Education researchers use surveys widely. Yet, critics question respondents' ability to provide high-quality responses. As schools increasingly use student surveys to drive local policy making, respondents' (lack of) motivation to provide quality responses may threaten the wisdom of using questionnaires for data-based decision making. To better…

School accountability is subject to considerable scrutiny. It generates sharp political debate, policy challenges, and continuous discussion. Growth models are now a part of that discussion. To many practitioners the sheer volume of "important to know" information is daunting. The members of the Technical Issues in Large Scale Assessment…

This paper reports on a study conducted to determine the extent to which failing secondary school students can be identified in advance through analysis of student records. The research, conducted in an urban school district, utilized data such as achievement test results, school attendance, and course grades, as well as a survey of sample…

Developed to provide an alternative system for identifying emotional disturbance in students, the manual begins by briefly reviewing problems in current identification approaches. An emotionally disturbed person is defined in the paper as someone who exhibits either too much or too little of a socially significant behavior. An approach is then…

This brief paper analyzes the types of information about disproportionality of particular racial/ethnic groups in special education that states provided in the Biennial Performance Reports (BPRs) submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in 2002 (covering the academic years 1991-2000 and 2000-2001). A section on the study's background notes…

Describes a project for first and second graders involving gathering and interpreting survey data from another student they have never met to identify the student at the end of the project. Includes sample curricular goals and instructional strategies. (MKR)

Describes a secondary analysis of a national assessment of educational progress in science which was conducted in 1981-1982 with students of age nine. Suggests that elementary school students' achievement and attitude are influenced jointly by a number of factors rather than by one or two dominant ones. (TW)

This manual was developed to provide a model for evaluating programs for handicapped preschoolers that can be used by all Maryland school districts regardless of size or resources. The model has five components: (1) how children are identified as handicapped; (2) what type of testing takes place before and after a child is placed in a program; (3)…

This conference was held to enhance communication between the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and State education agency staffs, and to furnish information and technical assistance to State agencies in the areas of data management and improvement of data reliability, validity, and comparability. Abstracts of presentations include the…