Here, author William A. Sampson examines the role of the family in the school preparation process among poor Blacks and Latinos. It is based upon the data collected during intense long-term observations of 21 disadvantaged minority students and families in their homes within the same community. The data suggests that the differences in…

This paper presents a model for studying the freshman year experience and identifying predictors of overall satisfaction with the first year in college. Results are based on a survey of 268 freshmen attending a private, selective college in the northeast. Findings confirm the importance of social experiences. Three of five significant predictors…

This book represents a conversation among educators and others concerned with language and literacy development. The conversation began by chance at an international conference on literacy when Catherine Snow and Lily Wong Fillmore began talking about the escalating demands that the educational system in the United States places on teachers…

This book shows teacher-librarians and school library media specialists how to perform qualitative research and use the results effectively to promote the school library and build a shared understanding of the impact of school libraries on student learning. Hands-on guidance is provided for performing action research, including how to establish…

This chapter examines how integrating the study of motivation to learn with the issue of identity development during adolescence requires simultaneous attention to patterns of school functioning, peer relationships, and mental health at the level of the individual, and to patterns of developmental supports or risks at the level of the social…

Historical views about individuals and communities shape the ways that researchers interact with people and their communities. The European settlers thought of Native Americans as savages in need of socialization. Accordingly, the first researchers had little concern for the needs of Native people and their communities and sought to impose Western…

A brief review of the papers presented at the Symposium on Research and Evaluation Methodology highlights some of the major issues of research in Indian Country. There is a need to translate research results into terms that are meaningful at the local level, yet the act of doing this reveals tensions between scientific objectivity and advocacy.…

Since the mid-1970s, participatory research (PR) has provided an alternative approach to those development systems that rely on outside experts and implement predetermined solutions. PR empowers disadvantaged people by recognizing them as co-researchers working together to gather information and implement solutions to their problems. This paper…

Graduate students enrolling in research methods courses frequently experience significant anxiety. An effective instructor can lessen anxiety and alleviate frustration by using both personal interaction and course activities. This newsletter describes ways to reduce anxiety and help students approach research with understanding and interest. This…

This paper constructs a framework for understanding research partnerships with youth and uses this framework to examine a project in which university researchers collaborated with youth to examine their educational institutions and the contexts of their learning. Adult researchers trained and supervised 21 "youth ethnographers" to carry out…

In this study, we discuss the use of generative evaluation as an innovative approach in the analysis of qualitative interview data for evaluating simultaneous renewal of Iowa State University's PT3 grant. Goodlad's (1994) simultaneous renewal framework forms the basis of our argument. We focused on the CREATER+ model designed to explain the…

This document is an update of Focus on Research: A Guide to Developing Students' Research Skills (Alberta Education, 1990). Focus on Research was developed in response to suggestions from Alberta teachers during the implementation of Focus on Learning: an Integrated Program Model for Alberta School Libraries (Alberta Education, 1985). …

Examining how the researcher's personal experience shapes the research context was the object of this exploration into the parallel paths of the researcher and research subject. The subject, a preservice science teacher, was studied from her last year of an undergraduate teacher education program through her student teaching experience in an…

This report describes the methods and procedures used for the 1996 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:96). NPSAS:96, which surveyed over 830 postsecondary education institutions and over 34,000 students and parents, included important changes from previous NPSAS studies conducted in 1987, 1990, and 1993 in its sample design and data…

An examination of measures currently used to assess degree of bilingualism in individuals looks at the problems inherent in them, ideal measures, and how to use available measures. It is suggested that definition of bilinguality is a central cause for measurement problems, since a bilingual is assumed to be the sum of two monolinguals, without…