Despite expansive improvements in both treatments and research, the majority of persons with autism use non-empirically supported interventions. One way to decrease the research-to-practice gap involves increasing the direct applicability of research findings to clinical settings. Effectiveness research achieves this goal by identifying treatments…

How can educational research have more impact? What processes of knowledge exchange are most effective for increasing the uses of research results? How can research-produced knowledge be better "mobilized" among users such as practicing educators, policy makers, and the public communities? These sorts of questions are commanding urgent…

This study examines what specific data college faculty and administrators use in their jobs and the extent to which they use data analysis to design and improve the impact of programs and services. The study is based on a survey on the use of student data by faculty and administrators at 41 community colleges participating in Achieving the Dream:…

Most assessment arguments are about measurement. When is it better to use direct versus indirect measures of student learning? Is one standardized test of critical thinking better than another? Is applying rubrics to student work better than using standardized tests? How valid are self-reported measures of learning? Although these arguments are…

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…

BASIC PREMISE OF THIS REPORT IS THAT INSTRUCTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS MUST BE JUDGED FOR EACH PROGRAM ACCORDING TO ITS DEMONSTRATED MERITS. GENERAL AND SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS ARE LISTED FOR POTENTIAL PROGRAM USERS AND PUBLISHERS. SUPPLEMENTS CONTAIN INFORMATION ON PROGRAM MANUALS AND TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION. THIS REPORT WAS PREPARED BY THE JOINT…

This report is designed to help policymakers, parents, reporters, and foundation officials better understand what has been learned about voucher programs and why some key questions remain unsettled. It is based on an analysis of voucher programs in Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Florida State. Four basic questions are addressed: (1) What do we know…

Although there is increasing interest in evidence-based decision making in postsecondary education, there have been few large-scale empirical studies on the subject, and none of the research to date has examined in depth what specific data college faculty and administrators use in their jobs and the extent to which they use data analysis to design…

This chapter describes several examples of institutional use of state- and college-level tracking data to benchmark performance, improve student success, and enhance program effectiveness.

A review of the literature reveals that the knowledge professors of educational administration disseminate is not used in administrator preparation programs. This holds true both in the design of programs and in the use of specific methodologies in the management of the programs. The implementation of a range of management technologies, preferably…

This study investigated the experiences of colleges and universities in implementing the 1971 Guidelines for Teacher Certification. The study was designed to identify the strengths, weaknesses, and major concerns that have resulted from the experiences of the colleges and universities; to collate the experiences into general statements, thus…

Research has generally found instruction effective in raising student cognitive levels, but only inconsistently effective in producing behavior change. The authors urge that health education programs be developed in a manner reflective of the supportive behavior change research. (MJB)

The Youth Development Project was established in 1998 as a vehicle for taking stock of and charting the issues involved in healthy youth development. This volume summarizes the project's work through papers prepared for discussions in May and October 1998 and edited for this collection. The essays in this volume are organized by three theme…

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…

The role of professional associations in providing linkage between educational researchers and educational practicioners is discussed. The difficulties involved in coordinating two essentially discrete and insular educational communities--the research community and the practicing educational community--are described, and an overview of the…