Describes proactive efforts to link educational research and practice by the University of California (Santa Barbara) through its Educational Leadership Institute, which fosters relationships between university faculty and school superintendents who work in study teams to investigate specific problems confronting local schools. Proposed solutions…

If schools became true communities of learners they could spread community throughout alienated urban areas. Some major themes defining cooperative community are explored. Stages that schools should go through in building community are detailed. Providing outreach to other potential communities is a later step in the process. (SLD)

Explores Maria Montessori's notion that a young child's brain is significantly different from an adult's and that young children develop according to a series of predictable "sensitive periods." Cites numerous empirical studies that support these and other ideas Montessori postulated without the advantage of sophisticated scientific…

Presents results of a study of relationships between parents' education levels and the level their children's placement in a mathematics tracking system. Reports that college-educated parents are more involved and likely to intervene in their children's placement and decisions. Concludes that parent involvement at critical decision points helps to…

Looks at teaching methods and the effects on student performance. Examines beginning teachers interactions with 84 nonmusic major students. Assesses components of proactive teaching and self-perceptions of success. Focuses on teacher feedback in relation to student success. Recommends professionals apply task analysis principles to music learning…

Compares the operational and sociomoral reasoning maturity of 70 deaf children with that of a sensory unimpaired control sample. Tests subjects individually on three Piagetian tasks, story pairs, and the concept of justice. Finds slower development of operational reasoning in the deaf children but comparable development in sociomoral reasoning.…

Examines whether class size in the introductory-level economics course affects subsequent performance in intermediate-level economics courses. Studies University of Massachusetts (Boston) students who are allowed to choose large or small lecture classes. Finds that students enrolled in large sections received lower grades in subsequent…

Considers varying perceptions about the need for faculty to publish (and the influence of such publishing on tenure, promotion, and merit pay) held by faculty members and selected administrators on various small college campuses. (SR)

Examines didactic interventions and claims their impact on pupil behavior aids the study of cognitive processes. Studies problem solving in teaching mathematics. Examines the functions of tutorial interventions in surface features and instability of representation. Finds tutorial interventions demonstrate a substantial increase in performance…

Reexamines definitions of and explanations for the Hawthorne Effect in research subjects. Notes that the Hawthorne Effect was tested in a study of the effectiveness of paired classroom reading among students. Challenges the notion that subject's behavior is modified by participation in research. Reviews various research studies that question the…

Reviews selected research studies evaluating school improvement projects, focusing on schools at the local level in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. Examines administrative structures and classroom teaching management. Discusses educational policy changes such as increased decentralization aimed at changing learning conditions. (NL)

Compares the effect of modeling on the development of musical preference by comparing subject race and sex with preferred performer race and sex. After viewing "We Are the World," subjects selected the solo part they preferred to perform. These were compared with their favorite performer. Subjects preferred same-race and same-sex models. (DB)

In the research paper considered, Stahl and Miller compare the effectiveness of whole language/language experience programs versus basal reader approaches. The article is criticized for misrepresenting concepts related to emergent literacy and inadequately defining whole language, the lack of equivalence between the two nonbasal approaches, and…

Uses a hierarchical linear model to test the effect of birthdate on science ability in British schoolchildren, ages 11, 13, and 15. Reports that summer-born children scored lower than autumn-born children on science survey tests. Urges teachers to consider these artificial performance differences when grouping pupils according to ability for…

Results of a HyperCard method for assessing the performance of expert and novice high school chemistry students solving stoichiometric chemistry problems (balancing chemical equations) is reported. MANOVA results indicate significant difference between expert and novice students solving the five stoichiometric chemistry problems using…