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How can we see education research as a coherent body of inquiry? The naturally occurring diversity of epistemologies and methods give education research the appearance of discord. In this paper, we propose that all of these various methods, questions, and interpretive frameworks of education research share a common commitment to the idea that "education is design for learning." We begin with a discussion of how recent efforts at the global and national policy levels have sought to position scientific inquiry as the premiere version of education research based on the model of social sciences. We then discuss the role of practical inquiry as a necessary complement to both receive and generate positivist knowledge. The iteration between scientific and practical inquiry describes a path for how scientific and practical work can be naturally linked in an iterative inquiry for improving education processes and outcomes. However, without a critical perspective, this iterative process can become detached from valued social concerns and become an exercise in optimization, rather than improvement. We propose that critical inquiry should be systemically integrated into the design process for researchers and educators to reflect on both the intentions and consequences of the scientific-practical cycle. We then describe how integrating these approaches can show the way toward to a coherent model of education research.

The aim of this study was to research whether teachers see global school partnerships as an effective tool to support anti-racist and inclusive approaches and deliver practice that reflects, is representative of, and engages all pupils. Over the last year, events have led to increasing debates around Black Lives Matter, the urgent need to de-colonise and re-design the curriculum and develop teaching and learning practice that responds to our diverse school communities and contexts. Although there are many schools involved in the Connecting Classrooms Through Global Learning programme it is unclear how many are actively using this work to address and respond to this need. This study aims to assess whether links can be made between the two agendas so that teachers can understand, embed within the rationale for and use their global learning work and global school partnerships as a vehicle to develop and evidence anti-racist approaches. Research data was gathered from both teachers and senior leaders via a simple online questionnaire for schools involved in Connecting Classrooms Through Global Learning school partnerships and used to gauge whether they are addressing the agenda and to what degree they can see these links as a tool to enable and evidence impact. This was followed by more qualitative data collected via virtual interviews with three teachers identified from their responses to the initial questionnaire. What is clear from the findings is that teachers acknowledge that a global learning approach and global school partnerships specifically have real relevance when developing anti-racist practice.

According to the National Institutes of Health, "Translational research includes …the process of applying discoveries generated during research in the laboratory, and in preclinical studies, to the development of trials and studies in humans… [and] research aimed at enhancing the adoption of best practices in the community. Following this tradition, this paper defines translational research in the Social-Behavioral-Educational (SBE) sciences as the recursive, bidirectional process of integrating scientific knowledge and research-based discoveries into community and societal practices and policies. Because there is a woeful lack of understanding about the science of translation, or how this very difficult work happens. Little is actually known about the strategies, structures, and processes of translational research that influence the capability and probability of diverse researchers from distinct disciplines collaborating effectively to solve significant social, behavioral, educational, and mental health problems. Barriers such as discipline-centric terminologies, traditional methodological approaches, time constraints, and narrowly conceived and executed dissemination strategies are significant. To accelerate the transmission of knowledge across the spectrum of theory, experimentation, implementation and diffusion, an augmented translational research approach specific to the SBE sciences is needed. The specific aims of this initiative are two-fold. First, the initiative will uncover various aspects (phases and processes) of translation that are most effective in addressing a range of significant social, behavioral, educational and mental health challenges plaguing society. Second, the knowledge gained about the science of translation will be applied to ameliorate specific social, behavioral, educational, and mental health problems by targeting specific substantive issues in these areas that impede individual, familial, social, and societal health. Through advanced understanding of the mechanisms by which meaningful integration of researchers from multiple disciplines and across the basic, applied, community and policy spectrum occurs, translational researchers will provide critical core support to augment the efficient translation around targeted SBE research. Relatedly, structures developed as a product of this initiative will serve as a hub to inform significant training, practice and policy advances among researchers in the SBE sciences. [Development of this white paper was completed with partial support from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED).]

Higher levels of civic and community engagement in higher education are positively associated with students' academic performance and they also build upon citizenship skills such as informed voting. Yet, while these are worthy and important outcomes of higher education, students from disadvantaged backgrounds can have more difficulty navigating civic engagement. Focusing on students at thirteen major public universities in the United States, and utilizing survey data generated by the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Consortium, this study suggest social perspective-taking has a significant positive effect on all students' probability of voting and participating in community service. Students who were asked to identify challenge/solutions to social problems and reflect/act on community issues in the classroom were also more likely to participate in community service. Additionally, Hispanic students and students from lower-income households are significantly less likely to vote and perform community service--findings corroborated by previous research. Females are more likely to vote and participate in community service--findings also corroborated by prior research. Hispanic students and students from low-income backgrounds were more likely to participate in voting and community service if they had increased rates of social perspective-taking. These results suggest that increased opportunities to connect with classmates in the classroom and develop perspective-taking skills (e.g. appreciating the world from someone else's perspective, acknowledging personal differences, interacting with someone with views that are different from your own, and discussing and navigating controversial issues) are potentially quite powerful ways to foster civic engagement among students who traditionally have the lowest civic engagement rates compared to their peers.

Workforce initiatives are about giving people the skills to do their jobs well, about strengthening the institutional infrastructure that provides job services, about positioning labor markets to lead growth and increased investment, and about creating sustainable employment and improved working conditions. Workforce initiatives aim to fill a specific gap in a supply, service, or value chain. They can be as broad as resources allow and address multiple issues. In the end, workforce initiatives contribute to resolving crucial economic and social problems that are caused not only by skills deficits, but also by structural deficiencies. This discussion paper summarizes the information in the AED publication, "International Workforce Initiatives: Definitions, Design Options, and Project Profiles."

The power of civic education to elicit positive student outcomes has been empirically documented. However, the field is only now beginning to understand the causal processes that bring about these positive changes in young people. "The Civic Mission of Schools" report commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and CIRCLE (2003) lays out six "promising approaches" to civic education. These practices emphasize the need for instruction that is relevant to young people (i.e., links young people's interests to political contexts), provides opportunities for practice, and that moves beyond rote learning praxis. A growing body of evidence suggests that these approaches to civic education yield positive, lasting outcomes in young people. For example, research has found that deliberative classroom discussions are positively associated with interest in politics, political knowledge, and feelings of political efficacy. The goal of this project is to examine the association between activities regularly used in civic education courses (e.g., staging a mock election) and their impact on key student outcomes. By linking classroom praxis to outcomes, the authors intend to provide evidence supporting best practices in civic education. (Contains 5 figures and 7 tables.) [This working paper was produced by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement.]

This report analyzes developments in Canadian child care policy in the 1990s at the federal, provincial (Ontario), and municipal (Toronto and Peel) levels, highlighting problems that are associated with a male model of citizenship. The report discusses the child care policy process as one in which state bodies are challenged by the diverse and largely women-driven child care advocacy movement. First, the report outlines some of the major developments of the 1990s that have created increasing hardship for women; foremost among these is the diminished accessibility to child care due to stagnation of or cutbacks in the funding of child care services. Connected to this is the ongoing concern among advocates for not-for-profit child care about a shift of services to the private and unregulated sector, arguably lowering quality. Also at issue are the poor and deteriorating working conditions of mostly female child care providers. These considerations are intended to highlight the importance of linking social class and gender inequality in an analysis of social policy. Second, the report discusses the effectiveness of different strategies of child care advocacy, raising some of the most persistent questions among feminists concerning political citizenship (i.e., whether it is possible to obtain social rights for women through the state, and if so, what the conditions are which make it possible). The report concludes by asserting that most women's and advocacy organizations are dismissed by governments as "special interest groups"; based on their outsider status in official politics, and lacking stable alliances, these organizations are drawn toward political solutions that may prove palatable to governments in the short run but may undermine general claims for child care as a universal rather than a targeted service. (Contains a 114 references.) (EV)

The University of Massachusetts McCormack Institute Poll of attitudes and opinions related to the political, economic, and social life of Massachusetts was expanded in 1998 to include a larger sample of minority respondents than in previous years. In 1998, the sample included 127 African Americans, 114 Asian Americans, 107 Latinos, and 381 Whites. The rapidly changing racial and ethnic diversity of Massachusetts was regarded as a "good thing" by a large proportion of all groups. Minority group members were less likely than Whites to think that things were getting better for minorities, and they were more likely to agree that there was a long way to go before minorities (specifically African Americans) have the same chance in life White people have. Thirty-three percent of African Americans, thirty-one percent of Latinos, and twenty-five percent of Asian Americans reported that they had a personal experience with discrimination during the last 3 months. African Americans and Latinos considered crime the most important issue, with schools/education the second most important social issue. Asian Americans thought schools were the most important issue, as did Whites. A majority of all groups indicated support for affirmative action. Respondents differed dramatically when asked whether schools should teach only in English or in some cases in a language other than English. Sixty-one percent of Whites supported English only, but eighty-one percent of Latinos favored instruction in other languages as well. Among Asian Americans, responses were split fairly evenly. There was general agreement among all groups that standardized tests for high school graduates are desirable. Almost half of all Whites expressed a great deal of confidence in the public schools, but responses of other groups were less favorable. Other questions involved the role of government, confidence in institutions, political participation and citizenship, and partisan identification and ideology. An appendix contains the poll questionnaire. (Contains 17 graphs.) (SLD)

This report addresses the sources and remedies for child poverty in the United States through a review of the effects of trends, policies, and changes in social relationships; and an analysis of data concerning poverty and children. An introduction sketches the present condition of children in poverty and the policies and attitudes of the past 30 years. The next section reviews trends in family incomes and poverty, pointing out the antipoverty effects of economic growth and government policies. It also focuses on poverty and income transfer recipiency among children, emphasizing the diversity of the poverty population and analyzing those who are and are not aided by income transfer programs. The third section analyses the effects of changes in family structure and family size on child poverty. The fourth section discusses evidence on persistent poverty and welfare receipt and examines the emergence of an urban underclass. The fifth section analyses some important consequences of poverty for child health and development: adolescent pregnancy and out-of-wedlock childbearing, infant mortality and low birthweight, and others. The paper concludes with an antipoverty agenda for the 1990s. Included are 9 tables, 7 graphs, and an 89-item bibliography. (JB)

Locating the issue of abortion in a global public policy context, with the array of public health, human rights, and social questions that are implicated, is the aim of this paper. Abortion laws around the world have been liberalized since the 1950s, with a resultant decrease in abortion-related mortality among women. The proportion of the world's population, governed by laws that permit abortion on medical or broader social and economic grounds, is 75 percent (nearly 4 billion people). In addition to women living in those countries that have resisted liberalization of their abortion laws, many women have restricted access to abortion, even those in countries in which abortion is technically legal. There are a number of reasons for this, including a lack of government or public commitment to provide or fund services, lack of trained specialists, administrative roadblocks, a woman's ability to pay, and a lack of truthful information about legal rights and services. Abortion rates from countries around the world are examined and discussed in terms of the varying demographic and social realities. The large number of maternal deaths due to abortion that still occur is not due to a deficiency in technology, but a deficiency in the value placed on women's lives. The numerous roadblocks to safe abortion services drive women to seek illegal or clandestine abortions that greatly endanger their lives. The debate surrounding abortion has been too often portrayed as a conflict between black and white hues. The debate needs to take place in a larger context, complete with public health, family planning, and human rights concerns. Equality of political rights for women, and likely the lives of many, hinges on political decisions regarding abortion. (DB)

The term "underclass" is often used to describe concentrations of inner-city Blacks in urban neighborhoods where social problems are common, mostly in large metropolitan areas. The most widely used empirical measurements of underclass are the spatial concentrations of poverty and social problems. Characterizing the underclass as almost entirely a minority problem may result from focusing on large metropolitan areas. There is uncertainty about the actual racial and ethnic compositions of the underclass. Analyzing differences in the spatial concentrations of poverty and social problems in small, middle-sized, and large metropolitan areas, and separating Hispanic Americans, non-Hispanic Blacks, and non-Hispanic Whites reveals the composition of the underclass more accurately. Data are analyzed from the Urban Institute Underclass Data Base, which contains tabulations from over 42,000 tracts from the 1980 census and over 34,000 in the 1970 census. As the size of the metropolitan area falls, the Black share of population in underclass neighborhoods falls, but the White and Hispanic American shares rise. If one looks beyond Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, underclass neighborhoods are most likely to be populated by Blacks, then Whites, and then Hispanic Americans. By ignoring small and middle-sized metropolitan areas, scholars and journalists have ignored the White underclass. Statistical data are provided in 12 tables. There are 25 references. (SLD)

The American Indian population is a young one; the median age is 28.0, with 34% under 18 years old. In contrast, the median age for the overall U.S. population is 35.3, with 26% younger than 18 (Hawkins, Cummins, & Marlatt, 2004). It is difficult to avoid resorting to statistical hyperbole when describing the problems facing American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) youth across the nation. Within the AIAN population, youth tend to initiate substance use at a younger age, to continue use after initial experimentation, and to have higher rates of poly-substance use (Beauvais, 1992; U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1990). Project Venture (PV), a Native-developed program for adolescents that is guided by advice from Native elders, is gaining popularity among AIAN communities as one approach to addressing these problems (Carter, Straits, & Hall, 2007; Raudenbush & Hall, 2005). Developed by the National Indian Youth Leadership Project, Project Venture is a yearlong program incorporating therapeutic adventure strategies in school, community, and wilderness settings. PV assists youth in identifying positive role models, building confidence through overcoming progressive challenges, fostering knowledge of traditional values and self-knowledge, and developing leadership skills (Hall, 2007).

This paper describes the problem and consequences of preschool poverty and outlines the potential contributions of high quality preschool child development programs towards lessening the magnitude of the problem. Data indicate that among children under 6 years of age one in four is now living in poverty, and in 17 states more than one fourth of preschool-aged children live in poverty. Poor children tend to fail in school and drop out before high school graduation. High school dropouts are likely candidates for poverty in their adult lives. Research studies indicate that preschool child development programs can help prevent scholastic failure and reduce other social problems. Further, well-documented cost-benefit analysis indicates that preschool programs can pay for themselves. At the present time, 29 percent of the nation's poor 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in preschool programs that provide educational activities, though not all of these programs are of the quality necessary to produce extensive social benefits. In view of the fact that federal and state governments spend over 2 billion dollars a year for preschool programs, it is important to insure the quality of such programs so that they can lead to long-term benefits. (RH)

Natural disasters (droughts, earthquakes, epidemics, floods, wind storms) damage wellbeing, both in their immediate and long-term aftermath, and because the insecurity of exposure to disasters is in itself harmful to risk-averse people. As such, mitigating and coping with the risk of natural disasters is a pressing issue for economic development. This paper provides a conceptual framework for understanding natural disasters. Disasters, which imply tragic human costs, are distinguished from hazards, which are events like earthquakes or flooding: hazards only translate into disasters when societies are vulnerable to them. Consequently international development policy can play a role in reducing the costs of disasters by addressing vulnerability. A review of two recent disasters -- the Turkish earthquakes of 1999, and Hurricane Mitch in 1998 -- illustrates the importance of precarious urbanisation and environmental degradation for increased vulnerability to natural hazards. These cases furthermore demonstrate the heterogeneity in adaptive capacity to disasters, as similar hazards have vastly different social consequences in different countries. Adaptive capacity is a function of countries' "ex ante" vulnerability to natural-disaster risk and their "ex post" resilience once such disasters have struck. Three key dimensions of public action are highlighted: domestic versus international policies; ex ante versus ex post measures; and private versus public efforts. The paper closes with an overview of innovative proposals to mitigate disaster risk and broaden the range of insurance instruments available to households and firms. (A bibliography is included. Contains 17 footnotes and 3 tables.)

What difference does education make for young adults' engagement in politics and social issues? This study is part of the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) project on "Measuring the Social Outcomes of Learning" (SOL). It discusses relevant international research, with special attention to studies in the Nordic countries, and analyses survey responses by more than 11 000 Norwegian youths aged 13 to 19. "Engagement" is defined as youth's declared interest in politics and social issues and by their participation in various forms of political activity. Educational performance and especially educational aspirations matter for this type of engagement. Socialisation in family environments with regard to civic related issues, however, matters even more for taking interest in such types of civic engagement. It also seems that young people experience educational benefits from growing up in families who care about the civic domain. Separately, the findings suggest that young people who are politically active do not easily conform to the status quo. Rather, they confront the authority structures of their schools more often than other young people do. The paper concludes with suggestions for policy and research. (Contains 13 footnotes, 7 figures and 4 tables.)

This paper is a product of the "Changing Domestic Priorities" project which has examined the shifts taking place in the nation's economic and social policies under the Reagan Administration and is now focusing on the major economic and social problems facing the nation over the coming decade. The following topics are discussed in this paper: (1) trends in black economic progress; (2) how these trends may have contributed to the development of an underclass; (3) new estimates of the size and growth of the underclass in a non-technical way; and (4) the implications of these trends for policies aimed at reducing some of the remaining disparities between blacks and whites and assisting the most severely disadvantaged blacks. Three tables, three figures, and 41 references are included. (JS)

The papers in this volume were prepared as part of an evaluation of the effects of the strict 1973 New York State drug laws. The first paper explores the effects of the laws on heroin use. It analyzes the trends of various indicators of heroin use in New York State over a period of several years. In order to isolate movements unique to New York, these trends are compared with those of comparable indicators for other East Coast states and cities that were not directly affected by the new drug laws. The second paper is on crime committed by narcotics users in Manhattan. It presents the findings of a study of changes in the magnitude of felony crimes committed by narcotics users in Manhattan between 1971 and 1975. The crimes included are all felonies which directly affect victims. The third paper explores the effects of the 1973 drug laws on the New York State Courts. It is concerned primarily with implementation of the statutes dealing with possession or sale of dangerous drugs. The last paper is on sentencing patterns under the 1973 New York State drug laws. (Author/JEL)