Randomized experiments have become an increasingly popular design to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions in education (Spybrook, 2008). Many of the interventions evaluated in education are delivered to groups of students, rather than to individuals. Experiments designed to evaluate programs delivered at the group level often…

The political doctrine of the separation of church and state is perhaps the major contributor to the lack of discourse on whether or not spirituality in any way affects the leadership of United States public schools. Similarly, the distinction between spirituality and religion seems to affect adversely the degree to which public school leaders are…

African American adolescent male's academic achievement has been the topic of research for many years. It is an increasing concern for families, educators, and other human service professionals. The high rates of academic failure speak to the need to develop interventions, which are specifically designed to promote academic achievement among male…

Recent research studies in open and distance learning have focused on the differences between traditional learning versus online learning, the benefits of computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools in an e-learning environment, and the relationship between online discussion posts and students' achievement. In fact, there is an extant…

This article provides an overview of the contributions made to this special issue on feedback by the seven papers, examining how they reflect both the growing interest in different areas of research into feedback on writing and the continuing search by teachers for more effective feedback practices. Focusing first on the papers by Van Beuningen,…

This article explores and summarizes trends in research and scholarship over the last decade (i.e., 1998-2007) for students completing dissertations and theses in the area of distance education. The topics addressed, research designs utilized, and data collection and analysis methods used were compiled and analyzed. Results from this study…

Matter and Interactions (M&I) has recently been adopted as a novel introductory physics course that focuses on the application of a small number of fundamental physical principles to the atomic and molecular nature of matter. This study investigated how five physics teaching assistants (TAs) developed professional knowledge for teaching from their…

Mixed methods research has become a substantive and growing methodological force that is growing in popularity within the human and social sciences. This article reports the findings of a study that has systematically reviewed articles from the "Australian Journal of Career Development" from 2004 to 2009. The aim of the study was to…

This paper, following on from our previous paper focusing on findings regarding students' approaches to learning, explores students' approaches to performance with particular focus on musical self-efficacy beliefs and experiences of performance anxiety in solo and group performances. The research design included a large questionnaire survey…

Objective: A posttest-only experimental design was used to examine the effectiveness of curriculum infusion (CI) in reducing alcohol consumption and associated negative consequences among college students. Methods: Faculty teaching 2 identical courses during the same quarter were recruited; both classes were randomly assigned to either a treatment…

The astronomy concepts of 345 young people were studied over a 10-year period using a multi-media, multi-modal methodology in a research design where survey participants were interviewed three times and control subjects were interviewed twice. The purpose of the research was to search for evidence to clarify competing theories on "conceptual…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) is committed to strengthening relations between research and practice and to the development of a coherent knowledge base that is usable in practice. The need to work toward connection and coherence is not unique to the field of mathematics education. Fields such as medicine, software…

The purpose of this evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of an online reading teacher and literacy instructor training program. A mixed-method research design was used in conjunction with the improvement-focused model of program evaluation to help the researcher identify strengths and weaknesses of the program. Overall, data showed the…

Design activities, when embedded in an inquiry cycle and appropriately scaffolded and supplemented with reflection, can promote the development of the habits of mind (scientific abilities) that are an important part of scientific practice. Through the Investigative Science Learning Environment ("ISLE"), students construct physics knowledge by…

Background: Studies addressing pay discrimination for females in education have relied on main effect regression models, mostly examining amount (intercept values) rather than rate of pay (slope coefficients). Purpose: The purpose is to determine if organizational characteristics and human capital endowments purported to influence pay are facially…