R&D Resources Identified as Particularly Useful

Districts were asked to list one R&D resource from any source that had been received since September 1987 and had been particularly useful. For the resource identified, districts were asked to supply the title or description, the provider or publisher, the date, and whether the resource was a service, a product, or both.

An unweighted total of 724 of the 1,039 respondents (70 percent) listed some type of R&D resource. Districts varied considerably in the amount of detail they were able to provide. Some provided specific titles, providers, and publication dates, while others provided highly general information such as "ERIC searches" or "information on policy analysis."

The primary finding was the great diversity among districts' responses.¹³ The most frequently mentioned providers were the OERI Regional Laboratories (171 mentions), State educational entities (120), ERIC (106), and NDN (96). The four OERI-funded programs (Laboratories, Centers, ERIC, and NDN) received 391 mentions (49 percent), although the focus of the questionnaire on these programs may have increased the likelihood of their being mentioned (Table 11).

R&D resources reported by respondents were classified into 8 content categories (Table 12):

• Student populations (18 percent);
• Staffing and staff development (12 percent);
• Curriculum (18 percent);
• School and classroom management (27 percent);
• Student testing and evaluation (6 percent);
• Early childhood education (3 percent);
• Other, including general R&D resources such as reference works (7 percent); and
• Unclassified, due to a lack of sufficient information (8 percent).

Some of the specific subcategories for which resources were frequently mentioned were: school improvement (17 percent), individual curriculum content areas (15 percent), staff development and teacher evaluation (10 percent), and at-risk students (10 percent).

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