Asserts that reviews like that of M. Wang, G. Haertel, and H. Walberg are stimulating and useful in thinking about educational research, but they are nearly useless in thinking about educational policy and practice. It is not clear what is meant by "knowledge base," and the finding about proximal and distal variables is simplistic. (SLD)

Describes problems experienced by new Montessori teachers working in public schools, focusing on dealing with students with behavior problems and difficulties in implementing Montessori ideas. Maintains that teachers in difficult situations need to be very firm, have crystal clear expectations, use repeated modeling, be extremely consistent, and…

Reviews research on the "new rhetoric" and written composition, applying these principles to legal discourse writing in the law school curriculum. Notes that the new rhetoric posits that writing is a process of constructing thought and describes selected teaching practices within the reader-writer loop, including reading and writing…

This introductory article notes the special issue's purpose of highlighting ways to close gaps between research and practice in special education from the perspective of teacher preparation, inservice training, professional development, and collaborations between researchers and teachers in local schools. (DB)

Examines essential components of quality two-way bilingual immersion programs. Discusses language acquisition research underlying context-embedded content-area instruction in a second language; research on the benefits of bilingualism in terms of academic, cognitive, and metalinguistic development; and the link between bilingualism and positive…

This article summarizes the journal's special issue on intervention research for students with learning disabilities with emphasis on common themes in the preceding papers: (1) modeling in instruction, (2) the provision of feedback, (3) instruction for generalization, and (4) teacher preparation. (Contains one reference.) (DB)

This review of the literature synthesizes theory and research on the use of speech output communication aids to determine potential benefits for persons with autism. Although results suggest such aids are likely to be useful with this population, the paper urges research into the characteristics of synthetic speech in conjunction with the learning…

Discusses the focus of this special issue on college student retention and describes the issue's articles, which advance recommendations for institutional action that emanate from theory and research rooted in several different theoretical orientations: organizational, sociological, and psychological. (EV)

In this paper, we look backwards to educational development principles and practices as implemented in the 1990s at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and forward to ideal principles and practices for the design of courses for teachers in higher education. The bridge between the two lies partly in an evaluation study, which we will…

Little literature exists about methods for adapting research-based treatments to typical practice settings. This report describes a 2-step process and associated methods used to adapt a school-based treatment program for middle-school youth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that operates in a controlled setting to one that can…

Introduction: An earlier study of physicians' perceptions of interactive online learning showed that these were shaped both by program design and quality and the quality and quantity of interpersonal interaction. We explore instructor roles in enhancing online learning through interpersonal interaction and the learning theories that inform these.…

We present the first empirical assessment of the U.K. Labour government's program of public management reform. This reform program is based on rational planning, devolution and delegation, flexibility and incentives, and enhanced choice. Measures of these variables are tested against external and internal indicators of organizational performance.…

Faculty need to be supported and encouraged to integrate disciplinary research and scholarship into undergraduate courses and programs in ways that are beneficial to their students' learning. (Contains 1 figure.)

This article reviews and critiques the concept of "community of practice" (CoP), and analyzes its relevance for democratic citizenship education in secondary social studies. The authors discuss the origins of the CoP concept in the work of Lave and Wenger (1991), trace its usage in recent educational scholarship, and outline its conceptual…

This chapter uses a case study to develop a set of contexts and conditions for improving the alignment of purposes of alumni survey research within and across higher education institutions. (Contains 2 tables.)