This article features a stress management approach that is becoming increasingly influential in schools: mindfulness-based stress reduction. The authors describe what it is, provide research-based evidence of its usefulness, and highlight mindfulness resources that educators can use to manage stress and improve their well-being (including…

In an effort to bring more knowledge about "what works" to educational practitioners, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has made significant investments in developing and disseminating focused, rigorous research projects in order to increase the supply of and demand for this research in educational decision making. These efforts…

The authors describe the University of Central Florida's top-down/bottom-up action analytics approach to using data to inform decision-making at the University of Central Florida. The top-down approach utilizes information about programs, modalities, and college implementation of Web initiatives. The bottom-up approach continuously monitors…

The Project on Research Utilization in Social Work Education established in 1976 is described. There are eight chapters to the report. Chapter 1 describes the project. The broad goals of the project were to: (1) analyze the dynamics of research utilization in social work; (2) identify the obstacles to research utilization, especially those that…

This paper offers a brief outline of current Canadian research contributing to the understanding of quality in early child care and education, and highlights, as a means of demonstrating elements of high quality, a range of early childhood care and education programs, policies, and practices offered in Canada. Three separate components of Canadian…

This article describes the breadth of federal support for educational knowledge production and application. Support from the Education Division of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is discussed in detail. (Author/MC)

Using five research topics mainly in educational administration as illustrations, the author describes some of the processes of Chilean educational research and questions concerning its impact on educational policy. (SJL)

This paper describes a research and development center's project to design procedures for helping students both to develop and to apply effective behaviors for understanding text. The project's developmental efforts are summarized and promising directions for future work are examined. Specifically, the paper (1) clarifies the goals of the project,…

This article explores the National Institute of Education's project on the use of research information to improve teacher education programs. The processes used to assist in producing change in 10 teacher education programs are discussed. (DF)

Proposes that a major constraint of research in child welfare has been the inability to coordinate reforms among various components of foster care reform. Reveals research advances in child welfare that demonstrate effective social work practice and indicate directions for comprehensive foster care reform. (Author)

The focus of this paper is on the research/policy linkage, within the complex educational administrative structure and pluralistic informal power structure which characterize Thai research. Thailand has experienced some success in building analytical educational research capacity and ensuring its utilization. Lessons to be learned from this…

In the United States, recent educational research and development efforts reflect an overriding concern for maximizing these impact areas on practice, as illustrated by five thrusts: development work; evaluation; fundamental research; dissemination; and attention to the process of social inquiry. The complexity of American education makes research…

The following issues are considered: the functions of educational research, the kinds of educational investigations conducted in Poland, ways of disseminating educational findings, and the organisation of research in Poland. The paper ends with a discussion of some of the more important conclusions reached. (Author)

Describes a method of evaluation which ensures maximum yield. Mentions common pitfalls in evaluation procedures and proposes Reality-Based Evaluation (RBE) as a safeguard against them. Outlines RBE and concludes that evaluation results must play an active role in bringing about change. (JG)

Three forms of research activity are defined: free, policy-oriented, and development. In the United Kingdom, structures for each have developed rapidly in the past 20 years. Present weaknesses are lack of collaboration between research institutions and the small scale of financial support. (Author/SJL)