The Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) are a networked system of 10 organizations that serve the educational needs of 10 designated regions across the United States and its territories. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is authorized by the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) to award contracts to 10 RELs to support applied research,…

In connection with the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, GAO (Government Accountability Office) was required to study the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), a federal source of evidence about effective education practices. Operating through a 5-year contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the WWC…

The question of how information is used by parents in selecting schools is a central issue in school choice debates, where advocates and opponents frequently intermingle theory (often economic), ideological beliefs, and empirical evidence in constructing arguments about the potential of this reform. We employ a nomination strategy to analyze…

The growing complexity of society has resulted in increased attention to the problem of knowledge production and utilization. This review of the scholarship pertaining to this subject traces the topic in its most general sense. Three fields of interest have received attention from researchers: 1) the relation of research to practice; 2) the nature…

The effective utilization of research and development products ranks as one of the top priorities in American public education. The document contains two concept papers by recognized authorities on knowledge utilization activities: A Diffusion Mechanism for the Center for Vocational and Technical Education, Egon G. Guba; and Alternative Diffusion…

As part of an effort to facilitate local problem solving in urban public schools, the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project (DTA) is concerned with clarifying the relationship, or linkage, between research and practice. This paper describes that linkage, which includes two related components: the "definition" of some research…

Claims made for case studies are analyzed, and some of the obstacles to using this kind of evaluation information are discussed. The analysis is based on evaluation of a federally funded project which combined the evaluation with attempts to use that information to help other schools. (Author/CTM)

This document presents the research proposal and supporting documents for a study to evaluate the process of developing a comprehensive dissemination capacity in State Education Agencies (SEAs) and to assess the impact of the capacity building activities in the states, addressing two questions: Is dissemination capacity being built and, if so,…

Research in the field of political communication has traditionally reflected a behavioral approach which has focused largely on the influence of mass communication on the public's political behavior. The role of the individual in selecting, interpreting, and processing political information has received significantly less attention. The…

Carter's model of affective relations (1965) and Chaffee's research on cognitive discrepancies and communication (1959) are used to test the hypotheses that increasing an attribute's discriminatory power will increase attribute salience and that increasing the exclusiveness of an object's attributes will increase objective salience. The current…

Reports study of communication patterns of students and faculty in Psychology department at Georgia State University. Topics covered include pertinence of Garvey's model of information dissemination, methods of information exchange, practicing clinicians and research, research requirements for students, library use among graduate students, and…

Reviewing five large-scale investigations of educational dissemination and change, this report synthesizes and consolidates their findings and implications around an issue of common interest to policymakers, program administrators, and researchers: what can be learned from these studies about processes and procedures that facilitate knowledge…

Concerns about published comparisons of colleges and universities are organized into a framework to guide further research. A systematic method for addressing specific issues about the guides is presented, and the environment in which the guides are used is examined. Research needed to assure that the guides make a valued contribution and are fair…

This document reports on a project undertaken to determine the feasibility of a periodic national survey of a sample of U.S. school districts to obtain information on the performance of the existing dissemination and utilization network for educational innovations. All the cases in this volume were originally identified from a national survey of…

The report describes a model, developed by the staff at Edison Community College in Fort Myers, Florida, for collecting and using follow-up information to evaluate and plan occupational programs. After a discussion of the issues to be addressed when evaluating an occupational program, a breakdown of information to be collected in a follow-up study…