William W. Cooley

Decision-oriented educational research

I Background.- 1 Educational Research and Educational Systems.- 2 The Pittsburgh Experience.- II Generalizations About Decision-Oriented Educational Research.- 3 Client Orientation.- 4 The Importance of Being Methodologically Eclectic.- 5 Monitoring Indicators and Tailoring Practice.- 6 Computer-Based Information Systems.- 7 Program Documentation.- 8 Understanding Achievement Test Results.- 9 Utilization and the Role of the Dissemination Process.- 10 Summary, Conclusions, and Implications.- III The Case Histories.- Case History 1 Elementary School Achievement Study.- Case History 2 Achievement Implications of Grade Reorganization.- Case History 3 Evaluation of Project Pass.- Case History 4 A District-Wide Needs Assessment.- Case History 5 Documenting the Development of a School Improvement Program.- Case History 6 Title I Program for Secondary Students.- Case History 7 Middle-School Needs Assessment.- Case History 8 Computer-Based Information Systems.- Case History 9 Documenting the Development of a Secondary Teacher Center.- Case History 10 The Use of Achievement Test Results in Personnel Evaluation.- Case History 11 Selection of a New Reading Program.- References.

Explanatory Observational Studies

tended to be explanatory. That is, I am talking about studies of such phenomena as program effectiveness, in which an attempt is made to explain why the students in some programs achieve more than the students in others. This is in contrast to descriptive studies like National Assessment, which attempt to describe such things as the levels of achievement obtained in various sectors of American schooling. As f6reskog (1976) put it:

Inclass or Pullout: Effects of Setting on the Remedial Reading Program.

The purpose of this study was to describe the remedial reading instruction received by students assigned to inclass or pullout programs with respect to the instructional behaviors of teachers, the nature of lessons, and the reading behaviors of students. The study was conducted in an urban school system in which the pullout and inclass programs existed concurrently. One hundred nineteen students (Grades 4 and 5) were observed over a 4-month period. In both settings, students received a great deal of skill-related instruction; not much time was spent in prereading activities and students spent most of their time with worksheets. Over 60% of classroom time in both settings was spent in listening, transcribing, and silent reading. Pullout students experienced more direct teaching activities in a group situation while inclass students experienced more time in a one-on-one tutoring mode. Overall, there were differences between settings in what students experienced in remedial reading.

Decision-oriented educational research in school districts: The role of dissemination processes

Abstract This article addresses the broad issue of how research information can be integrated into the policy and decision processes of educational systems. Our specific foci here is on one type of educational system -- school districts; on research designed to answer specific questions for that district; and, on one major element of the research process -- dissemination. This paper draws heavily upon our experiences in a large, urban American school district, where we work on the problem of how to improve the systems evaluation research capability. This work began in 1978 and continues today. This article has four major section. Background is provided on the nature of the collaboration with the school district. Then, basic strategies for conducting decision-oriented educational research that have emerged from the work are described briefly. This is followed by a discussion of the broad issue of research use. The final section is a detailed review of what we have learned about the relationship between dissemination and utilization.

The Pittsburgh Experience

We have been able to investigate strategies for improving the methods and uses of DOER by actually conducting research in collaboration with a large urban school district. The district did not have its own research office at the time these investigations began. Our collaboration with the Pittsburgh public schools provided the opportunity to conduct research in a school district setting in order to learn more about district information needs and to test research strategies that could increase the validity and utility of those research activities.

A Communication Network for Educational Researchers

Some computer networks permit educational researchers to use microcomputers, terminals, or communicating word processors for communication with colleages. Networking is defined, several examples are given, and the Educational Research Forum on CompuServe is used to illustrate the possibilities. The organization and structure of the Forum are discussed. Advantages and costs of computer networking are explained, and potential uses for AERA are highlighted.

Educational Research and Educational Systems

This book is about research — not all kinds of research, but research designed to be immediately useful to those who are responsible for educational systems, either in the role of policy setting or in administration and management. Cronbach and Suppes (1969) divided up the world of research into conclusion-oriented and decision-oriented inquiry. This book is about the latter. We call it decision-oriented educational research (DOER). It is research designed to help educators as they consider issues surrounding educational policy, as they establish priorities for improving educational systems, or as they engage in the day-to-day management of educational systems.

Assessment of educational effects 1

Abstract This article examines the ways in which current psychological knowledge, particularly psychometrics, is relevant to the selection of appropriate criterion measures, the measurement of educational processes, the description of the initial status of the learner, and the analysis of field data. A model of classroom learning is proposed that assesses four major process dimensions: opportunity for learning, degree to which the environment enhances motivation to learn, quality of the curriculum structure, and effectiveness of the instructional events. It is hypothesized that combining these four dimensions with the abilities and motives with which students enter an educational experience will explain most of the variance in educational outcomes. Examples are presented of how this approach can provide useful information to educational policy‐makers.

COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUCTION IN STATISTICS†

Publisher Summary The cost of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) makes it impossible at the present time to justify its use for purely instructional purposes. As an object of research, CAI is a justifiable enterprise on the assumption that computer costs will continue to go down—relative to instructional alternatives—while its effectiveness will continue to increase so that someday CAI will be cost-effective for at least some kinds of instruction. One situation in which CAI is feasible at present is where the student must learn how to use the computer anyway and where such learning is a by-product of his computer-assisted instruction in the primary subject. Certainly an example of such a subject area is data analysis and statistical inference. An example such as instructional system is the one developed at System Development Corporation. Using the PLANIT language, three types of student exercises are written: (1) tutorial-dialogue, (2) exposition, and (3) computational exercises.

Summary, Conclusions, and Implications

We began the work described in this book with two broad questions as the focus of our research. How can the quality of evaluation research that takes place in school districts be improved? How can this type of research become more useful to the policy-shaping and management communities? These two distinct but highly related questions were pursued by working with policy shapers and managers in a large urban school system. In our relationships with district personnel, we sought to understand better their information needs, and to develop and test research responses to those needs. As we were fond of saying in the early years of this work, the goal was to replicate some of the conditions experienced by district evaluation researchers, with the important exception (and presumed advantage) that we would have time to reflect on our experiences in ways that would permit us to share what we were learning with others in the policy and research fields.