From the Associate Director
By Kyla Wahlstrom
This issue of Research/Practice, with its focus on reading
instruction, provides terrific examples of teachers as researchers
and researchers as teachers. The articles by classroom teachers
Edwards, Ihnot, and Cooke bring us directly into the classroom,
with concrete suggestions based on thoughtful findings derived from
well-planned research about their instructional strategies. The
concept of teachers becoming action researchers by reflecting upon
their own practice is fully realized here as these contributors
share their new knowledge with professional colleagues. With equal
success, professors Taylor and Graves, who begin with a researcher's
viewpoint, show us that the practical application of research-based
knowledge in classrooms is where instructional improvement best
begins. Their belief in doing much hands-on work with kids is what
makes their strategies practical and teacher-friendly.
Over the past three-and-a-half years as associate director of
CAREI, I have found that classroom teachers, school administrators,
and College of Education faculty continue to share an enormous wealth
of information and love of their work. The CAREI Collaborative Grant
Program has brought together 47 University faculty members and over
150 classroom teachers in projects of mutual interest, to improve
the education we provide for students and the support we give to
parents and colleagues. Current CAREI projects also include an evaluation
of the cognitive and social effects of a universal breakfast program
in elementary school, a study of the training of teachers to use
the Internet as an instructional tool, research on the implementation
and outcomes of block scheduling in secondary schools, and efforts
to provide process support help and feedback to districts that are
pilot sites for the graduation rule.
CAREI also continues to be part of an international effort toward
educational reform in Russia. During the past two years, five CAREI
school districts have supported twelve of their own classroom teachers'
participation in an international exchange of teaching strategies
and curriculum ideas. My work with the Russians, the Dutch, and
our Minnesota educators has been fulfilling beyond our wildest expectations
for engagement in this project, aptly named "TRIO." Sometime in
spring 1995, we will host a meeting where the teachers can share
their experiences and new knowledge in a practice-to-research colloquium.
Thus, the process comes full circle, with research continuing
to inform practice, which will continue to inform research. This
is CAREI's primary agenda, with the ultimate beneficiaries being
learners-who are as likely to be students as to be one of us.
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