Inquiry-centered staff development requires that adult literacy practitioners (adult educators, tutors, and administrators) function simultaneously as learners, researchers, and reformers performing the following actions: forming research communities within program or across program sites; using literature and their own experiences to investigate…

Instructional Research Online (InTRO) was established in 1994 as a repository of research papers, media, and other artifacts related to research in instructional technology. The World Wide Web site (http://intro.base.org) includes sections on reviews of books and media, original research, links to resources in instructional technology, and…

This paper reports on a study conducted to determine: (1) if current users of genealogical collections are satisfied with the collections they most frequently use; (2) which types of materials are provided by genealogical collections; (3) which types of materials are deemed most important by the users of the genealogical collection; and (4)…

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the largest, most comprehensive, and most rigorous international comparison of education ever undertaken. TIMSS findings show similarities and differences in the processes and outcomes of schooling between the United States and East Asian countries, particularly Japan. This report…

This paper asserts that whether the issue is teen pregnancy, sexual harassment in schools, or the underutilization of women's leadership in schools, little funding goes to research or programs putting women at the center of these issues. At first glance, the deliberations of school boards, deans, judges, lawmakers, and professional associations…

One of the biggest problems students face in team projects is social loafing, a situation in which students may view team projects as a free ride. Social loafers let others do the work, knowing that the professor will only grade the completed project. This research examined the performance of students grading other student team members on a group…

This paper describes research into the nature of the achievement goals and values held by students from Window Rock High School on the Navajo Reservation (Arizona). It examines the compatibility of these student-held goals and values with goals and values promoted by classrooms and schools, and the impact individual, family, peer, class, and…

The first part of this study replicates an earlier study (D. Waechter, I. Newman, and L. Rosenkoetter, 1998) that used a procedure for authentic assessment of students in a master's level research class, a class that is often feared and avoided by students, by means of a study on humor, since that content would be somewhat incompatible with…

Dilemmas emerged in the evaluation of a school improvement project that required evaluators to confront merging varied and often conflicting perspectives, sources of data, understandings of their roles as evaluators, the eventual use of the data, and the purpose of the educational reform effort. Selected examples are presented from the evaluation…

This report contributes to the comprehensive evaluation of the Common Core of Data (CCD) program by providing an analysis of CCD definitions in order to identify potential classification problems. At the time of the evaluation, the CCD program consisted of four surveys. The focus of this evaluation is on the "Public Elementary/Secondary…

This paper analyzes the process of collaborative research at Harvard University's Educational Technology Center, focusing on the conflicts or tensions that reveal differences in the cultures of schools and universities. It clarifies differences between schools and universities in tacit assumptions and values, in customary language and norms, and…

The New Standards Project is a partnership of 17 states and 6 major school districts that have joined to develop alternative approaches to setting educational standards and assessing student achievement. In the New Standards Project plan, formal standard setting occurs through a process of public examination of student work products on pilot…

Use of complementarity as a deliberate and necessary program evaluation strategy is discussed. Quantitative and qualitative approaches are viewed as complementary and can be integrated into a single study. The synergy that results from using complementary methods in a single study seems to enhance understanding and interpretation. A review of the…

This handbook brings together information on the who, what, where, when, why, and how of adult basic education (ABE) research in Australia. Chapter 1 describes the ABE Research Project that developed this handbook. It summarizes the rationale and context for the project, describes its aims and content, provides details of the information gathering…

An important topic presented in introductory statistics courses is the estimation of population parameters using samples. Students learn that when estimating population variances using sample data, we always get an underestimate of the population variance if we divide by n rather than n-1. One implication of this correction is that the degree of…