This compendium contains the abstracts of the keynote lectures, symposia, and posters for the 7th European Conference on the Quality of Early Childhood Education. The topic of the conference was Childhood in a Changing Society--Power, Autonomy, and Early Years Education. The first section of the collection consists of abstracts of keynote…

This paper presents an introduction to basic concepts of educational research for preschool, elementary, and secondary teachers at the Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (EIS) in Honduras who expressed interest in pursuing graduate education in the United States. EIS is a private bilingual (Spanish-English) K-12 school in Honduras. In the first part…

Leading educational psychologists address problems in adult development and learning in this book. "What Does Educational Psychology Know about Adult Learning and Development?" (M. Cecil Smith, Thomas Pourchot) is the introduction. "We Learn, Therefore We Develop" (Nira Granott) tackles the problem of distinguishing between…

This handbook, which is intended for adult and community education (ACE) organizations and vocational education and training (VET) providers, outlines more than 40 practical successful pathway models that provide opportunities and options for women's transition from informal, noncredit ACE courses to accredited VET courses. Discussed in the first…

This study examines the role of dialogue and collaborative reflection in guiding teachers' identification of issues and contextual barriers in their practice. It analyzes teachers' social interactions and academic self-efficacy during the dialogic process and evaluates the quality of inquiry that teachers proposed to change their practice.…

In Australia as in many other countries, the idea of decentralization of education is an idea being widely adopted. However, it is not clear whether this has resulted in improved student achievement. A review of international research on decentralization provides clear indications that it cannot be asserted that a decentralized system, in itself,…

Multicultural education is a metadiscipline, a field of study designed to increase educational equity for all students. It incorporates concepts, principles, theories, and models from history, from the social and behavioral sciences, and from ethnic and women's studies in particular. This handbook assembles in one volume the major research and…

A quick look at the literature in American Indian studies reveals that it is divided about equally between historical research and studies of contemporary American Indians, reflecting the strong influence of history and anthropology in the field. American Indian studies overlaps many disciplines. Characterized as an "area study," it is unified by…

As subjects of numerous studies and research reports since the 1930s, Puerto Ricans in U.S. mainland schools have been portrayed as problems, as losers or disadvantaged, and as potentially at risk. This chapter documents the difficult educational history of Puerto Ricans, who have been in U.S.-controlled schools even in Puerto Rico since 1898, to…

An overview is presented of research on African American teachers, addressing the large body of literature written by policy analysts, first-person narratives, and the sociological and anthropological literature. Policy research has identified the small number of African American teachers and has studied some reasons for this shortage and some of…

This review of racial issues in American higher education identifies the quest for community amid diversity as the major challenges facing colleges and universities today. The literature reviewed is organized into three parts: (1) the demographics of equity and access in higher education; (2) the legacy of racism in higher education; and (3) the…

Topics related to race and gender have begun appearing with increasing frequency in the adult education literature. The most prevalent trend in the literature is a focus on creating learning environments for diverse audiences, including appropriate strategies for teaching and learning and debate on whether separate approaches and/or special…

This document presents the history of the first 50 years (1945-95) of the Mountain Plains Adult Education Association (MPAEA). The MPAEA, which includes adult education leaders from the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, strives to ensure that every adult is prepared for a lifetime of learning and…

This document presents the history of the last five years (1996-2000) of the Mountain Plains Adult Education Association (MPAEA) through summaries and photos of the yearly conferences held between 1996 and 2000. The MPAEA, which includes adult education leaders from the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming,…

To overcome public skepticism, government agencies and policymakers are increasingly appropriating the term "research-based" to describe their work. This paper examines how educational leaders should respond to the politicization of their field, implicit in such characterizations, by examining how the field might look if the words…