High-quality preschool programs are heralded as an effective policy tool to promote the development and life-long wellbeing of children from low-income families. Yet evaluations of recent preschool programs produce puzzling findings, including negative impacts, and divergent, weaker results than were shown in demonstration programs implemented in…

Teachers' professional learning can be enhanced by positioning teachers as practitioner researchers and professionals who are capable of generating change within their local educational communities. In this article a teacher's story is used to show how teacher knowledge was developed and how teachers designed research questions, gathered evidence…

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of what is known about teacher induction in special education and to outline recommendations for the design of induction programs and further research. Five questions guided this research: (1) What are the experiences and concerns of new special educators in their first years of…

Few European countries have developed a broad strategic framework to raise the profile of science in education and wider society. However, a wide range of initiatives have been implemented in many countries. The impact of these various activities is nevertheless difficult to measure. School partnerships with science-related organisations are…

Background: How best to serve a racially and ethnically diverse student body has been a topic of intensive theory development for the past 30 or 40 years. We have strong theoretical models regarding the need for and practice of multicultural education, the goals of which include both increased educational achievement for students of color and…

A recent report by the U.S. Department of Education on the effectiveness of bilingual education programs reflects numerous issues that are at the very core of bilingual education. Two of these issues and their implications are discussed: the purpose of bilingual education and the nature of bilingual education programs. (Author/NQA)

Focuses on the outcomes of the Research Commission and Task Force Chairs of the National Art Education Association strategic planning meeting. Explains that the Commission and Task Forces developed a six-year, three-phase, research plan focusing on three primary areas: (1) research topics; (2) funding; and (3) dissemination. (CMK)

Discusses the theoretical context for service learning and the differences between service learning and community service. Examines research on effective service learning that emphasizes connections to political science content, are of a longer duration, and provide opportunities for reflection. States that the research on service learning raises…

Suggests that much of the present concern of teacher education centers with developing new processes for educating teachers derives from their attempts to deal with accountability demands in general and legislative mandates such as Competency-Based Teacher Education (CBTE) in particular. Argues that the root critical educational policy being…

This collection, which is a product of a 23-day study tour of China, focuses on educational research and changing educational objectives and practices against the background of the changes that have occurred in the country since the Cultural Revolution of 1976. Sheldon Weeks' introduction to the collection explains how the study tour came about,…

The present form of vocational education in the Federal Republic of Germany with its origins in trades and crafts of the Middle Ages has existed since the 1920s. Only in 1969, however, did comprehensive legislation declare company vocational training within the sphere of state responsibility, give unions participation rights in determining…

The school-to-work (STW) movement began in the mid-1980s in response to concerns about the U.S. education system's ability to prepare most students for the "new economy." Despite the fact that most of the STW programs and activities funded by the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 have only recently been established, a fairly…

This document chronicles the experience of the National Training Institute (NTI) for Community Youth Work and four of its Building Exemplary Systems for Training Youth Workers (BEST) affiliates in establishing youth development practitioner apprenticeship (YDPA) programs. Part 1 describes the work of NTI and BEST intermediary organizations to lay…