A study investigated the influence of users' attitudes and sources of information on their adoption of a training research project. A two-part questionnaire was administered to 111 Army participants attending TRADOC/FORSCOM Training and Evaluation Workshops to gather attitudinal and usage information relating to the adoption of the Training…

Focusing on the problems of the federal role in education, the educational "competency" of federal programs, and the usefulness of research-based knowledge for educational practice, this report evaluates the Experimental Schools Program (ESP), a small federal program in the early 1970s that aimed to help poor and minority students by…

To gain insight into the nature of cooperative and collaborative processes and to contribute information to those considering similar research, an effort was initiated by a school district and a research center to work together in a "collaborative" mode. It was anticipated that the needs of the school district would be addressed, that the goals of…

It is noted that current methods of textbook selection are characterized by subjective judgments and faddish trends. It is felt that rarely in the process of selection are research findings that are available or principles of educational psychology seriously considered. A systematic selection process of entire series of textbooks, based on the…

Focusing on whether and how research actually contributes to the formation of public policy, this paper explores the critical problems in the linkage between science production and the systems that formulate educational policy. The authors suggest that the utilization of social research is limited more by problems of integrating research into the…

The distance between educational researchers and classroom teachers benefits disinterested observation, but dispossesses the researchers of participatory modes of understanding. In attempting to resolve this problem, some researchers have developed the theory and practice of teachers as researchers, similar to Kurt Lewin's action research. Lewin…

Educational planning is presently confronted by an identity crisis. As long as it was believed that educational expansion was a principal ingredient for securing economic growth, democratic political processes, and greater equality of economics and social participation, the tenets and practice of educational planning were rarely questioned.…

A survey of 1,127 public two-year colleges was conducted to determine the extent to which the colleges had been involved in formalized needs assessment projects from 1976 through 1979, the strategies they had used in planning and conducting these studies, and the ways in which the colleges had used and benefitted from this research. Survey…

The Research and Development Utilization (RDU) program research component examines the successes and administrative dilemmas faced by demonstration projects that attempted to develop interorganizational networks in a knowledge utilization and school improvement process. A framework is presented for looking at RDU projects as a group of…

A study of the National Institute of Education's Research and Development Utilization (RDU) program illuminates several policy choices for federal and state support of dissemination and school improvement projects. RDU was established in 1976 to disseminate educational materials and thereby help schools clarify and solve local problems. Seven…

Focusing on the effects that research on the Taiwan family planning program has had on social change, both in the intergration of research findings into national action programs and in the dissemination of these ideas to other Asian countries, this report discusses five individual case studies and presents a summary and analysis of the research…

In this issue, a study of school desegregation in Riverside, California is re-examined in terms of its contribution to an understanding of the relationship between desegregation and the academic achievement of minority children. General comments about the Riverside study as a whole are followed by descriptions of the models and assumptions tested…

Current teacher education is criticized, and suggestions are made for improvement. It is pointed out that an essential factor is missing from teacher education curriculum. This factor is the systematic translation of what is now known about human learning into teacher and learner behavior in the classroom. While the results of abundant research in…

Three scholarly efforts, in addition to kindergarten through grade 12 research, are necessary before research and development is likely to improve teacher education. First, systematic development efforts must be undertaken to reexamine and translate elementary-secondary research findings into articulate sets of curricula for teachers. Second,…

Intended to aid schools, colleges, and departments of education in the implementation of inservice teacher education programs or in the expansion of existing programs, this monograph presents current research findings on the role of the university in teacher inservice education. It outlines a step-by-step process for making such programs an…