To ensure the best possible outcomes for young children with and without disabilities, early childhood educators must enter the classroom ready to conduct all types of early childhood assessment--including determining if children need additional services, planning and monitoring instruction, and determining program effectiveness. They'll get the…

The No Child Left Behind Act has brought research, particularly scientific based research, beyond discussions in graduate schools and back into the consciousness of educators in the field. For many educators, it has been a long time since those discussions, and key concepts about educational research may have become hazy. In this fourth article of…

A well-developed approach to dissemination and utilization (D&U) at the four levels of spread, exchange, choice, and implementation is essential if vocational education research and development (R&D) is to achieve the measurable impact found lacking in a Committee on Vocational Education Research and Development (COVERD) assessment (1956). Federal…

The goals and purposes to be served by graduate level professional preparation for educators are examined and redefined in these essays. The authors are experienced as administrators in schools, colleges, or departments of education. The current state of graduate programs in education in terms of the pressures, problems, dilemmas, and…

The federal policy shift from skills training and toward work first strategies has come about, in part, from a misconception that "training does not work." A more comprehensive look at existing research reveals the documented effectiveness of skills training. A growing number of studies have shown skills training can increase earnings;…