These papers are partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science Degree in Education at Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota. The cohort included a variety of licensure areas that represent most levels and content areas of K-12 education. The students were encouraged to keep their questions and hypothesis directed at…

Action research, explored in this book, is a seven-step process for improving teaching and learning in classrooms at all levels. Through practical examples, research tools, and easy-to-follow implementation strategies, this book guides readers through the action research process. The chapters are: (1) "What Is Action Research?"; (2) "How Is Action…

The focus of this monograph is on the distinctions between questions addressed in research on teaching and issues of concern in teacher education and on the interplay of curricular, contextual, and pedagogical issues in both public schools and university settings. The publication is organized into seven chapters: (1) "Action Research and the Work…

The 3-year Wisconsin Action Research Project was designed to bring together teams of practitioners from general and special education and provide them with training and support to conduct action research studies. This report describes the first pilot year of the project. First-year action studies attempted to address the following three outcomes:…

This book presents an inside look at the "white talk" of teacher education students, presenting information from an action research project in which student teachers and faculty explored white racial identity, examined the meaning of whiteness, and confronted the difficulties of thinking critically about race and racism. The book strives to deepen…

The opening section of this paper describes the author's first experience with collegial attempts at curriculum reform through practical inquiry, illustrating a process in which ideas are tested and developed in action. It is pointed out that this form of teacher-based practical inquiry is a characteristic feature of a certain kind of curriculum…

This document is comprised of the six issues in volume 17 of the Harvard Education Letter, a bimonthly newsletter addressing current issues in elementary and secondary education. Articles in this volume include the following: (1) January-February--"Charters and Districts: Three Stages in an Often Rocky Relationship" (Kelly) and "'We…

These conference proceedings address the following six topics: (1) "Change and the Future" (e.g., English language education in Japan, sociolinguistics in Hong Kong, and Esperanto); (2) "Children and Language Education" (e.g. a short-term language immersion case study, virtual classrooms for bilingual students, and the role of…

This report describes the implementation and results of the Utah Community Partnership for Character Development, a 4-year grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The project was initiated in January 1996, in 50 schools from 4 school districts in Salt Lake City (Utah) and neighboring communities. The grant included more than 65 schools…

Characteristics and contributions of collaborative research studies to educational practice are explored in this paper. Definitions of collaborative research are presented which note its multiple roles and similarity to action research. Reasons for conducting collaborative research are given, centering around increased use of research outcomes,…

This collection of papers examines the current standard practice of confining teacher preparation to 4 years of coursework, discussing the growing interest in career-spanning teacher education. Section 1, "Teacher Cognition, Constructivist Teacher Education, and the Ethical and Social Implications of Schooling: Overview and Framework"…

This paper discusses educational policies of teacher education in South Africa. The predominant theory of the Afrikaner ruling elite, Christian National Education, and its teaching style, Fundamental Pedagogics, structures schools on an authoritarian, paternalistic framework that perpetuates apartheid. Because teacher education was controlled…

In 1995 Catholic educators established Selected Programs for Improving Catholic Education (SPICE). The program is a form of action research that identifies, validates, and systematically diffuses elementary and secondary school programs that work. This handbook is the first volume in a series of annual National Catholic Educational Association…

The Tasmania Department of Education and the Arts commissioned policy research in February 1992 to identify forms of accountability preferred by stakeholders. This paper describes the policy-research project that sought to clarify the accountability processes and the criteria for collecting data and improving the quality of learning, teaching, and…

This collection of papers is divided into three parts. After "Introduction" (James F. Lee and Albert Valdman), Part 1, "Theoretical Aspects of Focus on Form," includes "What Form to Focus On? Linguistics, Language Awareness, and the Education of L2 Teachers" (Cristina Sanz); "Five Types of Input and the Various…