This study examined 10 urban middle school teacher leaders who played significant roles in their districts' and states' large-scale standards reform efforts. Interviews, observations, and shadowing were conducted during the first year to examine the teachers' scope of work. Observations focused on teachers working with a range of students and with…

Explains why and how organizational development can be effective at improving performance and job satisfaction in schools and maintains that the person most likely to apply it effectively is the instructional supervisor. (JM)

Contract research has increased because of: agencies' time limits; governmental agencies' skepticism about academics' practicality; and a power struggle between government and universities for control of the information production business. Implications of the increase in contract research are discussed and recommendations are made. (MH)

Describes the author's personal version of the action research cycle, focusing on two research experiences to point out what can be learned from research involving listening to language learners. Suggests that one can learn in two different and equally important ways; one can learn about the research question studied and about how to improve the…

A junior high teacher converted her science and math classroom into a business-like setting where students report to work daily and cooperatively participate in planning, learning, and classroom management. (SM)

Notes that collaborative action research helped Australian adult education teachers refine their classroom skills and reflect critically on their current practice. Discusses research designed to develop teachers' skills in meeting the English language learning needs of disparate groups of learners and to assist these teachers in redirecting their…

Discusses three scientific traditions (positivist, interpretivist, and critical) as they inform methodological and strategic choices within a USAID-funded "Improving Educational Quality" project in Ghana, Guatemala, and Mali, examining various challenges researchers face when they engage in classroom anchored research in connection with…

In the Even Start program, parents and children attended school together daily. Reflective logs, personal narratives, interviews, and group discussions revealed a dichotomy between mothers' identities as learners and as parents. Self-realization, dialogue, and caring emerged as primary factors in the development of constructive relationships. (SM)

Examines the possible roles and contributions of postmodernist thought to educational research. Models some of these approaches in its consideration of interviews collected during a project reviewing the careers of educational researchers. Provides a number of verbatim transcripts from the interviews and discusses their various narrative and…

Describes an action research project which began by asking how English teachers could improve the writing of their African American students, and gradually came to ask how the teachers' own cultural assumptions might be blocking their teaching relationships. Identifies and discusses eight principles of their approach, and discusses changes in…

Describes a partnership between the School District of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education. The Taking Stock/Making Change collaborative action research project supported schools as they moved toward school-based management and shared decision making. Though participating schools had some problems,…

A study examined costs and benefits perceived by 26 self-help group leaders who helped rural Kansas communities in extending the use, awareness, and effectiveness of self-help groups. Findings that satisfaction in helping was the major benefit and time constraints the major cost were used to tailor leadership roles. Self-help group activity…

Describes how an elementary classroom teacher discovers and explores the power of aesthetic experience in an educational context. Discusses how the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh helps an exceptionally difficult class of 11-year-old female students in suburban Dublin, Ireland, become interested in their education. (KM)

Recent research has recommended increased use of the target language; the use of cognitive, metacognitive, and prosocial strategies; and cooperative learning to help achieve oral proficiency and communication within the classroom. This paper describes a 21-day research action project involving 2 Spanish 2 honors classes and several cooperative…

Reports on an action research study by a classroom teacher with 24 12-year-old students to determine whether they can work effectively in cooperative groups without training. Recommends that teachers take time to discover interpersonal relationships and factors in the students' social framework. (CFR)