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A tension exists between educational practitioners and researchers, which is often attributed to their dichotomous and oftentimes polarizing professional ideologies or Discourse communities. When determining what works in education, researchers tend to emphasize evidencebased practices (EBPs) supported by research that is rigorous and internally valid, whereas practitioners tend to value practice-based evidence (PBE) that is relevant and externally valid. The authors argue that these separate mindsets stem from the classical view of research as being either rigorous or relevant. In his canonical Pasteur's Quadrant, Stokes (1997) proposed that rigor and relevance are complementary notions that, when merged, further the production, translation, and implementation of instructional practices that are both rigorous (i.e., evidence-based) and relevant (i.e., practice-based). The authors propose educational design research (EDR) and communities of practice (CoPs) as frameworks through which to realize the promise of Pasteur's quadrant.

Cumulative-hierarchical learning (CHL) and behavior, a premise first introduced by Staats in 1975, describes how higher-level behavioral patterns and structures can emerge from interactions among a set of lower-level actions. Proponents of CHL emphasize the importance of pivotal response interventions, behavior repertoires, generative learning, and the development of behavioral cusps, the human equivalent of the computer world's killer application, or "killer app" ("Wikipedia," n.d.). Rosales-Ruiz and Baer (1997) defined a behavioral cusp as an entry point for pivotal behavioral change that, once initiated, so profoundly alters, displaces, or transforms one's behavioral repertoire that it renders preexisting behavioral repertoires obsolete. In this article, we demonstrate how behavioral cusps can be used to construct CHL behaviors and repertoires of persons with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders within and across five pivotal behavioral elements. We also describe how behavioral cusps could be used to improve the quality of the collaborative conversations during person-centered planning sessions.

A survey of 28 National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER) colleges found there was a small core of faculty (21%) who were highly committed to the NNER precept of parity for special education faculty and there was less commitment at the secondary level, particularly for integrated teacher training. (Contains references.) (CR)

School leaders should realize that consultants cannot substitute for developing collective actions within the organization. The "Consultant from Oz Syndrome" stems from placing undue confidence in external sources, confusing consultants with magicians, and denying their limitations. While journeying down the yellow brick road of educational reform, educators should realize the Tin Man needed nothing from the Wizard. (MLH)

A parody addresses the common situation where a learning organization places unreasonable hope and faith in the services of an external consultant to reform general and special education. Educators are urged to use such consultants intelligently but to rely primarily on their own professional experience, professional confidence, and motivated hearts to effect positive change. (DB)

Seven pitfalls of transition planning for students with disabilities are identified: (1) planning at an inappropriate level; (2) confusing means with ends; (3) failing to involve all relevant educational partners; (4) selecting programs before identifying goals; (5) failing to consider future community realities; (6) being unaware of the process elements of strategic planning; and (7) assuming all planning approaches are the same. (DB)

The article offers a commencement-based (as opposed to a credential-based) model of secondary education for individuals with mild mental retardation. Five model components stress process, personal experience, adult community success, circular individualized education plans, and time as the validator of program effectiveness. (Author/DB)

Although numerous and diverse publications address professors' writing and research productivity, exceedingly few empirical studies report findings for interventions designed and implemented to increase professors' research productivity. This study used an innovative mixed methods design with a concurrent triangulation strategy and methods from two research traditions that investigators rarely integrate - quantitative single-case interventions and qualitative inquiry. Processes and findings from this study illustrate how researchers can combine these methods to illuminate the how and why of changes in performance in participant-interventionist studies. In this study, university professors used goal setting and behavioral self-management techniques to increase their daily research productivity and the number of manuscripts they submitted to professional journals. Based on findings and existing literature, we identify practical habits that increase research productivity. This study extends the literature base that includes numerous descriptive articles and opinion pieces on many topics about scholarly productivity, but few intervention studies that report quantitative findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]