Three forms of research activity are defined: free, policy-oriented, and development. In the United Kingdom, structures for each have developed rapidly in the past 20 years. Present weaknesses are lack of collaboration between research institutions and the small scale of financial support. (Author/SJL)

The last quarter-century bore witness to a sea change in academic involvement with commerce. Widespread university-based efforts to identify, manage, and market intellectual property (IP) has accompanied broad shifts in the relationship between academic and proprietary approaches to the dissemination and use of science and engineering research.…

Sixty-four authorities on gifted education responded to five questions about issues in the field of gifted education. Common responses were: a need for consensus on how to define, conceptualize, and identify giftedness; new procedures to increase the representation of gifted minority students; and the importance of translating research on…

Three research questions are addressed in this paper: (1) What does school improvement mean in relation to the context of a research project? (2) Given particular developments in European society and the nature of primary research data, what should schools be like in the year 2001? (3) What steps are being taken in research and development to…

Twenty-one research articles originally published in the "Australasian Journal of Gifted Education" over the past decade are collected in this book and address aspects of gifted education including pedagogy and curriculum, policy and practice, social and emotional needs, school and family, neuropsychology and cognition, and special…

Actual and potential relationships between evaluators and linkers--curriculum or management specialists who disseminate the products of evaluation to school districts--were explored. Evaluation and linkage evolved as distinct educational occupations, stimulated by federal involvement in research, development, and school improvement since the early…

Presents seven brief essays addressing recent research efforts and policy initiatives aimed at reforming the history curriculum. Notes that policy recommendations are rarely informed by research on either historical or pedagogical thinking. Authors include Keith C. Barton, Matthew T. Downey, Terrie L. Epstein, Linda S. Levstik, Peter Seixas,…

Vocational education and training (VET) research in Australia has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. In a 1993 report titled "No Small Change," VET research was characterized as a fragmented activity that was underfunded and had little or no relevance to policy or practice in the VET sector. Since that time, increased funding through the…

A review of current literature identifies three growing trends. First, there has been an increase in legislatively mandated accountability that requires taxpayer-funded education and research programs be demonstrated effective by "scientifically based research." To receive federal monies programs must emphasize quantitative,…