Showing papers in "Educational Researcher in 2009"
TL;DR: The authors argue that the use of a common conceptual framework would elevate the quality of professional development studies and subsequently the general understanding of how best to shape and implement teacher learning opportunities for the maximum benefit of both teachers and students.
Abstract: The author suggests that we apply recent research knowledge to improve our conceptualization, measures, and methodology for studying the effects of teachers’ professional development on teachers and students. She makes the case that there is a research consensus to support the use of a set of core features and a common conceptual framework in professional development impact studies. She urges us to move away from automatic biases either for or against observation, interviews, or surveys in such studies. She argues that the use of a common conceptual framework would elevate the quality of professional development studies and subsequently the general understanding of how best to shape and implement teacher learning opportunities for the maximum benefit of both teachers and students.
3,464 citations
TL;DR: More than 1,200 research studies have been conducted in the past 11 decades on cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts as mentioned in this paper, and the results from these studies have validated, modified, refined, and extended the theory.
Abstract: The widespread and increasing use of cooperative learning is one of the great success stories of social and educational psychology. Its success largely rests on the relationships among theory, research, and practice. Social interdependence theory provides a foundation on which cooperative learning is built. More than 1,200 research studies have been conducted in the past 11 decades on cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts. Findings from these studies have validated, modified, refined, and extended the theory. From the theory, procedures for the teacher’s role in using formal and informal cooperative learning and cooperative base groups have been operationalized. Those procedures are widely used by educators throughout the world. The applications have resulted in revisions of the theory and the generation of new research.
1,521 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that exposure to such supports is predictive of greater student learning gains and that teachers' behavioral interactions with students can be assessed observationally using standardized protocols, analyzed systematically with regard to sources of error, validated for predicting student learning, and changed (improved) as a function of specific and aligned supports provided to teachers.
Abstract: The authors advance an argument that placing observation of actual teaching as a central feature of accountability frameworks, teacher preparation, and basic science could result in substantial improvements in instruction and related social processes and a science of the production of teaching and teachers. Teachers’ behavioral interactions with students can be (a) assessed observationally using standardized protocols, (b) analyzed systematically with regard to sources of error, (c) validated for predicting student learning, and (d) changed (improved) as a function of specific and aligned supports provided to teachers; exposure to such supports is predictive of greater student learning gains. These methods have considerable promise; along with measurement challenges, some of which pertain to psychometrics, efficiency, and costs, they merit attention, rigorous study, and substantial research investments.
1,021 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the characteristics of Web 2.0 that differentiate it from the Web of the 1990s, describes the contextual conditions in which students use the Web today, and examines how Web2.0 can influence learning and teaching.
Abstract: Since Windschitl first outlined a research agenda for the World Wide Web and classroom research, significant shifts have occurred in the nature of the Web and the conceptualization of classrooms. Such shifts have affected constructs of learning and instruction, and paths for future research. This article discusses the characteristics of Web 2.0 that differentiate it from the Web of the 1990s, describes the contextual conditions in which students use the Web today, and examines how Web 2.0’s unique capabilities and youth’s proclivities in using it influence learning and teaching. Two important themes, learner participation and creativity and online identity formation, emerged from this analysis and support a new wave of research questions. A stronger research focus on students’ everyday use of Web 2.0 technologies and their learning with Web 2.0 both in and outside of classrooms is needed. Finally, insights on how educational scholarship might be transformed with Web 2.0 in light of these themes are discussed.
1,017 citations
510 citations
TL;DR: Constructive controversy is an instructional procedure that is designed to create intellectual conflict among students and that meets these criteria as discussed by the authors, and the authors of this article summarize the theory underlying constructive controversy and review the results of their meta-analysis of the validating research.
Abstract: Although intellectual conflict may be an important instructional tool (because of its potential constructive outcomes), conflict is rarely structured in instructional situations (because of its potential destructive outcomes). Many educators may be apprehensive about instigating intellectual conflict among students because of the lack of operational procedures to guide them. Ideally, operational procedures should be based on social science theory that is validated by research. Constructive controversy is an instructional procedure that is designed to create intellectual conflict among students and that meets these criteria. The authors of this article summarize the theory underlying constructive controversy and review the results of their meta-analysis of the validating research. The positive outcomes indicate that intellectual conflict can have important and positive effects on student learning and well-being.
267 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored epistemological awareness and instantiation of methods, as well as uninformed ambiguity, in qualitative methodological decision making and research reporting, and argued that efforts should be made to make the research process, epistemologies, values, methodological decision points, and argumentative logic open, accessible, and visible for audiences.
Abstract: This article explores epistemological awareness and instantiation of methods, as well as uninformed ambiguity, in qualitative methodological decision making and research reporting. The authors argue that efforts should be made to make the research process, epistemologies, values, methodological decision points, and argumentative logic open, accessible, and visible for audiences. To these ends, they discuss two ways of conceptualizing the role of epistemological awareness and instantiation of methods, including (a) a series of decision junctures and (b) a spatial conceptualization of epistemological decision making. Through an analysis of researchers’ decision junctures drawn from studies published in high-impact education journals in 2006, the authors illustrate current methodological awareness and instantiation of methods in the field of education research.
266 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss how literary elements intersect with more familiar practices of generating and analyzing evidence to reveal themes, and relate these intersections with wider issues about what can be known from research and how it can be learned.
Abstract: Narrative research has become part of the landscape of education inquiry, yet its theory and practice are still debated and evolving. This article addresses the construction of narratives using literary elements common to nonfiction and fiction writings. The authors discuss these elements and use four narratives to illustrate them. They address how literary elements intersect with more familiar practices of generating and analyzing evidence to reveal themes, and they relate these intersections with wider issues about what can be known from research and how it can be learned.
257 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined whether the current federal accountability system is likely to succeed or fail, by asking, Does the sanctions-driven accountability system work? Is it practical? And is it legitimate among those who must implement it?
Abstract: The federal accountability system, made universal through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, is a system driven by quotas and sanctions, stipulating the progression of underperforming schools through sanctions based on meeting performance quotas for specific demographic groups. The authors examine whether the current federal accountability system is likely to succeed or fail, by asking, Does the sanctions-driven accountability system work? Is it practical? And is it legitimate among those who must implement it? The authors argue that even though sanctions-driven accountability may fail on practical outcomes, it may be retained for its secondary benefits and because there is a sense that credible policy alternatives are lacking. They conclude by proposing alternative policies and approaches to the current system.
237 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that research texts need to speak to the everyday experiences of researchers and participants to arrive at an understanding of those experiences as “storied” phenomena within social, cultural, institutional, and linguistic narratives.
Abstract: In this comment article on Coulter and Smith (2009), the authors raise concerns that focusing exclusively on issues of representation may lead readers to misunderstandings about narrative research. The authors argue that narrative ways of thinking about the phenomena under study are interwoven with narrative research methodologies. Drawing on Dewey’s theory of experience, they discuss three features of an ontology of experience. They highlight distinctions between narrative research and other forms of qualitative inquiry, attend closely to the transition from field texts to research texts, and address the interconnections between ontological and ethical commitments. In their view, research texts need to speak to the everyday experiences of researchers and participants to arrive at an understanding of those experiences as “storied” phenomena within social, cultural, institutional, and linguistic narratives.
176 citations
TL;DR: The College Boards started as achievement tests designed to measure students' mastery of college-preparatory subjects as mentioned in this paper, and they have become more valid indicators of college readiness than other tests and have important incentive or signaling effects for K-12 schools as well.
Abstract: The College Boards started as achievement tests designed to measure students’ mastery of college preparatory subjects. Admissions testing has significantly changed since then with the introduction of the Scholastic Aptitude Test, Lindquist’s creation of the ACT, renewed interest in subject-specific assessments, and current efforts to adapt K–12 standards-based tests for use in college admissions. We have come full circle to a renewed appreciation for the value of achievement tests. Curriculum-based achievement tests are more valid indicators of college readiness than other tests and have important incentive or signaling effects for K–12 schools as well: They help reinforce a rigorous academic curriculum and create better alignment of teaching, learning, and assessment along the pathway from high school to college.
TL;DR: The authors highlighted the significance of the U.S. South in scholarly discussions regarding the academic achievement gap involving Black students and highlighted the saliency of the South as a critical and neglected site for the investigation of such issues.
Abstract: This article highlights the significance of the U.S. South in scholarly discussions regarding the academic achievement gap involving Black students. Despite national concern, patterns embedded in Black student achievement as related to geographical influences generally are ignored, especially in the South, where the majority of Black people in the United States reside. The authors refine the scholarship on the Black–White achievement gap through an analysis of racialized national spaces and population shifts, to set forth a more comprehensive understanding of school achievement than previously existed. In elucidating the nexus between race and place and the implications for Black student achievement, the authors specifically highlight the saliency of the U.S. South as a critical—and neglected—site for the investigation of such issues.
TL;DR: The authors illustrates how intermediate frameworks and design tools serve to mediate the contribution of grand theories to the design process, by coordinating and contextualizing theoretical insights on the epistemological and cognitive dimensions of a knowledge domain for the particular purposes of designing teaching sequences and studying their operation.
Abstract: European programs of design research have developed distinctive types of apparatus to structure and support the process of didactical design. This article illustrates how intermediate frameworks and design tools serve to mediate the contribution of grand theories to the design process, by coordinating and contextualizing theoretical insights on the epistemological and cognitive dimensions of a knowledge domain for the particular purposes of designing teaching sequences and studying their operation. The development and analysis of intermediate frameworks and design tools of these types provides a promising approach to establishing a public repertoire of theoretically informed apparatus for didactical design.
TL;DR: The Individualizing Student Instruction (ISI) classroom observation and coding system is designed to provide a detailed picture of the classroom environment at the level of the individual student as mentioned in this paper, using a multidimensional conceptualization of a classroom environment, foundational elements such as teacher warmth and responsiveness to students, classroom management, and instructional elements (teacher-child interactions, context and content).
Abstract: The Individualizing Student Instruction (ISI) classroom observation and coding system is designed to provide a detailed picture of the classroom environment at the level of the individual student. Using a multidimensional conceptualization of the classroom environment, foundational elements (teacher warmth and responsiveness to students, classroom management) and instructional elements (teacher-child interactions, context, and content) are described. The authors have used the ISI system to document that children who share the same classroom have very different learning opportunities, that instruction occurs through interactions among teachers and students, and that the effect of this instruction depends on children’s language and literacy skills. This means that what is effective for one child may be ineffective for another with different skills. With improving classroom observation systems, the dynamics of the complex classroom environment as it affects student learning can be better understood.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a dialogue aimed at fostering mutual engagement and opportunity for learning across different perspectives on research within the education research community, where participants in the dialogue each addressed the following questions: (1) What are the touchstones by which you judge quality or rigor in education research (for a single study, a set of studies, or a "field" or community of researchers in dialogue)? What is your chief concern or fear that the touchstone guard against? (2) Where do you see challenges to your perspective in the perspectives of other members of the
Abstract: The dialogue re-presented in this article is intended to foster mutual engagement—and opportunity for learning—across different perspectives on research within the education research community. Participants in the dialogue each addressed the following questions: (1) What are the touchstones by which you judge quality or rigor in education research (for a single study, a set of studies, or a “field” or community of researchers in dialogue)? What is your chief concern or fear that the touchstones guard against? (2) Where do you see challenges to your perspective in the perspectives of other members of the panel? How might your perspective evolve to respond to those challenges? Given all of this, what are the implications for the preparation of education researchers? Opening and closing comments set the dialogue in historical context, highlight issues raised, and suggest next steps for collaborative learning from the diversity of perspectives in our field.
TL;DR: In this article, a critique of positivist dogmas in education research is presented, and the authors suggest that the education science question should be reframed and briefly suggest how.
Abstract: Explicit versions of positivism were cast off some time ago in philosophy, but a tacit form continues to thrive in education research, exemplified by the “new scientific orthodoxy” codified in the National Research Council’s Scientific Research in Education (2002) and reinforced in the American Educational Research Association’s Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research in AERA Publications (2006). The author rehearses previous critiques of positivist “dogmas” in education research and applies them to the new orthodoxy. Then, borrowing from the emergent field of the “rhetoric of science,” he explores how pursuit of the education science question has nourished a positivist conception of education research. He concludes by suggesting that the education science question should be reframed and briefly suggests how.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe some of the conceptual and methodological issues that arise when researchers use teacher logs to measure classroom instruction, and discuss why teacher logs were chosen as the data collection strategy, various psychometric issues associated with their use, and some substantive findings that emerged as part of the study.
Abstract: This article describes some of the conceptual and methodological issues that arise when researchers use teacher logs to measure classroom instruction. Data and examples come from the Study of Instructional Improvement, which used teacher logs to study patterns of literacy instruction in schools implementing three comprehensive school reforms. Over the course of this study, more than 75,000 logs were collected from nearly 2,000 teachers in Grades 1 through 5. This article discusses why teacher logs were chosen as the data collection strategy, various psychometric issues associated with their use, and some of the substantive findings that emerged as part of the study.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that a dual-level theory of New Literacies is a productive way to conceptualize this continuous change, especially for education, and suggest this approach is likely to lead to greater equity, understanding, and acceptance of continuously new technologies within educational systems.
Abstract: Using a popularized notion such as Web 2.0 limits research efforts by employing a binary construct, one initially prompted by commercial concerns. Instead, the authors of this article, commenting on Greenhow, Robelia, and Hughes (2009), suggest that continuous, not dichotomous, change in the technologies of literacy and learning defines the Internet. They argue that a dual-level theory of New Literacies is a productive way to conceptualize this continuous change, especially for education. They describe uppercase (New Literacies) and lowercase (new literacies) theories, using the new literacies of online reading comprehension to illustrate the process. They suggest this approach is likely to lead to greater equity, understanding, and acceptance of continuously new technologies within educational systems.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used economic analysis to calculate both the costs of effective strategies to raise high school graduation rates and their benefits to the taxpayer in higher tax revenues and reduced costs of criminal justice, public health, and public assistance.
Abstract: The quest for educational equity is a moral imperative for a society in which education is a crucial determinant of life chances. Yet whether there is an economic return to the taxpayer for investing in educational justice is often not considered. It is possible that the economic benefits of reducing inadequate education exceed the costs, returning a healthy dividend to the taxpayer. This article addresses a four-decade quest to ascertain the fiscal consequences of investing in effective approaches to reduce inadequate education in the United States. It uses economic analysis to calculate both the costs of effective strategies to raise high school graduation rates and their benefits to the taxpayer in higher tax revenues and reduced costs of criminal justice, public health, and public assistance. The results suggest that improving educational justice provides substantial returns to taxpayers that exceed the costs.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the inclusion of correlation/covariance matrices, standard deviations, and means can enhance findings in education and psychology by permitting secondary researchers to conduct commonly utilized traditional univariate and multivariate analyses not initially performed in primary studies, and produce effect sizes and other statistics not included in prior published literature.
Abstract: Correlation matrices and standard deviations are the building blocks of many of the commonly conducted analyses in published research, and AERA and APA reporting standards recommend their inclusion when reporting research results. The authors argue that the inclusion of correlation/covariance matrices, standard deviations, and means can enhance findings in education and psychology by permitting secondary researchers to (a) conduct commonly utilized traditional univariate and multivariate analyses not initially performed in primary studies, (b) produce effect sizes and other statistics not included in prior published literature, and (c) conduct analyses once difficult to perform. Furthermore, meta-analytic thinking is encouraged when researchers have the ability to conduct the same analyses on multiple studies and then compare these findings across studies.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take the debate from the abstract to the concrete by describing a signature pedagogy in doctoral education that combines theory, applied scholarship, and the wisdom of practice in new ways.
Abstract: Since 2005 there has been an explosion of interest and debate about alternative futures for the doctorate in education. The authors take the debate from the abstract to the concrete by describing a signature pedagogy in doctoral education that combines theory, applied scholarship, and the wisdom of practice in new ways. They describe leader–scholar communities, whose goal is to assist and support students to conduct applied research in local educational contexts. They argue that leader–scholar communities are particularly useful for helping doctoral students persist to graduation, become socialized into a new identity as leader–scholars, and bridge the gap between what is learned at the university and what is practiced in schools.
TL;DR: In this article, a theory of narrative can be used to deconstruct qualitative research texts, and the authors define the narratological concepts of character, plot, story, and focalization.
Abstract: This article outlines how a theory of narrative can be used to deconstruct qualitative research texts. Although research texts are a distinct genre in comparison with works of fiction, the basic components of literary activity are similar. Researchers structure and emphasize data and participants in various ways to tell a logical story. Narrative analysis offers a specific framework and terminology that researchers can use to construct texts. Ultimately, such tools can prepare qualitative researchers to make intentional choices in regard to writing. The authors define the narratological concepts of character, plot, story, and focalization. They discuss how these concepts can be used to teach qualitative research methods.
TL;DR: In this paper, the author reviews research suggesting that increasing the quantity and quality of schooling can play a powerful role in overcoming racial inequality, and he reasons that our knowledge of best instructional practice should drive our conceptions of teachers' work, teachers' expertise, school leadership, and parent involvement.
Abstract: The gap between Blacks and Whites in educational outcomes has narrowed dramatically over the past 60 years, but progress stopped around 1990. The author reviews research suggesting that increasing the quantity and quality of schooling can play a powerful role in overcoming racial inequality. To achieve that goal, he reasons, our knowledge of best instructional practice should drive our conceptions of teachers’ work, teachers’ expertise, school leadership, and parent involvement. The research agenda supporting this paradigm connects developmental science to instructional practice and school organization and requires close collaboration between practitioners and researchers in a relentless commitment to provide superb educational opportunities to children whose future success depends most strongly on schooling.
TL;DR: This article examined the evidence on teachers' verbal ability as a predictor of school outcomes and found that verbal ability is at best very weakly related to school outcomes, and the main evidence for this weak relationship arises from the EEO study.
Abstract: Many have claimed that teachers’ verbal ability is among the most important predictors of school outcomes Teachers’ verbal ability has been thought to predict student achievement ever since the relationship was found in the classic Equality of Educational Opportunity (EEO) study by Coleman et al By way of meta-analysis the authors examine the evidence on teachers’ verbal ability as a predictor of school outcomes They find that the evidence is not as extensive as might be inferred from prior reports Results of 19 studies indicate that teachers’ verbal ability is at best very weakly related to school outcomes, and the main evidence for this weak relationship arises from the EEO study Other studies find that verbal ability is unrelated to school outcomes
TL;DR: This paper proposed the concept of policy feedback, which focuses analytical attention on the institutional structures and rules policies establish, the elite and public interpretations of those policies, the interests that are mobilized, and how these factors interact to shape future policies.
Abstract: The model implicit in most research on the politics of education assumes that political factors such as interest group support and opposition shape policy. However, because this perspective yields incomplete information about the educational enterprise, researchers should not just ask what kinds of policies politics creates but also reverse the causal arrow to examine what kinds of politics result from different policies. In addressing this question, the concept of policy feedback focuses analytical attention on the institutional structures and rules policies establish, the elite and public interpretations of those policies, the interests that are mobilized, and how these factors interact to shape future policies.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight convergent themes from four articles in the March 2009 issue of Educational Researcher on measuring classroom instruction, highlighting theoretical and practical viewpoints based on systematic programs of mixed methods research.
Abstract: This commentary highlights convergent themes from four articles in the March 2009 issue of Educational Researcher on measuring classroom instruction. Classroom instruction is a complex enterprise that occurs at the intersection of teachers, students, and texts within the surrounding classroom, school, and community environments. Progress in studying the complexity of classroom instruction on a large scale relies on our ability to pose research questions at the appropriate levels of analysis and to attempt to answer the questions using rigorous methods. These articles contribute to this task by sharing theoretical and practical viewpoints based on systematic programs of mixed methods research. The value of this body of research is reinforced through evidence of its impact on teaching practices and student learning.
TL;DR: In this paper, the author argues that educational research needs multiple thoughtful perspectives and proposes a new set of guidelines for an education science that includes a respectful and important place for all, and also provides a working value theory that resolves some objectivist and subjectivist differences.
Abstract: In response to Howe (2009), the author argues that educational research needs multiple thoughtful perspectives. The author’s standpoint is that of a mixed methods research methodologist. Mixed methods research provides an antidualistic and syncretic philosophy and set of approaches or possibilities for merging insights from diverse perspectives; its working goal is to provide pragmatic, ethical solutions to local and societal problems. To achieve this goal, researchers should cease writing articles that construct straw figures (based on old literature), knock them down, and claim Truth. The author of the present article provides a new set of guidelines for an education science that includes a respectful and important place for all. The author also provides a working value theory that resolves some objectivist and subjectivist differences.
TL;DR: The authors describe an education design research program that began with individual microgenetic interviews with children in a laboratory setting and led to a developmental model of students' understanding of quotients in mathematics and subsequently to the design and testing of an anchored instruction module for use in whole-class work.
Abstract: This article describes an education design research program that began with individual microgenetic interviews with children in a laboratory setting and led to a developmental model of students’ understanding of quotients in mathematics and subsequently to the design and testing of an anchored instruction module for use in whole-class work. The authors discuss the design’s theoretical, methodological, and pragmatic aspects. They focus on the development of theory and the generation and refinement of artifacts as mutually constitutive in design research. Special attention is paid to making explicit the causal chain of arguments that link theory development, empirical tests of that theory, and product development. They make the case that effective interventions and rigorous theory can be codeveloped in the design paradigm.
TL;DR: In this paper, the potential strengths and weaknesses of Web 2.0 in supporting student collaborative creativity in light of sociocultural conditions of knowledge creation are discussed, and challenges related to the embedded and dispersed representation of community knowledge, weak commitment and support to sustained progress, judging of contributions on the basis of popularity instead of advancement, and the conflict between the chaotic emergent web and rigidly organized schooling.
Abstract: This article commenting on Greenhow, Robelia, and Hughes (2009) examines the potential strengths and weaknesses of Web 2.0 in supporting student collaborative creativity in light of sociocultural conditions of knowledge creation. Weaknesses and challenges are identified related to the embedded and dispersed representation of community knowledge, weak commitment and support to sustained progress, judging of contributions on the basis of popularity instead of advancement, and the conflict between the chaotic emergent Web and rigidly organized schooling. Discussion is extended to the use of the Web for supporting teacher learning and innovation. Research questions are identified calling for design-based research to advance both pedagogy and technology design.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that part of the difficulty in studying the teaching of reading in elementary classrooms is determining where "the action" occurs in reading instruction, and they describe three challenges: determining key factors in the complex instructional environment that should be the focus of study, determining who teaches reading to specific students and determining the boundaries of reading instruction or when it occurs during the school day and year.
Abstract: The authors argue that part of the difficulty in studying the teaching of reading in elementary classrooms is determining where “the action” occurs in reading instruction. Based on their 5-year longitudinal study of fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in moderate- and high-poverty elementary schools, they describe three challenges: (a) determining key factors in the complex instructional environment that should be the focus of study, (b) determining who teaches reading to specific students, and (c) determining the boundaries of reading instruction or when it occurs during the school day and year. The authors argue that these challenges, although not insurmountable, are difficult to resolve and that they are becoming more pervasive because of current policies that promote high-stakes accountability.