Traces some of the important changes in Extension in the past 35 years. Examines and compares four long-range evaluations of Extension: (1) Joint Committee Report on Extension Programs, Policies, and Goals (1948), (2) A Statement of Scope and Responsibility (1958), (3) A People and a Spirit (1968), and (4) Extension in the 80s (1983). (JOW)

Factors that have slowed progress in middle grades reform include (1) emphasizing school-level, structural changes, such as merging curricular areas and instructional assignments, which do little to change the experience of students; and (2) basing reform more on rhetoric than research. Reviews the articles in this special issue, which seeks to…

Local schools and school districts lack organized information on school effectiveness to select programs and practices to meet their specific program improvement and implementation needs. Critical program features, implementation and training requirements, program costs, program-delivery systems, program impacts, and a host of other relevant…

Theoretical issues concerning research and policy-making and three empirical studies of the higher education sector in Sweden are discussed. A major concern is the utilization of social science research and development efforts by public policy makers. Additionally, the characteristics of the public policy-making processes that influence the scope…

Comprehensive school reform focuses on making coherent schoolwide improvements that affect virtually all aspects of a school's operation, rather than using a piecemeal, fragmented approach to reform. The Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program aims to raise student achievement by helping public schools across the country implement…

Longitudinal educational research in Sweden is described, with emphasis on research used for educational planning and evaluation. Educational reforms have reflected the societal goal of improved welfare for the whole population. Research is generally supported by the National Board of Education and conducted by universities. To perform educational…

This paper reports on a study of reflective practice, which has been a gradual process in education in the Czech Republic. Until the 1990s, most research and development in education and in preservice and inservice teacher education and training had been different from this reflective approach. Instead, quantitative research approaches had been…

Before presenting an analysis of vocational research and development during the last decade, an overview is given of educational research and development in general and its relationship to society and societal changes. The author's ideas are offered from different perspectives: As an educational administrator, a federal program administrator, a…

The Action Research on Change in Schools (ARCS) project was a collaborative action research study that involved two levels of research: a specific research project in each of two junior high schools in Michigan and New Hampshire, and a simultaneous study of the collaborative action research process itself as it relates to teachers' individual…

The Title III program of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act called PACE (Projects to Advance Creativity in Education), is designed to encourage school districts to develop imaginative solutions to educational problems; to utilize research findings more effectively; and to create, design and make intelligent use of supplementary centers and…

A curriculum project is described which illustrates the use of collaborative inquiry, a cooperative effort between university researchers and educational practitioners. Four tenets of collaborative inquiry are outlined. (1) Researchers and school practitioners work together on all phases of the effort. (2) The effort is focused on real world as…