bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Towards Rigor in Reviews of Multivocal Literatures: Applying the Exploratory Case Study Method
Authors: Ogawa Rodney T. , Malen Betty
Published: March 2008

This article aims to stimulate discussion about the issue of rigor in conducting reviews of multivocal literatures. Multivocal literatures, which abound in the field of education, are comprised of all accessible writings on a common, often contemporary topic. The exploratory case study method is proposed as a means to engender rigor in reviews of such literatures. It is argued that it is appropriate to apply the concept of rigor to reviews of multivocal literatures and to use the exploratory case study method as a tool for thinking about procedures that could enhance rigor in such reviews. The article draws upon the authors’ experiences in conducting a review of the literature on school-based management to illustrate how the proposed procedures might be employed.
Mentoring and Undergraduate Academic Success: A Literature Review
Authors: Jacobi Maryann
Published: March 2008

Despite a growing body of research about mentoring, definitional, theoretical, and methodological deficiencies reduce the usefulness of existing research. This article provides a critical review of the literature on mentoring, with an emphasis on the links between mentoring and undergraduate academic success. The first section describes a variety of ways in which mentoring has been defined within higher education, management, and psychology. Issues related to developing a standard operational definition of mentoring within higher education are discussed. The second section provides a critical review of empirical research about mentoring and undergraduate education. The third section describes four different theoretical perspectives that could be used in future research about mentoring. Finally, future directions for research, including methodological issues and substantive concerns, are addressed.
Sex Differences in Variability in Intellectual Abilities: A New Look at an Old Controversy
Authors: Feingold Alan
Published: March 2008

Contemporary research on sex differences in intellectual abilities has focused on male-female differences in average performance, implicitly assuming homogeneity of variance. To examine the validity of that assumption, this article examined sex differences in variability on the national norms of several standardized test batteries. Males were consistently more variable than females in quantitative reasoning, spatial visualization, spelling, and general knowledge. Because these sex differences in variability were coupled with corresponding sex differences in means, it was demonstrated that sex differences in variability and sex differences in central tendency have to be considered together to form correct conclusions about the magnitude of cognitive gender differences.
Professional Growth Among Preservice and Beginning Teachers
Authors: Kagan Dona M.
Published: March 2008

I began this review with three objectives: (a) to determine whether recent learning-to-teach studies form a coherent body of literature, (b) to use any common themes that emerged from these studies to construct a model of professional growth for novice and beginning teachers, and (c) to draw inferences from the model concerning the nature of preservice teacher education programs likely to promote growth by capitalizing on naturally occurring processes and stages. I review 40 learning-to-teach studies published or presented between 1987 and 1991: 27 deal with preservice teachers, 13 with first-year or beginning teachers. All were naturalistic and qualitative in methodology. Studies within each of those divisions are clustered and summarized according to major themes that emerged from findings. The model I ultimately infer from the 40 studies confirms, explicates, and integrates Fuller’s ( Fuller & Bown, 1975 ) developmental model of teacher concerns and Berliner’s (1988) model of teacher development based on cognitive studies of expertise. Preservice and first-year teaching appears to constitute a single developmental stage during which novices accomplish three primary tasks: (a) acquire knowledge of pupils; (b) use that knowledge to modify and reconstruct their personal images of self as teacher; and (c) develop standard procedural routines that integrate classroom management and instruction. In general, preservice programs fail to address these tasks adequately.
Investigating Teacher and Student Thinking About the Process of Teaching and Learning Using Autobiography and Repertory Grid
Authors: Solas John
Published: March 2008

The process of teaching and learning lies at the very heart of education. The more one knows about this process, the better one will be able to influence its growth and direction. The attempt to better understand the teaching and learning process has traditionally been dominated by behaviorist and positivist research paradigms. It is possible to augment advances previously made by examining how those who are principally and directly involved in the process of teaching and learning—that is, teachers and students—think as well as behave. Autobiography and repertory grid, it is argued, are two methods ideally suited to the purpose of elucidating the perspectives of teachers and students.
The Word Processor as an Instructional Tool: A Meta-Analysis of Word Processing in Writing Instruction
Authors: Bangert-Drowns Robert L.
Published: March 2008

Word processing in writing instruction may provide lasting educational benefits to users because it encourages a fluid conceptualization of text and frees the writer from mechanical concerns. This meta-analysis reviews 32 studies that compared two groups of students receiving identical writing instruction but allowed only one group to use word processing for writing assignments. Word processing groups, especially weaker writers, improved the quality of their writing. Word processing students wrote longer documents but did not have more positive attitudes toward writing. More effective uses of word processing as an instructional tool might include adapting instruction to software strengths and adding metacognitive prompts to the writing program.
Gender Differences in Variability in Intellectual Abilities: A Reanalysis of Feingold’s Results
Authors: Hedges Larry V. , Friedman Lynn
Published: March 2008

The joint effects of gender differences in mean and variability on 28 cognitive ability scales were recently examined by Feingold (1992a) . He noted that gender differences in extreme score ranges (e.g., in the tails of the distribution of scores) may be influenced by differences in both mean and variability and offered subjective evaluations of effect sizes in the center and tails of these distributions. We provide an analytic evaluation of the effect sizes in the tails and show that the effect sizes in the tails of these distributions are typically smaller than Feingold assumed. We also evaluate the joint effect of gender differences in mean and variability via a different index: the number of females and males in the extreme score ranges. Males outnumber females in the upper tail of the score distribution of 22 of 28 ability scales, including 3 of the scales in which females have a higher overall mean.
Grade Adjustment Methods
Authors: Young John W.
Published: March 2008

The last major review of grade adjustment methods developed to improve the prediction of academic performance is Linn’s 1966 article. Since then, several other statistical methods have been developed and used to make grades from different courses more directly comparable. In several instances, these methods have improved the understanding of the observed phenomena of differential predictive validity for women and for minority students. Each method is based on a different statistical methodology and set of assumptions about the data and tested on a different data set. This article reviews the studies in this area over the past 27 years and discusses this research in the context of selection in admissions and of the prediction of student performance in college.
Beyond Cold Conceptual Change: The Role of Motivational Beliefs and Classroom Contextual Factors in the Process of Conceptual Change
Authors: Pintrich Paul R. , Marx Ronald W. , Boyle Robert A.
Published: March 2008

Conceptual change models of student learning are useful for explicating the role of prior knowledge in students’ learning and are very popular in the research on learning in the subject areas. This article presents an analysis of a conceptual change model for describing student learning by applying research on student motivation to the process of conceptual change. Four general motivational constructs (goals, values, self-efficacy, and control beliefs) are suggested as potential mediators of the process of conceptual change. In addition, there is a discussion of the role of classroom contextual factors as moderators of the relations between student motivation and conceptual change. The article highlights the theoretical difficulties of a cold, or overly rational, model of conceptual change that focuses only on student cognition without considering the ways in which students’ motivational beliefs about themselves as learners and the roles of individuals in a classroom learning community can facilitate or hinder conceptual change.
Teacher Commitment, Working Conditions, and Differential Incentive Policies
Authors: Firestone William A. , Pennell James R.
Published: March 2008

The push for more complex, intellectually demanding approaches to teaching suggests that teacher commitment will continue to be important for effective education. This article develops a framework for assessing how differential incentive policies affect teacher commitment. It identifies seven key workplace conditions that contribute to teacher commitment: job design characteristics, feedback, autonomy, participation, collaboration, learning opportunities, and resources. This framework is used to assess the effects of such differential incentive policies as merit pay and career ladders. The selection mechanisms in these two programs are found to reduce autonomy and collaboration, but the job enrichment aspects of career ladders are found to increase participation, collaboration, and resources. We recommend combining policies that increase participation, collaboration, and feedback rather than continuing to experiment with differential incentives.
Raising School Effects While Ignoring Culture? Local Conditions and the Influence of Classroom Tools, Rules, and Pedagogy
Authors: Fuller Bruce , Clarke Prema
Published: March 2008

How educators and researchers define and study school effectiveness continues to be shaped by two divided camps. The policy mechanics attempt to identify particular school inputs, including discrete teaching practices, that raise student achievement. They seek universal remedies that can be manipulated by central agencies and assume that the same instructional materials and pedagogical practices hold constant meaning in the eyes of teachers and children across diverse cultural settings. In contrast, the classroom culturalists focus on the implicitly modeled norms exercised in the classroom and how children are socialized to accept particular rules of participation and authority, linguistic norms, orientations toward achievement, and conceptions of merit and status. It is the culturally constructed meanings attached to instructional tools and pedagogy that sustain this socialization process, not the material character of school inputs per se. This article reviews how these two paths of school-effects research are informed by work conducted within developing countries. First, we discuss the school’s aggregate effect, relative to family background, within impoverished settings. Second, we review recent empirical findings from the Third World on achievement effects from discrete school inputs. An emerging extension of this work also is reviewed: How input effects are conditioned by the social rules of classrooms. Third, we illustrate how future work in the policy-mechanic tradition will be fruitless until cultural conditions are taken into account. And the classroom culturalists may reach a theoretical dead end until they can empirically link classroom processes to alleged effects. We put forward a culturally situated model of school effectiveness—the implications of which are discussed for studying ethnically diverse schools within the West. By bringing together the strengths of these two intellectual camps, researchers can more carefully condition their search for school effects.
Motivation and Schooling in the Middle Grades
Authors: Anderman Eric M. , Maehr Martin L.
Published: March 2008

This review examines recent developments in research on social-cognitive theories of motivation during adolescence and the ways in which such research can be applied to the reform of middle grade schools. While there is ample evidence that the environments in many middle grade schools are antithetical to the needs of early adolescents, few reform efforts have emerged which consider the motivational and developmental needs of youth. This article suggests that effective reform must consider the multiple contexts in which students interact. Recent examples of reform at the classroom and school level using a goal theory perspective are presented.
Validating the Performance Standards Associated With Passing Scores
Authors: Kane Michael
Published: March 2008

The validity of test-based decisions about readiness for a course or a profession depends on the appropriateness of the passing scores used to make the decisions. The interpretation of passing scores, based on judgments about items or examinees, in terms of some standard of performance depends on two assumptions: (a) that the passing score corresponds to the specified performance standard, in the sense that examinees with scores above the passing score are likely to meet the standard and examinees with scores below the passing score are not likely to meet the standard, and (b) that the specified performance standard is reasonable given the purpose of the decision. These two assumptions can be evaluated in terms of the match between the procedures used to set the passing scores and the purpose of the decision, the internal consistency of the results, and comparisons to external criteria. The sources of error in the passing score can be identified by examining these two assumptions.
Reciprocal Teaching: A Review of the Research
Authors: Rosenshine Barak , Meister Carla
Published: March 2008

Reciprocal teaching is an instructional procedure designed to teach students cognitive strategies that might lead to improved reading comprehension. The learning of cognitive strategies such as summarization, question generation, clarification, and prediction is supported through dialogue between teacher and students as they attempt to gain meaning from text. This article is a review of sixteen studies on reciprocal teaching, which include published studies found in journal articles and unpublished studies indexed in Dissertation Abstracts International. All the studies included in this review were quantitative in methodology. When standardized tests were used to assess comprehension, the median effect size, favoring reciprocal teaching, was .32. When experimenter-developed comprehension tests were used, the median effect size was .88. We also discuss the role of cognitive strategies in enhancing comprehension, the strategies that were most helpful, instructional approaches for teaching cognitive strategies, the quality of the dialogue during reciprocal teaching, and suggestions for future research and practice.
Reassessment of Developmental Constraints on Children’s Science Instruction
Authors: Metz Kathleen E.
Published: March 2008

Science curricula at the elementary school level frequently emphasize the “concrete,” with a focus on the processes of observation, ordering, and categorization of the directly perceivable. Within this approach, abstract ideas and the planning of investigations and analysis of their results are in large part postponed until higher grades. This practice stems from purported developmental constraints on children’s thinking. This article analyzes these constraints in light of the writings of Piaget, to whom they are frequently attributed, and contemporary developmental theory and research. Neither the Piagetian nor the non-Piagetian research supports the validity of these developmental assumptions. The article also identifies several intrinsic problematic aspects of this approach to children’s science, including the failure to appreciate the challenge of adequate scientific description, the liabilities of decontextualization, and the epistemological messages it conveys to children. Both Piagetian and non-Piagetian literatures support the feasibility of children’s science curricula in which the processes previously approached as ends become tools in contextualized and authentic scientific inquiry.
When Paradigms Clash: Comments on Cameron and Pierce’s Claim That Rewards Do Not Undermine Intrinsic Motivation
Authors: Ryan Richard M. , Deci Edward L.
Published: March 2008

Cameron and Pierce’s (1994) conclusion that rewards do not pose a threat to intrinsic motivation is a misrepresentation of the literature based on a flawed meta-analysis. Their call to abandon cognitive evaluation theory is more an attempt to defend their behaviorist theoretical turf than a meaningful consideration of the relevant data and issues.
The Debate About Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation: Protests and Accusations Do Not Alter the Results
Authors: Cameron Judy , Pierce W. David
Published: March 2008

A prevailing view in education and social psychology is that rewards decrease a person’s intrinsic motivation. However, our meta-analysis ( Cameron & Pierce, 1994 ) of approximately 100 studies does not support this position. The only negative effect of reward occurs under a highly restricted set of conditions, circumstances that are easily avoided. These results have not been well received by those who argue that rewards produce negative effects under a wide range of conditions. Lepper, Keavney, and Drake (1996) , Ryan and Deci (1996) , and Kohn (1996) have suggested that the questions asked in our meta-analysis were inappropriate, that critical studies were excluded, that important negative effects were not detected, and that the techniques used in our meta-analysis were unsuitable. In this response, we show that the questions we asked are fundamental and that our meta-analytic techniques are appropriate, robust, and statistically correct. In sum, the results and conclusions of our meta-analysis are not altered by our critics’ protests and accusations.
Types of Errors in Synthesizing Research in Education
Authors: Dunkin Michael J.
Published: March 2008

Nine types of errors occurring in three stages of the process of synthesizing research are described and illustrated with examples from a recent synthesis ( Kagan, 1992 ) of research on teacher professional growth. Errors can occur in the initial identification and collection of reports of research, in the analysis of documents, and in the final stage of reaching generalizations about the whole body of research. Types of errors include the exclusion of relevant literature, wrongly reporting details such as sample size, erroneously attributing findings to studies, and stating unwarranted conclusions about the research reviewed. Implications for reviewers and users of reviews are considered.
The Effects of Summer Vacation on Achievement Test Scores: A Narrative and Meta-Analytic Review
Authors: Cooper Harris , Nye Barbara , Charlton Kelly , Lindsay James , Greathouse Scott
Published: March 2008

A review of 39 studies indicated that achievement test scores decline over summer vacation. The results of the 13 most recent studies were combined using meta-analytic procedures. The meta-analysis indicated that the summer loss equaled about one month on a grade-level equivalent scale, or one tenth of a standard deviation relative to spring test scores. The effect of summer break was more detrimental for math than for reading and most detrimental for math computation and spelling. Also, middle-class students appeared to gain on grade-level equivalent reading recognition tests over summer while lower-class students lost on them. There were no moderating effects for student gender or race, but the negative effect of summer did increase with increases in students’ grade levels. Suggested explanations for the findings include the differential availability of opportunities to practice different academic material over summer (with reading practice more available than math practice) and differences in the material’s susceptibility to memory decay (with fact- and procedure-based knowledge more easily forgotten than conceptual knowledge). The income differences also may be related to differences in opportunities to practice and learn. The results are examined for implications concerning summer school programs and proposals concerning school calendar changes
Human Capital Theory: Foundations of a Field of Inquiry
Authors: Sweetland Scott R.
Published: March 2008

This review of human capital theory begins in 1776 and ends in the 1960s, when the theoretical and empirical foundations of the field were articulated and established. The review is organized to provide a general reference to human capital theory, its historical development, and its major methodological approaches. While human capital research has not been limited to education, it usually includes empirical measures of education and produces results that affect educators and education policy. Review of the foundation studies that were conceived by Nobel prize laureates and historically prominent economists supports the position that educators should draw their own informed conclusions and define the agenda of future human capital research.
A More Complete Picture of School Resource Policies
Authors: Hanushek Eric A.
Published: March 2008

Meta-analytic techniques for summarizing information about the relationship between school resources and student performance are capable only of addressing the narrow and uninteresting hypothesis that resources are never used effectively by schools. The data show clearly that resources are sometimes used effectively, although this happens infrequently and there is no description of the circumstances under which resources are used effectively. This article relates the basic evidence on school effectiveness to the specific application of meta-analytic methods employed by Greenwald, Hedges, and Laine (1996) . Their analysis, suffering from the narrowness of the inquiry inherent in their statistical methods, is also based on a very highly selected sample of results that biases their analysis precisely toward their conclusions. As a result, their summary of existing work provides a distorted and misleading view of the potential implications of school resource policies. Both detailed econometric evidence and aggregate performance of U.S. schools point toward serious problems with inefficient use of resources. This evidence in turn suggests that lack of resources is not the largest problem facing schools and that more fundamental reforms are needed in schools.
Within-Class Grouping: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: Lou Yiping , Abrami Philip C. , Spence John C. , Poulsen Catherine , Chambers Bette , d’Apollonia Sylvia
Published: March 2008

The effects of within-class grouping on student achievement and other outcomes were quantitatively integrated using two sets of study findings. The first set included 145 effect sizes and explored the effects of grouping versus no grouping on several outcomes. Overall, the average achievement effect size was +0.17, favoring small-group learning. The second set included 20 effect sizes which directly compared the achievement effects of homogeneous versus heterogeneous ability grouping. Overall, the results favored homogeneous grouping; the average effect size was +0.12. The variability in both sets of study findings was heterogeneous, and the effects were explored further. To be maximally effective, within-class grouping practices require the adaptation of instruction methods and materials for small-group learning.
Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation Programs in Elementary and Secondary Schools: A Review of the Research
Authors: Johnson David W. , Johnson Roger T.
Published: March 2008

Concern about violence in schools has been increasing, and, correspondingly, conflict resolution and peer mediation training programs have been proliferating. These programs have been developed by researchers in the field of conflict resolution, advocates of nonviolence, anti-nuclear-war activists, and members of the legal profession. It is unknown, however, whether the programs are needed and whether or not they are effective. While there are numerous methodological and conceptual problems with the research on conflict resolution and peer mediation programs, the current evidence indicates that (a) conflicts among students do occur frequently in schools (although the conflicts rarely result in serious injury); (b) untrained students by and large use conflict strategies that create destructive outcomes by ignoring the importance of their ongoing relationships; (c) conflict resolution and peer mediation programs do seem to be effective in teaching students integrative negotiation and mediation procedures; (d) after training, students tend to use these conflict strategies, which generally leads to constructive outcomes; and (e) students’ success in resolving their conflicts constructively tends to result in reducing the numbers of student-student conflicts referred to teachers and administrators, which, in turn, tends to reduce suspensions.
The Relationship Between Research and Teaching: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: Hattie John , Marsh H. W.
Published: March 2008

A review of various models of the relationship between research and teaching in universities is presented, and the evidence necessary to assess each model is outlined. A meta-analysis of 58 studies demonstrates that the relationship is zero. Suggestions for future directions are provided, and it is argued that a major goal could be to adopt strategies that enhance the relationship between research and teaching.
Self-Efficacy Beliefs in Academic Settings
Authors: Pajares Frank
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this article is to examine the contribution made by the self-efficacy component of Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory to the study of self-regulation and motivation in academic settings. The difference between self-efficacy beliefs and other expectancy constructs is first explained, followed by a brief overview of problems in self-efficacy research. Findings on the relationship between self-efficacy, motivation constructs, and academic performances are then summarized. These findings demonstrate that particularized measures of self-efficacy that correspond to the criterial tasks with which they are compared surpass global measures in the explanation and prediction of related outcomes. The conceptual difference between the definition and use of expectancy beliefs in social cognitive theory and in expectancy value and self-concept theory is then clarified. Last, strategies to guide future research are offered.
Consequences of Assumption Violations Revisited: A Quantitative Review of Alternatives to the One-Way Analysis of Variance F Test
Authors: Lix Lisa M. , Keselman Joanne C. , Keselman H. J.
Published: March 2008

The presence of variance heterogeneity and nonnormality in educational and psychological data may frequently invalidate the use of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) F test in one-way independent groups designs. This article offers recommendations to applied researchers on the use of various parametric and nonparametric alternatives to the F test under assumption violation conditions. Meta-analytic techniques were used to summarize the statistical robustness literature on the Type I error properties of the Brown-Forsythe (Brown & Forsythe, 1974 ), James (1951) second-order, Kruskal-Wallis ( Kruskal & Wallis, 1952 ), and Welch (1951) tests. Two variables, based on the theoretical work of Box (1954) , are shown to be highly effective in deciding when a particular alternative procedure should be adopted. Based on the meta-analysis findings, it is recommended that researchers gain a clear understanding of the nature of their data before conducting statistical analyses. Of all of the procedures, the James and Welch tests performed best under violations of the variance homogeneity assumption, although their sensitivity to certain types of nonnormality may preclude their use in all data-analytic situations. Opportunities for further methodological studies of ANOVA alternative procedures are also discussed.
A Proposal for the Reengineering of the Educational System
Authors: Osin Luis , Lesgold Alan
Published: March 2008

We propose a reengineering of the educational system that focuses on mastery and on more substantial learning activities and eliminates the constraints on learning that arise from the current insistence on grouping children by age. Our basic argument is that eliminating the age-based approach to education has striking advantages that outweigh any social disadvantage. Age-based grouping is, in historical terms, a recent reaction, driven initially by social trends that grew partly out of the realization that children pass through developmental stages and even more out of a wave of superficial approaches to efficiency that attended the beginning of mass production in industry. Through most of history, age grouping has been minimal. We think there are good reasons for this, which we discuss below. The most powerful reason is the extremely large variance found in any index of learning achievement, even in relatively homogeneous populations. We further argue that modern information systems allow richer educational activities, research-based methods, and multiage schooling to proceed efficiently and effectively. This creates a moral imperative to provide real learning opportunities to the whole of the student population.
Adventure Education and Outward Bound: Out-of-Class Experiences That Make a Lasting Difference
Authors: Hattie John , Marsh H. W. , Neill James T. , Richards Garry E.
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to examine the effects of adventure programs on a diverse array of outcomes such as self concept, locus of control, and leadership. The meta-analysis was based on 1,728 effect sizes drawn from 151 unique samples from 96 studies, and the average effect size at the end of the programs was .34. In a remarkable contrast to most educational research, these short-term or immediate gains were followed by substantial additional gains between the end of the program and follow-up assessments ( ES = .17). The effect sizes varied substantially according the particular program and outcome and improved as the length of the program and the ages of participants increased. Too little is known, however, about why adventure programs work most effectively.
Between Systemic Reforms and the Mathematics and Science Classroom: The Dynamics of Innovation, Implementation, and Professional Learning
Authors: Knapp Michael S.
Published: March 2008

This review assembles studies and analyses of large-scale systemic reform initiatives aimed at mathematics and science education, especially those undertaken by state governments and the National Science Foundation. The review concentrates on qualitative investigations, which reveal whether and how these initiatives converge on the improvement of instruction. The evidence to date, though inherently incomplete, has much to say about the logic of systemic reforms, the avenues by which these reforms may reach the classroom, and the kinds of classroom-level impacts that are apparent so far or likely to occur in the near term. The implementation and effects of these reforms can be understood productively in the theoretical terms applied to the study of innovation and change, implementation of governmental policies, and professional and organizational learning.
A Historical Review of Technology Research in Special Education
Authors: Woodward John , Rieth Herbert
Published: March 2008

In this article we review the research literature since 1980 on uses of technology in special education. Unlike past reviews, which have typically focused on academically related issues and the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction, this review also summarizes the extensive observational and naturalistic studies, as well as research efforts in technology-based assessment. This diversity of research in special education stems from the multiple roles of the special education teacher, who, in addition to bearing instructional responsibilities, often determines eligibility for services, tracks progress toward IEP goals, and facilitates a student’s day-to-day participation in general education settings.
A Critical Analysis of the Research on Learning to Teach: Making the Case for an Ecological Perspective on Inquiry
Authors: Wideen Marvin , Mayer-Smith Jolie , Moon Barbara
Published: March 2008

93 empirical studies on learning to teach were reviewed in order to establish what is currently known about how people learn to teach and to critique the quality of the reporting of that research. Among other observations concerning teacher education, the review highlights the tensions between the hopes and expectations of teacher educators and the expectations and experiences of beginning teachers. While this review supports the findings of others that many traditional programs of teacher education have little effect upon the firmly held beliefs of the beginning teachers, it also provides examples of successful programs. Such programs typically build upon the beliefs of pre service teachers and feature systematic and consistent long-term support in a collaborative setting. It is concluded that this body of research has advanced the field in significant ways, offering new directions for research and program reform. The critique of the papers themselves reveals that authors need to pay more careful attention to data selection and presentation and to the links made between data and conclusions. The review points to the need for a more self-critical stance on the part of researchers and a more ecological approach to research on learning to teach.
Teacher Efficacy: Its Meaning and Measure
Authors: Tschannen-Moran Megan , Hoy Anita Woolfolk , Hoy Wayne K.
Published: March 2008

The theoretical and empirical underpinnings of teacher efficacy are examined to bring coherence to the construct and its measurement. First, we explore the correlates of teacher efficacy revealed using various instruments and search for patterns that suggest a better understanding of the construct. Next, we introduce a model of teacher efficacy that reconciles two competing conceptual strands found in the literature. Then we examine implications of the research on teacher efficacy for teacher preparation and suggest strategies for improving the efficacy of inservice teachers. Finally, we propose new directions for research in light of the proposed model.
Hypermedia as an Educational Technology: A Review of the Quantitative Research Literature on Learner Comprehension, Control, and Style
Authors: Dillon Andrew , Gabbard Ralph
Published: March 2008

By virtue of its enabling rapid, nonlinear access to multiple forms of information, hypermedia technology is considered a major advance in the development of educational tools to enhance learning, and a massive literature on the use of hypermedia in education has emerged. The present review examines the published findings from experimental studies of hypermedia emphasizing quantitative, empirical methods of assessing learning outcomes. Specifically, the review categorizes this research into three themes: studies of learner comprehension compared across hypermedia and other media, effects on learning outcome offered by increased learner control in hypermedia environments, and the individual differences that exist in learner responses to hypermedia. It is concluded that, to date, the benefits of hypermedia in education are limited to learning tasks reliant on repeated manipulation and searching of information and are differentially distributed across learners depending on their ability and preferred learning style. Methodological and analytical shortcomings of the literature limit the generalizability of all findings in this domain. Suggestions for addressing these problems in future research and theory development are outlined.
Statistical Practices of Educational Researchers: An Analysis of their ANOVA, MANOVA, and ANCOVA Analyses
Authors: Keselman H. J. , Huberty Carl J. , Lix Lisa M. , Olejnik Stephen , Cribbie Robert A. , Donahue Barbara , Kowalchuk Rhonda K. , Lowman Laureen L. , Petoskey Martha D. , Keselman Joanne C. , Levin Joel R.
Published: March 2008

Articles published in several prominent educational journals were examined to investigate the use of data analysis tools by researchers in four research paradigms: between-subjects univariate designs, between-subjects multivariate designs, repeated measures designs, and covariance designs. In addition to examining specific details pertaining to the research design (e.g., sample size, group size equality/inequality) and methods employed for data analysis, the authors also catalogued whether (a) validity assumptions were examined, (b) effect size indices were reported, (c) sample sizes were selected on the basis of power considerations, and (d) appropriate textbooks and/or articles were cited to communicate the nature of the analyses that were performed. The present analyses imply that researchers rarely verify that validity assumptions are satisfied and that, accordingly, they typically use analyses that are nonrobust to assumption violations. In addition, researchers rarely report effect size statistics, nor do they routinely perform power analyses to determine sample size requirements. Recommendations are offered to rectify these shortcomings.
Measurement Estimation: Learning to Map the Route From Number to Quantity and Back
Authors: Joram Elana , Subrahmanyam Kaveri , Gelman Rochel
Published: March 2008

Measurement estimation has been identified as a critical area for mathematical development, yet little is known about how estimators make their judgments and how competency in measurement estimation can be supported through instruction. We present a framework in which skilled estimators move fluently back and forth between written or verbal linear measurements and representations of their corresponding magnitudes on a mental number line. With reference to the proposed framework, a review of instructional efforts to teach measurement estimation suggests they are incomplete and are limited to producing associations between isolated measurements and their referents. Recommendations are discussed for instruction that would extend students’ understanding beyond these discrete points to conceptualize measurement scales and systems.
Ambiguity as Opportunity and Constraint: Evolution of a Federal Sex Equity Education Program
Authors: Bornstein Rita
Published: March 2008

From the 1960s to the early 1980s educational equity was an important focus for schools, supported by initiatives undertaken by the federal government. This paper takes the position that equity programs developed during that period were suffused with ambiguities, which both aided and hindered the evolution of viable definitions and demonstrations of educational equity. The paper focuses on the National Sex Equity Demonstration Project, a 4-year, joint effort of the University of Miami and the School Board of Broward County funded by the Women’s Educational Equity Act Program. This project was characterized by uncertainty in goals, technologies, roles, relationships, structures, interpretations, and outcomes. The work of March, Cohen, and Olsen on educational systems as organized anarchies is drawn upon extensively to provide a theoretical base for the analysis. The project evaluation conducted by Robert and Bernadine Stake is helpful in illuminating the experience. The paper concludes that the project made a modest but important contribution to the definition of educational equity.
A Functional Analysis of the Evolution of Public Policy for Handicapped Young Children
Authors: Meisels Samuel J
Published: March 2008

Public policy governing early intervention programs for very young handicapped and at-risk children in Massachusetts underwent major changes between 1980 and 1984. Using a case study format this paper notes the statewide constraints on policy, administration, and finances that impaired early intervention service delivery prior to 1984. The process of policy change and formation is analyzed by focusing on the principal catalysts for change: key individuals and constituency groups, critical documents and research studies, and important political and economic events. These factors and others that were critical to the transformation of early intervention policy are viewed in terms of four functional stages: issue definition, proposal formulation, support mobilization, and decision enactment. The potential effects of the policy changes are addressed, and the generalizable features of the analytic framework are discussed.
Evaluation of a Model for Faculty Development: Implications for Educational Policy
Authors: Eash Maurice J , Lane John J
Published: March 2008

In a 2-year study, problems were investigated in organizing a program for faculty development among institutions of higher education, business and industry, government, and nonprofit agencies. A sample of faculty members from 3 institutions of higher education and officers from 12 industries and agencies were queried. A model for exchange of personnel was tested in the second year. The study concluded: (a) Institutions of higher education are ill prepared to direct faculty development if they do not have strong program development; (b) exchanges of personnel among institutions of higher education and other agencies require a large number of participating institutions since one-to-one exchanges are not feasible if both institutional and faculty demands are to be met.
Polity and Competence: Can the State Change Teachers’ Skills?
Authors: Fuller Bruce , Noel Margaret M. , Malouf David B.
Published: March 2008

Observers of the school organization have grown increasingly critical of the regulatory model often employed by the state when attempting local reform. An alternative framework is emerging that sees the modern state as a gentle illustrator of instructional improvement, relying on staff development and locally crafted change. But little empirical work has assessed whether staff development programs exercised by the state can effectively touch competencies of local school staff. Our study does find such effects for a special education staff development initiative. But the program was efficacious only in imparting knowledge related to procedures that ensure legal compliance (not instructional skills), and effects were strongest among administrators (not teachers). We conclude by asking whether the modern state can actually move beyond its traditional regulatory role to illustrate more precisely improved teaching practices.
The Shortage of Mathematics and Science Teachers: Lessons From Higher Education
Authors: Woo Louis K.
Published: March 2008

In higher education, shortages of faculty members in engineering and business schools are considered extremely serious. Similar conditions of shortage exist in elementary and secondary schools in the mathematics and science teacher market. This paper examines what strategies are employed by the higher education institutions and whether these strategies can provide some options for elementary-secondary schools. What we have found is that the basic parallel between elementary-secondary schools and higher education should not be overdrawn. More nonsalary options are available to address the market shortages at the university level than at the elementary-secondary level. Accordingly, the situation of elementary and secondary schools is considerably worse. Even so, it is interesting to see the degree to which all the adjustments at the university level still leave shortages that must be remedied through salary differentials and other benefits. Therefore, it is difficult to see how elementary and secondary schools, with fewer nonsalary options, can effectively deal with the shortage conditions without wage and benefit adjustments.
Education Finance 1985: A Rising Tide or Steady Fiscal State?
Authors: Odden Allan
Published: March 2008

Rising national demands to improve public K-12 education are expected to boost financial support for schools; state education reform programs (especially those funded by tax increases) are commonly perceived to increase education funding dramatically. Analysis of changes in education funding across all 50 states during the 1980s shows that education revenues per pupil are neither increasing nor decreasing overall, but are staying constant after adjusting for enrollment increases and inflation. While recent funding increases have halted the drop in the real level of resources per pupil that occurred in the early 1980s, only South Carolina and Tennessee have increased real revenues per child by close to 20%, the extra cost of most reform proposals. Demands for education improvement exceed the level of fiscal resources needed to make those improvements.
Social Judgment Theory and Cognitive Feedback: A General Model for Analyzing Educational Policies and Decisions
Authors: Cooksey Ray W. , Freebody Peter
Published: March 2008

Applications of social judgment theory (SJT) are discussed with respect to policy formation and decisionmaking in educational contexts. SJT serves to externalize, quantitatively and graphically, policymakers’ covert judgment processes through the provision of cognitive process feedback. This can give policymakers a clearer understanding of the processes directing their judgments and thus helps to illuminate sources of conflict over policy parameters and outcomes. SJT procedures function equally well for policy analysis at the “micro” level (e.g., within a classroom) and at the “macro” level (e.g., within schools or regions). Interactive computer technology is described, which can execute social judgment analyses, provide cognitive feedback to the policymaker on selected policy parameters, compare the policies of several policymakers, and incorporate desired policy revisions.
The Valid Use of Student Performance Measures for Teacher Evaluation
Authors: Haertel Edward
Published: March 2008

Student achievement test scores appear promising as indicators of teacher performance, but their use carries significant risks. Inappropriate tests improperly used may encourage undesirable shifts in curricular focus or poor teaching practices, and may unfairly favor teachers of more able classes. It is often said that standardized achievement test batteries are unsuitable for teacher evaluation, but few systematic alternatives have been suggested. The purposes of this paper are to analyze some problems in using student test scores to evaluate teachers and to propose an achievement-based model for teacher evaluation that is effective, affordable, fair, legally defensible, and politically acceptable. The system is designed only for detecting and documenting poor teacher performance; rewarding excellence in teaching is viewed as a separate problem, and is not addressed in this paper. In addition to pretesting and statistical adjustments for student aptitude differences, the proposed system relies upon attendance data and portfolios of student work to distinguish alternative explanations for poor test scores. While no single set of procedures can eliminate all errors, the proposed system, if carefully implemented, could expose teaching to constructive scrutiny, organize objective information about teaching adequacy, and help to guide its improvement.