In this article, James Noonan uses portraiture to examine how the administrative team and the teachers at a small, urban middle school approach school improvement. He illustrates the ways in which the pressures associated with attempting school reform in our current high-accountability environment make it difficult for school personnel to engage…

In this article, educational scholars L. Janelle Dance, Rochelle Gutierrez, and Mary Hermes share insights from their lived experience as qualitative researchers trying to work in collaboration with diverse populations. They refer to these insights as "improvisations on conventional qualitative methods," reminding readers that their methodological…

Drawing on experiences in his social studies classroom, Houman Harouni evaluates both the challenges and possibilities of helping high school students develop critical research skills. The author describes how he used Wikipedia to design classroom activities that address issues of authorship, neutrality, and reliability in information gathering.…

In this article, John Holst presents findings of his historical research on Paulo Freire's educational work in Chile from 1964 to 1969. Freire's "Education as the Practice of Freedom", which was written in 1965 from notes he brought from Brazil, was informed by a liberal developmentalist outlook. In contrast, his "Pedagogy of the Oppressed",…

Nearly twenty years after the publication of Michelle Fine's essay "Sexuality, Schooling, and Adolescent Females: The Missing Discourse of Desire," the question of how sexuality education influences the development and health of adolescents remains just as relevant as it was in 1988. In this article, Michelle Fine and Sara McClelland examine the…

In this article, Graham Nuthall critiques four major types of research on teaching effectiveness: studies of best teachers, correlational and experimental studies of teaching-learning relationships, design studies, and teacher action and narrative research. He gathers evidence about the kind of research that is most likely to bridge the…

This response to Sconiers and Rosick's article discusses the value of their use of a fictionalized case study as a way to imagine questions about teaching practice. Suggests that comparison of this possible world with actual events can lead to questioning of habits, attitudes and practices. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

A comparative longitudinal approach to acculturation follows immigrant children from different generations across time, isolating the effects of acculturation from normal developmental shifts. Acculturation can also be examined in terms of level and developmental progression across different aspects of adjustment. (Contains 40 references.) (SK)

The summative article in this special issue highlights the challenges in educating immigrant students, research needs, and the kind of educational environment that should be provided to enable immigrant children to thrive. (Contains 27 references.) (SK)

Such issues as access to subjects; data ownership, analysis, and interpretation; and control over findings reflect a struggle for power between researchers and American Indian tribes. Responsible, respectful scholarship demonstrates understanding of the historical relationship between Native Americans and academics and of the new research…

Introduces the symposium on qualitative research by depicting the context and politics of the field of educational studies in the last few decades. Finds agreement that the qualitative method is an apt way to capture latent and manifest activity in classrooms. (SK)

Traces the development of qualitative methodology to the Chicago School of sociologists in the 1920s. Distinguishes between qualitative methods and qualitative methodology and between anthropological and sociological approaches. Expresses concern that some types of research may co-opt the qualitative label and replace ethnography. (Author/SK)

Although psychological research has strong qualitative roots, the current dominant paradigm eschews such methods. Concerns of qualitative researchers include the subjectivity of researchers and participants, the artistic potential of qualitative research, critical evaluation of qualitative interpretations, and theory building. (Author/SK)

Reflecting on her study of working-class women's life stories, the author shows how several realizations influenced and changed these steps of the research process: collecting stories, developing coding methods, designing a comparative study, considering labels, attending to variations, addressing self-other relationships, and listening to life…

Argues against the use of theory in educational inquiry, contending that the meaning of theory is unclear; both personal theory and grand theory inhibit creativity and methodology; and less structured problem solving and ad hoc approaches are more likely to result in pluralistic ideas. (SK)