The problem that gives rise to this book is dissatisfaction with social science and social research as instruments of social problem solving. Policy makers and other practical problem solvers frequently voice disappointment with what they are offered. And many social scientists and social researchers think they should be more drawn upon, more useful, and more influential. Out of the discontent have come numerous diagnoses and prescriptions.
This thoughtful contribution to the discussion provides an agenda of basic questions that should be asked and answered by those who are concerned...

Education reformers and policymakers argue that improved students' learning requires stronger academic standards, stiffer state tests, and accountability for students' scores. Yet these efforts seem not to be succeeding in many states. The authors of this important book argue that effective state reform depends on conditions which most reforms ignore: coherence in practice as well as policy and opportunities for professional learning. The book draws on a decade's detailed study of California's ambitious and controversial program to improve mathematics teaching and learning. Researchers David...

The State of Education Policy Research is a comprehensive, insightful evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of education policy research in the U.S. today. Editors Susan Fuhrman, David Cohen, and Fritz Mosher examine key issues facing policymakers and researchers including race, education equity, teacher quality, early education, privatization, and the politics of education policy. Collectively, the chapters present a complex mosaic of education policy research that integrates the views of policy experts from education, economics, and related disciplines. Important topics...

"The State of Education Policy Research "is a comprehensive, insightful evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of education policy research in the U.S. today. Editors Susan Fuhrman, David Cohen, and Fritz Mosher examine key issues facing policymakers and researchers including race, education equity, teacher quality, early education, privatization, and the politics of education policy. Collectively, the chapters present a complex mosaic of education policy research that integrates the views of policy experts from education, economics, and related disciplines. Important topics discussed in...

American schools have always been locally created and controlled. But ever since the Title I program in 1965 appropriated nearly one billion dollars for public schools, federal money and programs have been influencing every school in America. What has been accomplished in this extraordinary assertion of federal influence? What hasn't? Why not? With incisive clarity and wit, David K. Cohen and Susan L. Moffitt argue that enormous gaps existed between policies and programs and the real-world practices that they attempted to change. Learning and teaching are complicated and mysterious. So the...

One of the great challenges now facing education reformers in the United States is how to devise a consistent and intelligent framework for instruction that will work across the nation s notoriously fragmented and politically conflicted school systems. Various programs have tried to do that, but only a few have succeeded."Improvement by Design"looks at three different programs, seeking to understand why two of them America s Choice and Success for All worked, and why the third Accelerated Schools Project did not.
The authors identify four critical puzzles that the successful programs were...

One of the great challenges now facing education reformers in the United States is how to devise a consistent and intelligent framework for instruction that will work across the nation s notoriously fragmented and politically conflicted school systems. Various programs have tried to do that, but only a few have succeeded."Improvement by Design"looks at three different programs, seeking to understand why two of them America s Choice and Success for All worked, and why the third Accelerated Schools Project did not.
The authors identify four critical puzzles that the successful programs were...