The overall aim of this paper is to give an account of action learning in practice. It demonstrates the potential strengths and weaknesses of action learning. The information given is derived from five years in an action learning set. Significant events from within and without the action learning set will be explored using the themes clarifying;…

Background: It is widely claimed that critical reflection upon experience is a valuable process in which all teachers should engage in order to improve their professional practice. Assumptions are made about the benefits of reflection both for the teacher as person and professional; however, there is a lack of in-depth research on the reflective…

This paper describes a school/university graduate induction program that has provided support to beginning teachers since 1994. A 10-year follow-up study of program graduates was recently conducted to examine these questions: (a) How many graduates are still in the education profession? (b) How many have remained in the classroom? and (c) What are…

"Learning how to learn--in classrooms, schools and networks" (LHTL) was a major school based development and research project within the ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme. As such it was expected to work towards fulfilment of TLRP aims to work for improvement in learning outcomes, in authentic learning and teaching contexts,…

This report presents the findings of the annual evaluation of the Even Start Family Literacy program conducted during the 1989-1990 program year. Chapter 1 of the report describes the nature and purpose of Even Start, a 4-year national effort intended to improve the educational opportunities of children and adults by integrating early childhood…

The 307 schools funded by the Ohio Venture Capital program were the focus of a study on teacher empowerment. This paper focuses on the method used to maximize survey responses, rather than on the study findings. Data were sought from the building principals and 10,544 classroom teachers to create a "total picture" of the individual…

Seven Oaks School, a high school in Winnipeg (Canada) recently conducted a followup study of its graduates using a unique approach. High school seniors helped develop the structured interview instrument and carried out the research. As it gathered important information to help the school district in its planning, the study provided students with…

This paper describes two culturally-sensitive longitudinal studies of normal development of Puerto Rican adolescents and children growing up in the United States. A number of areas pertinent to Puerto Ricans and other minorities that have previously been neglected are studied. Both projects are grounded in a cultural-ecological approach in which…

Abuses and misuses of statistics are frequent. This digest attempts to warn against these in three broad classes of pitfalls: sources of bias, errors of methodology, and misinterpretation of results. Sources of bias are conditions or circumstances that affect the external validity of statistical results. In order for a researcher to make…

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to assess students' culturally sensitive environments and to examine the associations between these factors and students' attitudes towards science. A measure of students' environment, namely, the Cultural Learning Environment Questionnaire (CLEQ), was developed. The instrument…

This manual has been produced to familiarize data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the second follow-up school component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) and to provide the necessary documentation for use of the data file. Chapter 1 contains an overview and the history of the…

This document is a summary and evaluation of methodological procedures and results for the field test of the Beginning Postsecondary Student Longitudinal Study Second Followup, 1990-94 (BPS:90/94). The BPS study is a departure from previous studies in that it starts with a cohort of individuals as they enter their postsecondary studies regardless…

This manual familiarizes data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the second follow-up student component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), with the corollary objective of providing necessary documentation for use of the data file. Chapter 1 presents an overview and history of the…

This manual familiarizes data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the second follow-up dropout component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), a survey of the educational and personal characteristics of students. The dropout data file contains records for 2,028 sample members who…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the effectiveness of the guidance program used by change agents in the Dutch School Improvement Project (NSIP) on program implementation. Sixteen schools composed the experimental group and 13 made up the control group. The experimental variable was the guidance strategy of the NSIP. The two…