ABSTRACT
Educators and educational researchers themselves are extraordinarily skeptical about how research—particularly theoretical research—bears on the operation of schools. Here, as one instance for many, is a not atypical statement emanating from a prominent educational research center: "The fact is basic research produces only tiny 'bits' of knowledge about an infinitely complex world. Given time, such incremental gains in knowledge may have some effect on practical situations, but schoolmen have long been aware that research findings usually have little practical bearing on the actual operation of schools" ( R&D Perspectives, 1969, p. 1).
