Education Research Guide--Graduate Level

"Provides a best-practice guide to planning and implementing social and emotional learning (SEL) in K-12 classrooms and schools. The authors present a roadmap to help practitioners choose exemplary programs and strategies, integrate SEL with academics and mental health interventions, create culturally affirming programming for diverse students, use assessment to guide data-based decision making, and support educator SEL."

Middle school students "experience more complicated lives as influences of the broader society including popular media and technology, immigration and cultural diversity, amplified political divisiveness, and bullying effect their daily lives both in and out of school. These influences have contributed to the need for more social-emotional support and the desire of students and teachers alike to find and express their voices."

"Argues that informational content should not be the main element of education." Therefore, technology should not just provide a container for content but rather should engage learners in developing abilities to "synthesize, solve problems, and generate ideas" must be central to instructional design and educational technology decisions.

"Showcases the educational journey of four Latino/a men and women who navigated the American education system successfully. Their success is significant given the multiple and varied challenges that most Latinos/as encounter throughout the K-20 educational continuum."

"Examines the ways in which definitions, histories, policies and demographic changes influence rural schools." Describes "how corporatization, population changes, poverty, and the role of data affect everyday learning in rural schools" and also "considers how school closures, charter schools, and district governance influence decision making in rural schooling, while also examining the influence of these structures on higher education attainment, rural school partnerships, and school leadership."

Comprehensively compares qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research design. For each type, the authors "include a preliminary consideration of philosophical assumptions, key elements of the research process, a review of the literature, an assessment of the use of theory in research applications, and reflections about the importance of writing and ethics in scholarly inquiry."

The guide "draws on the research, practical experience and reflections of active researchers, each chapter offers explanations, examples, tasks for students to undertake and suggestions for further reading, all of which are designed to strengthen understanding of practical methods of data collection in educational and social-science research."

"Defines, discusses, and offers applications for the central components of educational research, providing both novice and experienced researchers with a common ground from which to work" and "includes a discussion of similarities and differences in education research." Offers specific examples and practice questions.

"Provides a clear and straightforward guide for all those seeking to conduct quantitative research in the field of education, using primary research data samples." Focus is on the effective use of non-parametric data.