors Sarah A. Anzia and Terry M. Moe, offer a retort to William S. Koski and Elieen L. Horng's argument that their study of seniority-based transfer rules is narrow and that its findings only apply under limited circumstances. The Koski-Horng's study, by contrast, takes a broad frame--so broad that, as detailed in…

This paper replies to points raised by the editors of the "ABS Guide", Huw Morris, Charles Harvey, Aidan Kelly and Michael Rowlinson (2011) "Accounting Education: an international journal", 20(6), pp. 561-573) in response to a paper published in a previous issue of "Accounting Education" (Hussain, S. (2011)…

The TLRP has provided a wealth of information that can form the foundation of conversations and debate for researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. This paper focuses on two of the issues raised by James and Pollard: (1) the methodology that they used to analyse and synthesise the learning from massive amounts of data into a coherent and…

This article presents the authors' response to Asha K. Jitendra's Response to Xin and Zhang ("The Journal of Educational Research," 2009, Vol. 102, No. 6). The claim of "factual errors, including inappropriate quotes, misrepresentation of information, and inadequate scholarship in Xin and Zhang's text" are not justified. In this rejoinder, the…

This paper addresses an important problem that may really be a pseudoproblem perpetuated by a current artificial or even political need to isolate researchers, evaluators, and theorists and put them in conceptual-methodological boxes. In this paper, we argue that scholars of all kinds should focus on the nouns (i.e., research, evaluation, theory)…

In this article, the author revisits her essay, "Students as Readers of Their Classmates' Writing," by providing a review of the literature on peer review over the past three decades and comments on patterns she sees in waves of peer review research and theorizing. She describes her subsequent experience with peer review in her own classes, and…

This article presents an interview with Ralph Tyler. This interview will be of interest to those entering the field of education as well as for those who have made their home within the field for some time now. In the interview, Dr. Tyler discusses work in education and educational evaluation that spans over a half a century. He describes issues…

This commentary highlights convergent themes from four articles in the March 2009 issue of "Educational Researcher" on measuring classroom instruction. Classroom instruction is a complex enterprise that occurs at the intersection of teachers, students, and texts within the surrounding classroom, school, and community environments. Progress in…

This article is a response to the growing criticisms of the British Educational Research Association (BERA) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) ethical guidelines on anonymity and pseudonymity as default positions for participants in qualitative educational research. It discusses and responds to those criticisms under four…