The Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development were created as a joint effort between the Institute of Education Science and the National Science Foundation in an effort to streamline education research and contribute to an accumulation of knowledge that will lead to improved student outcomes. One type of research that emerged in the…

Two recent peer-reviewed studies support the need to update the traditional school design model that has remained fundamentally unchanged for over a century. In a 2011 study published by the American Educational Research Journal, entitled "Problem-Based Learning in K-12 Education," Clarice Wirkala and Deanna Kuhn document a 200-500…

This paper provides practical guidance for researchers who are designing and analyzing studies that randomize schools--which comprise three levels of clustering (students in classrooms in schools)--to measure intervention effects on student academic outcomes when information on the middle level (classrooms) is missing. This situation arises…

The authors conducted a third-party study of the student achievement effects of Struggling Schools, a user-generated approach to Comprehensive School Reform (CSR). The design was a quasiexperimental, pre-post matched sample (N = 180) with school as unit of analysis, drawing on 3 years of achievement data from standardized external assessments.…

Research indicates that many adolescent students struggle with reading skills. Accordingly, this quantitative study attempted to address the problem of ninth-grade students entering high school deficient in literacy skills. The purpose of this non-experimental study was to investigate the effects a remedial reading program called Ramp-Up Literacy…

This article provides practical guidance for researchers who are designing studies that randomize groups to measure the impacts of educational interventions. The article (a) provides new empirical information about the values of parameters that influence the precision of impact estimates (intraclass correlations and R[superscript 2] values) and…

This article examines theoretical and empirical issues related to the statistical power of impact estimates for experimental evaluations of education programs. The author considers designs where random assignment is conducted at the school, classroom, or student level, and employs a unified analytic framework using statistical methods from the…

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…

In this article, research conducted in the United States since 1987 on the effects of homework is summarized. Studies are grouped into four research designs. The authors found that all studies, regardless of type, had design flaws. However, both within and across design types, there was generally consistent evidence for a positive influence of…

A comment from the author on the design and validity of the research concerning the use of teaching methods on children's progress and achievement in primary schools is discussed. (Editor/RK)

This comprehensive handbook provides quick access to a wide range of information needed by professionals in all areas and at all levels of education. It includes books, journals, software, and standardized tests. Six sections are as follows: (1) information sources (including information sources by type and guide to reference sources in…

Public schools in the big cities and urban areas will become proportionally more minority and poor in the 1980's and 1990's. The traditional measures used to collect data on minority population have proved to be inaccurate. The following items are needed and will be of value to people working in urban public schools: (1) data which distinguish…

The problems and issues involved in the conduct of educational-developmental research are examined within the perspective of longitudinal research methodology. Chapters 2 and 3 examine contemporary research designs and procedures implemented for the selection of subjects and testing of behavior over time. Particular attention is given to the…

This paper presents the research design for a longitudinal study of elementary school students, which will examine patterns of cognitive, affective, and social growth and identify the school and home variables which influence such growth. Shifts in dependent variables during a single school year will be examined during the initial year for all…

The establishment of Research and Instructional (R and I) Units is discussed in terms of their utility and applicability for research needs. These units are said to provide a propitious setting for rigorous educational research. Two experiments in R and I units are described--one dealing with ways to implement feedback to students on their school…