Describes the success of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development's "Innovation Abstracts," a weekly publication written by and for practitioners. Suggests that the publication's success has spread beyond its originally intended audience to faculty, students, trustee and advisory boards, community residents,…

Discusses Judy M. Pitts, academician, in memorium. Profiles her first year in academe; the role of research in her teaching (including examples of assignments); the focus of her research on information needs, seeking, and use; and her role as a teacher and service provider. (Author/AEF)

This article discusses preparation of research reports in light of how the information is likely to be evaluated and how the report contributes to the research process. The focus is on description, explanation, and contextualization of the study. Common issues related to interpretation of assessment studies are also highlighted. (SLD)

This study examined trends in dispersion of total research and development expenditures for the top 200 academic institutions between fiscal year (FY) 1979-80 and FY 1989-90. Although the most prestigious universities registered a significant overall decrease, dispersion did not adversely affect ratings of institutional quality. Medical and…

Bayley's major contributions to developmental psychology are reviewed. These include her concern with measurement and methodology and her early anticipation of such topics as behavior genetics. Her work in such areas as androgyny and body build, motor and mental development, and maternal and child behaviors is summarized. (LB)

Because educational research is the province of professors, knowledge available to people working within the schools is undervalued. Collaborative teacher-initiated inquiry capitalizes on teachers' insider knowledge and helps change the professional activities of researchers. For teacher-initiated research to prosper, it is best developed outside…

Discusses three theoretical structures (those of Michael Polanyi, Maxine Greene, and Ann Berthoff) which consider the role of personal interpretation central to ultimate meaning-making. The article proposes them as useful frameworks for teachers who are beginning deliberate classroom research. (IAH)

A study found that differences in children's ability to regulate their emotional responses, and in their social and cognitive development, are implicated in developmental differences in children's strategies for influencing others' mood states. (BB)

Describes literature discussion groups and the role of talk in them. Examines the stories of three teachers who ran into roadblocks in literature discussion groups and turned their roadblocks into questions and inquiries. Discusses the important insights they discovered about talk, literacy, students, and themselves as they inquired. (SR)

Consists of three sections bound together by a common theme and reference list. The first section, by Gail Burnaford, addresses teacher action research as essential for motivating students and giving teachers a voice in curriculum. Section 2, by James Beane, explores common assumptions behind action research and integrative curriculum. Section 3,…

Research emerging from practice has a natural life in schools, because the questions are more appropriate, the investigations more straightforward, and the findings more valid for school practice than research conceived, conducted, and interpreted in higher education settings. At the University of South Carolina, interns are being prepared as…

Details the experiences of one teacher researcher who observed an 11th-grade English class over the course of a year. Describes the changes initiated by the teacher, along with their mixed results. Analyzes the student response to such innovations as writing workshops and shared interpretations of texts. (HB)

Describes the postdoctoral fellowship program of the Spencer Foundation. Administered by the National Academy of Education, Spencer Fellowships (30 annually) enable young scholars to pursue educational research by giving them the equivalent of a year off from teaching. (SLD)

The author recounts his experiences investigating alleged fraud by Cyril Burt (1976) in his work on the genetic foundations of human intelligence. The evidence fails to prove Burt guilty, and his assertions about the genetic factors of individual differences in intelligence are finding corroboration in contemporary psychology. (SLD)

Unintended effects of evaluation are discussed, with reference to the Hawthorne Effect, where unintended effects overshadow the manipulations controlled by researchers. Unintended effects are categorized as (1) affective reactions; (2) political dimensions; (3) importance of individual differences; and (4) expectations concerning evaluation.…