This document is comprised of the single 2000 issue of a newsletter of the Harvard Family Research Project, designed to share new ideas and experiences in evaluating systems reform and comprehensive child and family services. The issue focuses on after-school programs and includes the following articles: (1) "Building the After School…

In this first issue of Forum Focus, we summarize emerging research and practical evidence that quality matters and push forward to ask the questions: Is quality measurable? Is it malleable? We bring a youth-centered lens to our review, looking for examples that define quality from the perspective of what young people need to heal, grow and…

This review paper identifies and captures the major themes from the ACER 2005 Research Conference, distilling ideas and information from the conference papers and also from conversations that took place during the conference. The paper also looks at what are claimed to be effective ways of using data to improve student learning in schools. How…

In this paper I will explore three contrasting teaching and learning environments, including one in which students engage in a "dance of agency". I will move from a consideration of classroom practices to a contention that our work as researchers of mathematics education should pay more attention to teaching practices. Further, that understanding…

This research is the product of blending two pertinent questions. The first question is: "What are the guidelines and behaviors that define a Constructivist classroom?" There have not been a great number of pedagogical tools that discuss and summarize concrete, observable Constructivist behaviors. The second question is: "Is there a unique form of…

Assessment of practice at diploma, degree, and postgraduate levels in nursing and midwifery education in Britain was the focus of a research study. Key issues from a critical review of literature on the assessment of theory and practice at different academic levels were as follows: lack of clarity in defining "levels"; inconsistencies in…

Every educational theory has behind it a particular image of human beings and their development that supports a particular view of the learning process. This paper examines the image of children underlying Waldorf education. The paper identifies the individual and unique Self as the "third factor," that together with heredity and…

Individuals, organizations, and communities constantly engage in change. A theory of change and how one can become a change agent are presented in this guidebook. The text is based on a theory of change and resolution that has been tested over a period of 20 years. It offers effective strategies of change and tools for implementing these changes,…

The central research question in this study was whether structured active learning affects the abilities of science and engineering undergraduates to relate abstract concepts and realistic applications more than a relatively traditional instructional method. More specifically, the research was designed to determine whether differences in the…

Four variables have been identified by research as having a powerful influence on teachers' teaching practices and student learning. These are: (1) content coverage; (2) content exposure; (3) content emphasis; and (4) quality of instructional delivery. These four variables are important to the investigation of students' opportunity to learn…

This Digest reviews what is known from recent research about delivering instruction to young children with disabilities in the natural environment. It notes the endorsement of this practice by the Division for Early Childhood Education of the Council for Exceptional Children. Research is reported which has focused on validating specific…

This paper describes an action plan for integrating multicultural theory into a teacher education social foundations course and presents results from an evaluation of this effort. The action plan for the course was to integrate the theory and practice of multicultural education across five master questions posed by T. Berg (1999) and in the…

A naturalistic inquiry was undertaken to explore current instructional practice in three distance education settings. Perceptions of researcher, practitioner, and participants engaged in a doctoral field research study were explored, with a focus on the gap between instructional design skills and instructional strategies used by distance education…

Two newsletters from the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented (NRC/GT) include the following major articles: (1) "Everything You Need To Know about the NRC/GT: Web Site, Videos, and Texts" (E. Jean Gubbins); (2) "A. Harry Passow: Scholar and Friend" (E. Jean Gubbins and Joseph S. Renzulli); (3) "Learning How…

In the years since its origin in 1997, the Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (RWCT) project has become a wellspring of human stories about teaching and changing, about reaching across cultural and language divides to find deep conceptual and interpersonal harmonies that lead to reform. This collection presents chapters written by educators…