The continuing importance of data analytics is not lost on higher education leaders, who face a multitude of challenges, including increasing operating costs, dwindling state support, limits to tuition increases, and increased competition from the for-profit sector. To navigate these challenges, savvy leaders must leverage data to make sound…

Discussions of the barriers to completion in community colleges have largely focused on student success in introductory college-level math and English courses, and rightfully so, since these courses are typically required for degrees. However, there is a much broader range of courses that also serve as "gatekeepers" in the sense that they are…

This "Practitioner's Guide to Growth Models," commissioned by the Technical Issues in Large-Scale Assessment (TILSA) and Accountability Systems & Reporting (ASR), collaboratives of the "Council of Chief State School Officers," describes different ways to calculate student academic growth and to make judgments about the…

Data analysis of 134 twin pairs from the Colorado Reading Project found that approximately 40 percent of the deficit observed in disabled readers is because of genetic factors, 35 percent because of environmental influences shared by twin pairs, and 25 percent because of environmental factors unique to the individual and/or error variance.…

Since its inception in 1969, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has been the nation's leading indicator of what American students know and can do. The focus of this chapter is on how NAEP, as it exists today, may be useful to educators, in particular four aspects of NAEP that may be of wide interest and use. This chapter…

The voice quality, breathiness, hoarseness, and laryngeal strain of 20 profoundly deaf and 5 normal-hearing children, age 5-19, were judged. Findings suggest that overall prediction of voice quality cannot reliably be based on glottal parameters and judged voice deviations, although severe cases of deaf voice deviations may be detectable.…

An auditory masking procedure was successfully used to identify those speech handicapped children who would maintain or improve the accuracy of speech production during a three-week treatment break. Subjects were 28 primary grade children with relatively low levels of phoneme acquisition. Results have implications for scheduling and treatment…

Holland's (1973) theory of vocational choice proposes a typology of, and a match between, people and occupations. The Self Directed Search (SDS) can be used to assess people's occupational orientation types. To assess the construct validity of Holland's theory of occupational preferences, 171 female industrial workers participated in a study,…

This chapter outlines the theory of cost-benefit analysis and discusses its application to determining the cost-benefit of instructional development projects. Three types of applications are discussed: (1) descriptive applications of single projects; (2) predictive studies of proposed projects; and (3) comparative analysis of alternative projects…

Three studies investigated comfortable loudness levels with particular reference to their application to hearing aid gain prescriptions. The studies, involving 33 normal hearing adults and 77 adults with hearing impairments, suggest that comfortable loudness levels for continuous speech bands can be estimated rather accurately, quickly, and with…

Research findings were reviewed on the Auditory Visual Combined Discrimination Test, which can be used with severely and profoundly mentally retarded persons to assess basic position, visual, and auditory discriminations. The test was found to be reliable and predictive of client performance in classroom learning, language, and vocational tasks.…

This article discusses the uses of production function models and describes the role of inferential statistics for making predictions in school finance. Specifically, the analysis evaluates types, suggests uses, explains the advantages and disadvantages, and lists the statistical complexities of production functions. (JAM)

Eight kinds of estimation activities are described and discussed. Nine activities which range from kindergarten to twelfth-grade level are suggested. (MK)

Statistical analyses of scores on subtests of the Intelligence Test for Visually Impaired Children were done for two groups of children, either with or without usable vision. Results suggest that the battery has differential factorial and predictive validity. (Author/DB)

A study was done at Panhandle State University (Oklahoma) examining whether high school grade point averages or ACT (American College Testing) scores provided a better predictor of freshman academic success. Study procedures included a review of the literature, meetings with the academic vice president and five deans, as well as examination of…