This study examined the use and perceived importance of the Internet among students and faculty in the Netherlands through questionnaires and focus-group interviews. Highlights include electronic journals, learning to use the Internet, search engines, needed library support, and problems with subject searching. A copy of the questionnaire is…

Evaluated the need for school-based health centers in rural New York state. Examination of existing data, community organizational activities, parent telephone surveys, school staff surveys, and focus groups with community members, school staff, and 6th- to 12th-grade students indicated that respondents had varying opinions about school-based…

Widespread dissatisfaction caused a Nevada district to reexamine and revamp its teacher-evaluation process. The new system, which assumes teacher participation in goal setting helps teachers become self-reflective practitioners capable of adjusting their practices, has four domains: planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, and…

Describes focus-group discussions involving teachers and principals participating in the restructuring of the Queen's University of Kingston teacher-education program, examining the new program's emphasis on experiential learning, discussing how the focus groups sought the views of school partners on four aspects of the program, and noting three…

A global recognition of students' rights requires school organizations to recognize, value and provide for diversity. The move towards more inclusive schooling in Queensland, Australia, requires schools to address professional development on two levels: reculturing of the school to reflect inclusive beliefs and values; and enhancement of teacher…

This study used the term "thriving," grounded theory design, and focus group interviews to investigate women's health. Purposeful sampling yielded women who had experienced abuse in adult interpersonal relationships and status-related oppression (N = 21). Four focus groups identified factors that define and contribute to thriving, began the…

As part of the EFFECTS award (Effective Framework for Embedding Communications and Information Technology using Targeted Support), the necessity of evaluating the use of Information and Communications Technology (I&CT) in teaching and learning was reinforced and, as a result, the following study has been produced. This formative evaluation…

Objective: To explore the experience and practice of students entering a problem-based (PBL) medical undergraduate course and to identify contributory social, curricular and contextual factors. Design: A multiple case study exploiting the natural experimental features of the setting. Qualitative data collection methods, including participant…

This study represents a collaborative school university partnership. Using a mixed-method approach, the authors report on the motivational and psychological consequences of students choosing their groupmates in cooperative learning triads. 139 students in five science classes participated in this study. Classes were randomly assigned to condition:…

This article presents the findings from a qualitative study that sought to learn about students' perceptions of a Cross-Cultural Learning Community (CCLC) at a large Midwestern University. The article focuses on three major areas that emerged as a result of focus groups: 1) students' reasons for joining the CCLC, 2) the role of the CCLC in the…

In this book, Gail Thompson asked the students in a low performing school to be candid about their high school experiences. Using this information and relying on data from questionnaires and focus groups, Thompson discovered a huge gap in perception between how teachers and students view their experience of school. The book explores this…

One of the goals of the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) project was to understand how the community college fulfills its multiple missions. This article uses qualitative data collected through a series of focus groups with students, faculty and administrators held at the nine Los Angeles campuses during the Fall…

This paper emerges out of a larger qualitative study that aimed at mapping barriers to basic education experienced by children and adults in the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The study was undertaken in Richmond district and involved a range of centres of learning (formal and informal) including three high schools, five primary schools,…

The National Accessible Reading Assessment Projects (NARAP) is a collaborative effort that is conducting research to make large-scale assessments of reading proficiency more accessible for students who have disabilities that affect reading. There are two projects that comprise the NARAP partnership, Designing Accessible Reading Assessments (DARA)…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate, from a national perspective, the impact and outcomes of market reform in vocational education and training (VET), particularly the introduction of competitive tendering and "user choice". It does so by examining the structure, composition and dynamics of contestable or "quasi-markets"…