This article reviews sustainability of research-based practices and the extent to which it is reasonable to assume that educators can or should sustain practices over time. Facilitators for sustainability are discussed and include teacher input and a feeling of collaboration, sensitivity, and responsiveness between the researcher and the…

Responds to Gilliam et al.'s critique of evaluation of the Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP). Restates the policy implications of the study and comments on the design of the intervention and the evaluation. Concludes with remarks on how evaluation and research should be used to help low-income families. (Author/KB)

The culminating project in completing a doctorate in education is the preparation and final defense of the dissertation. Specifically in educational administration and leadership, the student will have exerted hours of energy participating in course work, internships as well as in written and oral comprehensive examinations. By the time a student…

The study reported in this article focused on the preparation of elementary preservice teachers to teach reading and on their first 3 years of teaching in schools. Graduates of 8 programs judged as "excellent" by an expert review panel participated in this study. The research was guided by 2 questions: (1) What effects do participation…

This study aimed to find out whether integrating accent reduction software in advanced English language classes at the university level would result in improvements in students pronunciation at the segmental and sup-rasegmental levels. The study made use of a quasi-experimental research design. Two classes at the Department of Foreign Language…

This paper reports a study to investigate the views of early childhood educators working in a range of early childhood settings in four European countries, Denmark, Greece, Italy and the UK. Recent research into European perspectives on early education, special educational needs and inclusion is reviewed highlighting: a multinational call for…

This article illustrates (a) 2 recent innovations in the changing criterion research design, (b) how these innovations apply to research and practice in special education, and (c) how clinical needs influence design features of the changing criterion design. The first innovation, the range-bound changing criterion, is a very simple variation of…

Institutional researchers frequently use national datasets such as those provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The authors of this chapter explore the adjustments required when analyzing NCES data collected using complex sample designs. (Contains 8 tables.)

Because surveys now can be implemented with relative ease and little cost, many researchers are overlooking the basic principles of survey research. This chapter discusses sources of error that researchers should consider when conducting a survey, and gives readers basic suggestions for reducing error. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

In this paper, the authors describe their development of an introductory laboratory course in microbiology that is geared towards students in grades 8-10. The course was developed as part of the Mentoring for Science Program at Harvard Medical School, an outreach program created by the Minority Faculty Development Program, directed towards…

In this paper we discuss the complexities of interview transcription. While often seen as a behind-the-scenes task, we suggest that transcription is a powerful act of representation. Transcription is practiced in multiple ways, often using naturalism, in which every utterance is captured in as much detail as possible, and/or denaturalism, in which…

Research into the research-teaching "nexus" has undergone significant changes in focus and methodology. From an initial quantitative concern with correlating measurements of research productivity and teaching effectiveness, the empirical emphasis has shifted in favour of exploring the "experiences" of participants (academics…

This study investigates the effects of web-based assessment and practice on improving middle school students' mathematics learning attitudes. With the use of an experimental design and a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, the study compared and contrasted the attitude achievement of students, who used the web-based assessment and…

Increasing numbers of music education researchers have begun to use qualitative methods to examine research topics using interviews, observations, documents, and archival data. In this article, I review qualitative research methodology and its origins and methods, discuss topics that have been studied by music education researchers using…

Research on the neurobiology of second language (L2) learning has historically focused on localization questions and relied on cross-sectional designs. Here, we describe an alternative paradigm involving longitudinal studies of adult, novice learners who are progressing through an introductory sequence of classroom-based L2 instruction. The goal…