Examines research reported in major books and journals of comparative education since 1977, focusing on challenges to established research traditions and the field's responses. Highlights work directing attention to new subjects of inquiry and challenging the nation-state as the exclusive research framework, input-output models and dominant…

An economic viewpoint is applied to four educational issues in the acquisition of reasoning skills: (1) defining reasoning; (2) methods for producing and developing reasoning skills in the classroom; (3) how the economy allocates and values reasoning skills; and (4) future economic needs for reasoning skills. (BS)

Summarizes British educational input-output analysis research, highlighting the extension of Michael Rutter's findings in "Fifteen Thousand Hours" (1979) by Steedman (1983) and Hough and Warburton (1986). Smith and Tomlinson's study of 3,000 children in 20 multiracial urban comprehensive schools found important interschool differences in…

This synthesis of research focuses on nine factors influencing learning, including student characteristics, instructional factors, and environmental factors. In conclusion, the need for devoting more time to academic learning both in school and out of school and the importance of enlisting families as partners in education are emphasized. (MJL)

The movement toward school consolidation was triggered by James Bryant Conant's contention that larger schools are more efficient and offer more comprehensive programs. Many studies seem to support the claim that larger schools are cheaper to operate. Yet problems with these studies include wide variation in the minimum, optimum, and maximum sizes…

This book presents the results of 15 years of input-output (I-O) research on schooling effectiveness. The I-O approach identifies and measures the inschool and out-of-school factors that contribute to schooling outcomes, especially reading skills and verbal and mathematics achievement. Five categories of inputs are reviewed in this textbook: (1)…