Provides relevant background information about the hemispheric nature of the brain. Presents a framework for resulting practical implications for elementary school language arts. Notes that both prospective and practicing elementary school teachers should find this linkage of theory and practice beneficial as they help children gain language arts…

Americans tend to associate "vocational education" with narrow training for marginal students. After years of valuing abstract learning over applied academics, theorists are realizing many students learn better in applied settings. To reverse low productivity, raise living standards, and compete successfully in export market, we must…

Research has posited a set of rather obvious, ordinary, and predictable factors making up an effective school. Three case studies from Britain, Africa, and Thailand are used to explore different contexts for school administration and how the resulting administrative reality can contribute to school effectiveness. Reforms cannot succeed without a…

The idea of resistance (and empowerment) in critical pedagogy is rooted in traditional notions of Marxist vanguard politics that consider the trade-unionized white male working class as the entitled leaders of the revolutionary movement. Marxism fosters a theory and practice of elitist leadership notions that is replicated among contemporary…

This response to EC 603 649 argues that the field of applied behavior analysis does train a large number of practitioners and administrators and a few researchers, that graduate programs already vary research training and practice training, and that both practicing and research behavior analysts need to be taught the logic of experimental control.…

This response to EC 603 649 agrees that the field of applied behavior analysis has a low success rate in teaching productive researchers but argues that the corrective action should involve doing a more effective job of teaching students how to be successful researchers in nonacademic settings. (JDD)

The Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement at the University of Minnesota's College of Education is a collaborative effort seeking to meld academic research outcomes with practitioners' real-life needs. The center is involved with core research projects, training and support for research, collaborative research projects,…

Presents a study of Atlanta, Georgia, teacher's perceptions of the purposes of education and how those perceptions relate to the reform literature of the 1980s. Concludes that teachers generally agree with reformers and differ over educational purpose, as does the reform literature. Reports some effort among teachers to synthesize disparate views.…

The article considers ways better to relate theory and practice in teacher education. It discusses alternative media through which practitioners can reflect upon their practice and examines different levels of reflection at which practitioners can be supported in their theorizing. (SM)

Compares cooperative learning with earlier educational reforms. Suggests that cooperative learning succeeds where others have failed because it incorporates well-developed theory and research with support for teachers over an extended time. Discusses the good fit between cooperative-learning approaches and social studies instruction. (SG)

A theoretical and practical justification is presented for including creative dance in the elementary school curriculum, drawing on a study of six creative-dance workshops and their effects on teacher attitudes. Eight teachers' reflections on their experiences show the vital role of creative dance. (SLD)

Discusses the Bradley Commission, which voiced concerns about the adequacy of the K-12 social studies curriculum. Suggests that the need for the history-centered curriculum endorsed by the commission is not supported by research. Cites findings contradicting commission claims that history instruction promotes good citizenship. (SG)

The traditional conceptions of science dominating educational administration are mistaken. Unacceptable epistemologies, like those implicit in logical positivism, justify knowledge solely in terms of empirical adequacy. An improved science of educational administration embraces a coherent global theory accounting for all the phenomena of human…

Summarizes a major longitudinal study (Project STAR) conducted in Tennessee between 1985 and 1989, provides some results updating STAR findings through 1992, and suggests research-based courses of action. Class-size research in primary grades is showing the efficacy of small classes of 1:15. Application of early experimental results in 17 poor…

It is argued that clinical legal education courses should be more than just exercises in skills acquisition for professional legal practice, but should also include a theoretical component encouraging critical examination of the activities of legal practice. This implies a recognition of the human and social character of law practice. (MSE)