Discusses authentic assessment of student performance as it relates to academic improvement and educational reform. Points out that there is too much testing of basic knowledge and skills out of context, and too little teaching of complex concepts. (MMU)

Responds to letters to the editor regarding comments on semantics, psychometrics, and assessment reform regarding authentic assessment of student academic achievements. Suggests that psychometric concerns need to be addressed. (MMU)

Examines characteristics of educational knowledge produced by educational researchers and considers how this impacts on educational research. Reviews the negative and positive consequences of this structurally egalitarian and substantively divergent knowledge production in education schools. (MMU)

Compares the postmodernists' and transformationists' versions of interpretivism, in relation to epistemology, politics, and the ontology of the self. Sides with the transformationists and concludes that the differences between the two are overdrawn. (MMU)

Explores the current state of situated cognition theory. Points to underlying issues that remain to be clarified in order for the substantive differences between situative and cognitive approaches to be appreciated. (MMU)

Critiques the technologized teaching and learning environments of higher education. Considers the issue of access in relation to learning theory, critical theory, and poststructuralism. Raises questions about embodied nature of teaching and learning and its potential to produce or counter marginalization. (MMU)

Presents commentary by former AERA president Gene V. Glass (1975-76) on the future of the association and educational research. Focuses on communications issues, particularly presentation of research results in meeting programs, educational journals, and on the World Wide Web. (MMU)

Discusses the use of women researchers' birth names or hyphenated birth and marriage names in professional publications. Examines publication policies which can inhibit dissemination of their published works as well as impact on tenure and promotion decision. Offers suggestions to improve indexing of their research. (MMU)

Responds to "A Woman's Name: Implications for Publication, Citation, and Tenure." Contends that the charge of gender bias in publication policies is based on opinion and on an unpublished pilot study. Suggests that the recommendations were obvious and mildly helpful, thus overlooking the opportunity to promote equity in academe. (MMU)

Volume 12 of the Mid-Western Educational Researcher contains four issues. The first issue includes kick-off, keynote, luncheon, and presidential addresses from the annual meeting of the Mid-Western Educational Research Association (MWERA), held in Chicago, Illinois, in October 1998. Issue 3 is the program for MWERA's annual meeting in Chicago,…

Presents an opinion on the appropriate use of significance tests, especially in the context of regression analysis, the most commonly encountered statistical technique in education and related disciplines. Briefly discusses the appropriate use of power analysis. Contains 47 references. (Author/SV)

The value of a multimethod, quantitative and qualitative approach to evaluation in an applied setting is demonstrated through a case study of an evaluation of a classroom literacy intervention (Classroom Publishing) that had been implemented without regard to subsequent evaluation. The two types of techniques complemented each other to create…

Combines item response theory (IRT) and statistical methods to analyze California Achievement Test-Mathematics (CAT-M) results for 4,135 seventh graders in northeast Ohio. Provides information to educational analysts about which IRT model fits CAT-M data for the target population, test accuracy in estimating students' abilities at different…

A survey of all 635 public high schools in Illinois examined types of scheduling models used (daily period schedules, block schedules, modular/flexible scheduling, or combination models); statewide trends in scheduling; and principals' reasons for adopting scheduling changes. Only 27% of schools were incorporating block-scheduling components.…

The proportion of time that teacher candidates in field-experience programs spent on eight types of classroom tasks was examined for two field-experience programs that differed in constancy of placement. In both programs, teacher candidates spent most of their time on clerical tasks and little time on whole-class teaching (their most valued task).…