The problem of this study was: What practical and theoretical problems attend the research relationship between Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) and Local Education Agencies (LEA)? The major purpose of the study was to ascertain the extent and nature of the problems and issues in the LEA/IHE research relationship from the perspective of respondents from both groups. Four populations were sampled through researcher designed questionnaires--Deans of Colleges of Education (DCE), college faculty (IHE), Directors of Research and Evaluation (DRE), and research staff (LEA) from public schools. Four hypotheses were tested. Null hypotheses 1 and 2 were tested by a one-way ANOVA. Null hypothesis 3 was tested by a two-way ANOVA. Chi-square was the statistic used to test null hypothesis 4. Based on the retention or rejection of the four null hypotheses in this study the following general conclusions were made: (1) This study supports the examined literature that perceptual differences do indeed exist between members of the IHE and LEA in relation to the research relationship between these two institutions. (2) The significant differences in perceptions of the research relationship relate to planning, decision making powers, role definition, finances, value of research, communication and institutional arrangements for conducting research. (3) All respondents feel there is some benefit from research collaboratives between the IHE and the LEA. Several recommendations were made. Some of these were as follows. This study was focused primarily on the perceptual hindrances to collaborative research in the IHE and LEA. There exists a need for more empirical studies which focus on various aspects of the research relationship between the IHE and LEA. There should be a continuing search for other factors which hinder or facilitate successful collaboratives. A compiled body of research relating to this topic should be encouraged so that there will exist several data banks which can systematically be searched. This data-based feedback would be extremely useful to those entering into a collaborative relationship. Studies should be conducted which examine the relationship between the ideal and actual purposes of research in an effort to find ways to bring those purposes closer together.

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Advocates of middle grades reform in the United States argue that curriculum and instruction, as well as leadership, organization, and community relationships, should be informed by knowledge of the developmental characteristics of 10 to 15 year-olds within physical, social, emotional, psychological, cognitive, and moral domains. Noticeably absent from their conception of human development are spiritual developmental characteristics of young adolescents. This interdisciplinary research was a critical constructivist (Kincheloe, 2008) inquiry of the following question: What is the educational relevance of spiritual development in middle grades education? To study this question, critical historiographical research methods (Villaverde, Kincheloe, & Helyar, 2006) were used to interrogate the academic discourses of three fields related to the research question: (a) the middle grades concept; (b) spirituality as a developmental domain; and (c) holistic education. Foundational texts from these fields served as sources of data. I present the result of the data analyses as narratives on the paradigms that influenced the (hi)stories of these three academic fields. These narratives were analyzed for common epistemological and ontological perspectives. Amongst the paradigms of the three fields, three meta-paradigms are shared: Ecological Epistemology, Holistic Ontology, and Positivist Ontology. In addition, a discursive interrelationship within each field, a dynamic of paradox, was found between the three meta-paradigms. These results offer encouragement for the relevance of spiritual development as part of the middle grades concept, as they suggest that integration of knowledge of adolescent spiritual development is theoretically supported by commitments to caring relationships in schools and constructivist learning theory. The results also suggest a paradigm revolution (Kuhn, 1996) that might allow for a new discourse of possibility (Giroux, 1981) for spirituality in education. This dissertation research could serve as a basis for further research that focuses on how to integrate knowledge of adolescent spiritual development in public schools in the United States.