Purpose: The past decade has seen considerable debate about how to best evaluate the efficacy of educational improvement initiatives, and members of the educational leadership research community have entered the debate with great energy. Throughout this debate, the use of randomized experiments has been a particularly contentious subject. This…

This study investigated the effectiveness of oral metalinguistic feedback and recasts as well as the effect of focused tasks (FT) in the development of implicit and explicit knowledge during video-conference interactions. This was accomplished by partial replication of a study performed in a classroom setting. Three groups of Brazilian EFL…

An educational intervention's effectiveness is judged by whether it produces positive outcomes for students, with the randomized controlled trial (CRT) as a valuable tool for determining intervention effects. However, the intervention-as-implemented in an experiment frequently differs from the intervention-as-designed, making it unclear whether…

A study evaluated the effectiveness of the "Word Master in Spelling" program. In it, students study core words on the Ves Thomas "Canadian Spelling Program." Every 6 weeks, they are given a written review test and a proofreading test based on the five units they have completed. In 1981-82, subjects were 160 children in grades K…

This booklet, the first in a series, reports the results of a year-long research project conducted in an experimental school associated with the Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh. Using a variety of techniques drawn from anthropology and psychology, the investigator elicited a cognitive map of school activities…

This article focuses on facilitating learners' collaborative knowledge construction in case-based learning scenarios. The article first describes how case-based learning can promote knowledge acquisition and then discusses the characteristics of videoconferencing in such scenarios. Then we focus our attention on the process and outcomes of the…

The Mathematics Teacher Development Program was an effort to develop the skills of classroom teachers in the use of handheld calculators and microcomputer systems. It was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Loyola University, and it consisted of an academic portion and an intense 3-week, full-time summer session. The focus of this…

The Borough of Havering in London, England undertook a project to devise and implement a computer aided learning program which involved teachers in the production of materials and provided students with a flexible, individualized system of instruction. Materials were developed, and three trials were conducted: (1) a program and equipment test; (2)…

The information and recommendations presented in this report are a distillation of a more extensive companion volume, "The Importance of Year-Round Schools." Together both volumes fully describe the second phase of a national study of year-round schools (YRS) that was initially begun by the National Council of Year-Round Education in 1975. The…

A two-year evaluation of William Glasser's Schools Without Failure (SWF) program was carried out in the New Castle School District in Pennsylvania. Ten elementary schools were paired on the basis of size, socioeconomic status, and past achievement of pupils. In the first year, one school of each pair was randomly assigned to begin teacher training…

Four articles report on the effectiveness of suggestive methods in foreign language instruction. Ray Benitez-Bordon reports on "Foreign Languaqe Learning via the Lozanov Method: Pilot Studies." Results of the two studies indicate great promise for the suggestive approach, and point to the needs for further research. In "The Sandy…

This document provides part of a final report to the Scottish Education Department on a study of student teachers' observations of and interviews with cooperating teachers. The purpose of the research was to help student teachers acquire an understanding of and control over teaching methods. The findings are from experiments with three samples of…

The Evaluation of the Emergency School Assistance Program (ESAP) for the 1971-72 school year is the first application of full-blown experimental design with randomized experimental and control cases in a federal evaluation of a large scale program. It is also one of the very few evaluations which has shown that federal programs can raise tested…

The research described is the result of an assessment in grades 4, 5, and 6 of a metric measurement pilot program for grades K-6 in Wheeling, Illinois. The development and administration of metric inventory and attitudinal instruments for teachers and students is described. The report presents four conclusions: (1) there was a significant growth…

This book presents the evaluation of a Primary Education Project (PEP) which focused on the development and evaluation of a model of individualized education for young children. The socioeconomic background of the participating students (primarily economically disadvantaged children attending an inner-city school) is described. The PEP 1969-1970…