The work of the National Forum on Education Statistics (Forum) is a key aspect of the National Cooperative Education Statistics System (Cooperative System). The Cooperative System was established to produce and maintain, with the cooperation of the states, comparable and uniform education information and data that are useful for policymaking at…

Background: Britain is rich in longitudinal population cohort studies that posit valuable data resources for social science. However, education researchers currently underutilize these resources. Aims: The current paper (1) outlines the power and benefits of secondary data analyses for educational science and (2) provides a practical guide for…

California has long been a national and global leader in developing and maintaining quality higher education options, as well as in providing financial aid and consumer protections for Californians who access that education. However, although California's colleges and the state government do collect, receive, and report a great deal of data, these…

The purpose of the National AEM Center's Quality Indicators with Critical Components for Higher Education is to assist institutes of higher education, both at the system and campus level, with planning, implementing, and evaluating dynamic, coordinated systems for providing accessible materials and technologies for all students who need them. The…

Despite now long-standing recognition of the value and importance of the scholarship of teaching and learning, questions continue to be raised about how to satisfy the hybrid responsibilities of teaching and research. The key message of this paper is that instructor-researchers, educational developers, and research ethics personnel should consider…

This document recommends a set of core practices, operations, and templates that can be adopted and adapted by local education agencies (LEAs) as they consider how to respond to requests for both new and existing data about the education enterprise. These recommendations reflect core best practices for: (1) managing the flow of requests; (2)…

Existing data sets can be an efficient, powerful, and readily available resource for addressing questions about developmental science. Many of the available databases contain hundreds of variables of interest to developmental psychologists, track participants longitudinally, and have representative samples. In this article, the authors discuss the…

State longitudinal data systems (SLDSs) promise a rich source of data for education research. SLDSs contain statewide student data that can be linked over time and to additional data sources for education management, reporting, improvement, and research, and ultimately for informing education policy and practice. Authored by Karen Levesque, Robert…

This document recommends a set of "core" practices, operations, and templates that can be adopted and adapted by state education agencies (SEAs) as they consider how to respond to requests for data about the education enterprise, including data maintained in longitudinal data systems. These recommendations reflect core practices and…

Multilevel modeling (MLM) gives researchers the ability to make inferences about organizations where nesting factors will bias results and the assumption of independence is not tenable. This article provides an overview of the variety of data sources that lend themselves to conducting institutional research (IR). It not only serves as a repository…

Effective evidence-based action requires getting the right data into the right hands at the right time to help make decisions. The Data Quality Campaign (2011) has provided suggestions to state education agencies for effectively using data within state longitudinal data systems. One suggestion is to identify "the variety of ways available…

In this essay, the author tries to look forward into the 21st century to divine three things: (i) What skills will researchers in the future need to solve the most pressing problems? (ii) What are some of the most likely candidates to be those problems? and (iii) What are some current areas of research that seem mined out and should not distract…

Describes a study that measured the benefits of an automated catalog and automated circulation system from the library user's point of view in terms of the value of time saved. Topics discussed include patterns of use, access time, availability of information, search behaviors, and the effectiveness of the measures used. (seven references)…

Data administration (DA) is a position that has emerged with the growth of information technologies. A review of DA literature confirms that, although DA is widely associated with database management systems (DBMS), there is no standard DA job description, DA staffing and location within the organization vary, and DA functions range in description…

TIS (Technology Information System) is being used at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to develop software for Intelligent Gateway Computers (IGC) suitable for the prototyping of advanced, integrated information networks. Dedicated to information management, TIS leads the user to available information resources, on TIS or…