Intended to help teachers, researchers, curriculum developers, and administrators develop improved policy in reading instruction and research, this book challenges several widespread assumptions about effective reading instruction and concludes with 20 policy guidelines which can be used to evaluate existing reading programs and redesign them to…

A study examined two 1989 basal reading series' (published by McGraw Hill and Holt) readiness/priming sequences in order to ascertain the theoretical bases of each and then compared the findings with those of an earlier study. All pages of the readiness/priming sequence student texts and workbooks of both basal reading series were analyzed using…

Intended for instructors, this handbook is to be used with "Thinking Critically" (Second Edition) and is divided into four sections. Part 1 (Using "Thinking Critically") is designed to give practical strategies for applying the material in "Thinking Critically." A summary of key ideas and terms for each chapter is provided as well as suggestions…

Reflecting new development in the field of rhetoric and composition, this textbook's third edition incorporates major changes which propose to turn theory into practical advice. These additions in the third edition draw on a new theoretical understanding of how writers operate within a discourse community, on a new research-based view of the…

This paper discusses the need for continuous personal professional development, the University of Regina (Canada) approach to professional development, planning for improvement, and sources of feedback on professional improvement attempts. The process involves three components. The first is a supervisory or conferencing procedure that has student…

This study examined children's application of ecological concepts under conditions that were similar to or different from the conditions under which they first applied the concepts while playing a microcomputer-based ecosystems game. Two task dimensions were studied: (1) the form in which the information was presented (iconic or symbolic); and (2)…

The importance of theory in qualitative work is discussed through an examination of the search for theory that arose in relation to a case study of educational change in an American school district. Theory is defined as an analytical, interpretive framework to help the researcher make sense of what is going on in the social setting. Certain…

Social work education requires a relationship between academia and agency. The practicum has long been used to give students a balanced education. To study the perceptions of practicum field instructors about the school's graduate level practicum, questionnaires were sent to 163 field instructors for the University of Georgia's School of Social…

A series of three studies examined the influence of prior knowledge on expert readers' main idea construction processes. Eight expert readers read texts from familiar and unfamiliar content domains, and gave verbal reports of the processes they used for constructing main ideas. Five distinct main idea construction processes were reported: (1)…

The Personal Profile System (PPS) is a psychological testing instrument that has been widely used. The construct validity of the PPS was studied through a review of the literature. This paper organizes the literature review into three broad categories: the background of the PPS; the reliability of the PPS; and the validity of the PPS. The PPS is a…

The Research-Practice Linkages Project sought to identify the knowledge base supporting community leadership development (CLD) programs of the Cooperative Extension Service and to determine linkages between Extension programs and CLD research. A mail questionnaire was completed by 492 Extension staff involved in CLD programs in 18 states and 42…

This Issue Paper includes two papers: (1) "What Can Research on Teacher Thinking Contribute to Teacher Preparation? A Second Opinion," by Robert E. Floden and Hans Gerhard Klinzing, and (2) "Taking Account of the Distinction between Knowing and Thinking in Teaching," by Magdalene Lampert and Christopher Clark. Both sets of…

An adjunct faculty member who teaches in three very different colleges and universities sees the similarity of course objectives for freshman writing, in which each program emphasizes rhetorical mode requirements to the exclusion of writing as discovery. Student writing is product-centered, and the writing act is linear in that it adheres to a…

A framework for the professional certification and preparation of principals is developed in this report. Contents include discussions of the context of school leadership, implications for school leaders, expanded leadership roles, suggestions for preparation programs, and principals' domains. Based on the premise that principal preparation…

Viewed as a social movement for change, the global education movement calls for the infusion of a global perspective into all curriculum areas. Two assumptions of global education include the view of the individual school as the optimal unit for change efforts, and the importance of local teacher and school action for lasting school improvement.…