This issue of CPRE Policy Briefs looks at findings from the Consortium for Policy Research in Education's (CPRE) study of how central office and school staff in three urban districts made decisions about instructional improvement strategies, and how much weight they gave to evidence. The three districts, in three different states, had enrollments…

Teaching young children to read is the most critical educational priority facing this country. Encouragingly, this is an area where some of the best and most rigorous scientifically based research is available. The Reading First program helps States and districts apply this research--and the proven instructional and assessment tools consistent…

NCSALL's (National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy's) Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network (PDRN) set out to create and support systematic partnerships between practitioners and university researchers to better connect research and practice, with the ultimate outcome of improved practice, policy, and services for…

This study circle was created by the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL). The study circle is part of NCSALL's efforts to help connect research and practice in the field of adult basic education and adult literacy. The Adult Student Persistence Study Circle is one of a series of study circles that NCSALL has…

There is growing interest in the possibilities of combining research approaches in education and social sciences, as dissatisfaction mounts with the limitations of traditional mono-method studies and with the schism between quantitative and qualitative methods. This book argues the case for combining multiple research methods, and provides…

The purpose of the brief is to help educators, service providers, and local evaluators in schools, intermediary and community-based organizations, and social service agencies become more effective by highlighting the best program and evaluation practices of family-strengthening intervention programs. At a time when evidence-based practice matters,…

The best science teachers don't just get up in front of the class and start talking. They draw from a plan... a rationale... a purpose. This book helps them create and implement a detailed, research-based teaching rationale that works even with students of varied needs in less-than-ideal facilities. The key is a method that this book's authors…

The paper is to explore the regularity of teachers' team construction of Non-government University. In the paper, the author analyzes the instability of the teachers' structure and their thoughts; summarizes the experience which the non-government university has accumulated over 13 years and puts forward the measures to construct non-government…

This paper reviews what current research says about best practices in reading instruction for students with mild mental retardation. After introducing some key reading issues (such as effects of early reading failure), two principal approaches to reading instruction are discussed: first, the traditional/bottom-up synthetic approach which begins…

Although adult education as a field has shown interest in theories of situated cognition, it has misappropriated some of its central concepts. Proponents of situated cognition posit that learning is not something that happens in independent isolation, or just inside the head, but instead is shaped by the context, culture, and tools of the learning…

How can lasting change be made in the way art is taught in U.S. schools? This was the challenge facing six regional professional development consortia sponsored by the Getty Education Institute for the Arts (Los Angeles, California). This publication documents the change effort, which is unique because it has affected thousands of students and…

This book is an effort to examine the theory and practice of educational assessment while taking a step toward the development of a new paradigm. Fundamental changes in the way education is conceptualized must accompany the effort to rethink assessment theory and practice. The following chapters are included: (1) "The Need for a New Science…

The need for trained counselors/counseling psychologists, and for counselor education, training, and accreditation, are topics of continued discussion within professional organizations, accrediting bodies, universities, and other training institutions. Following an exploratory meeting in 1998 to discuss the need for additional graduate counselor…

Idea development is a concrete skill that can be taught in a systematic way. This step-by-step guidebook provides educators in all content areas with the tools they need to help students think more critically and write with more fully developed ideas. The guide (authored by instructors with the Kentucky Writing Program) offers the…

Review of the current knowledge concerning youth violence and gang behavior considers risk factors for violence and gang formation, functions served by violence and gang membership, and strategies that have been empirically validated to be either beneficial or ineffective. Following an introductory chapter, the first chapter looks at the nature of…