This article summarizes the breadth, diversity, and significance of the international movement to recognize, prepare, and learn from teachers as researchers from three interrelated standpoints: curriculum improvement, professional critique, and societal reform. A derivative of action research, teacher research from a curriculum improvement stance…

This paper presents an overview of the findings and implications of an ongoing 5-year collaborative action research project conducted by university faculty and classroom teachers in a large urban school district in the southeastern United States. Based on the premise that participation in research empowers teachers to take action to improve…

Process evaluation is a critical element in understanding the results of any research. Because action research is conducted by practitioners, there is a tendency to think that there is little need for process evaluation. Yet, the complexity of factors underlying most educational treatments tends to defeat all but the best memories when attempting…

Research may be divided into two types, "empowering" research and "academic" research. Empowering research seeks to determine how a particular individual or organization can produce a desired result, while academic research is concerned with why a particular condition exists. While academic research might ask "Why do students drop out of school?"…

Five self-selected triads of Western Australia (W.A.) principals served as process consultants to improve their schools. Patterns of communication, leadership procedures, tensions impeding collaboration, decision-making, and problem-solving procedures were the foci of attention. The strategy asked each consultant pair (in turn) to clarify their…

A project at the University of Calgary attempted to find ways in which university continuing education units could intervene programmatically to enhance professionals' autonomous learning skills and attitudes. The format was a workshop-lab spread over a 5-week period, with the first session of 1.5 days followed by 3 follow-up meetings of 4 hours…

A study was conducted to critically assess the developmental conditions of 187 children (ages 1 month to 6 years) in eight creches (day nurseries) located in and around Ribeirao Preto, Brazil. Data were collected through informal interviews of day care staff and from 20 hours of direct observations of day care units. Findings indicated inadequate…

Classroom research procedures to help teachers to investigate their own teaching behaviors are outlined, and the benefits of such research are discussed. For undertaking investigations of teaching behaviors and their consequences, teachers are first provided with background knowledge and experience in classroom observation. A variety of techniques…

Schools and universities in the United Kingdom are coming to accept performance appraisal as a fact of life. The first part of this paper discusses appraisal policies as "negotiated ambiguities." Ambiguous criteria concerning wording subject to misinterpretation has created reservations on the side of the National Union of Teachers. This…

This paper describes a system of built-in, or internal, evaluation used within the Botswana National Literacy Program (NLP). Launched in 1981 and targeted toward illiterate adults and youth aged 10 years and older, the program aims at eradicating illiteracy in Botswana by 1986. The built-in evaluation was implemented in 1983, using program…

A description is given of a teaching project designed to provide teachers with avenues for professional growth and renewal and to encourage experienced teachers to remain in the classroom. This teacher-initiated and directed program incorporates three major components: (1) Collaboration between a college and a public school strenthens the…

In 1980, the Texas Tech University Teacher Corps offered a professional development program for elementary and secondary school teachers in Lubbock, Texas designed to help teachers gain new research knowledge and skills. The program was patterned after the Interactive Research and Development model, a strategy providing research experience through…

This quantitative/qualitative evaluation of an 80-hour course integrating the SCOPE Computer Program in Mathematics and Science into the curriculum for students, grades 6-12, was conducted to: (1) provide immediate feedback to facilitate improvement of the program; (2) determine course effects; and (3) provide practitioners with an effective…

One component of an evaluation research model for system-wide selection of curriculum materials is reported: implementation of an evaluation design for obtaining data that permits professional and lay persons to base curriculum materials decisions on a "best fit" principle. The design includes teacher characteristics, learning environment…

As a collaborative process, action research begins when educational researchers, university faculty, and teachers assist each other in developing the skills to identify and conceptualize problems. The fundamental principle of collaborative research is that the research process is based on a system of discussion, investigation, and analysis in…