This "Research Roundup" focuses on how schools can benefit when educational leaders use data to challenge their intuition and assumptions in their decision-making. In "Building an Automated Student Record System: A Step-by-Step Guide for Local and State Education Agencies," Barbara S. Clements provides administrators with a quick but comprehensive…

Although most school districts and schools are routinely involved in data collection, they do not typically use the data they collect in a systematic fashion to identify strengths and weaknesses and develop improvement strategies. One reason for the lack of data use is the perception that the data are being collected for someone else's purposes.…

This introduction to second language program evaluation begins with a rationale outlining the major issues involved in program evaluation. Procedures for evaluation are described, and examples are offered of goal statements, sub-goal statements, curriculum objectives, and learning objectives. Guidelines for judging a statement of aims are listed.…

In 1991, a national survey was conducted of transfer practices at both two- and four-year institutions. The survey was sent for the second time to two-year public and private institutions (n=1,350), and for the first time to four-year institutions (n=1,950). The two-year college response rate was 39% in 1990 and 31% in 1991, while the response…

Drawing on information provided by the American Association of Community College's database, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the U. S. Bureaus of the Census, Labor Statistics, and Economic Analysis, this publication provides a broad statistical overview of all the public and independent two-year colleges in the United States…

Every opportunity should be taken to communicate research findings both inside and outside government programs and make them accessible to policy makers, teachers, lecturers, parents, and employers. The "Interchange" series aims to further improve the Educational Research Unit's (ERU) dissemination of the findings of research funded by…

This report provides a general overview of available courseware for computer assisted instruction by examining the distribution of these packages across grade level, hardware type, instructional mode, and subject areas, including art, business education, computer science, language arts, foreign language, mathematics, science, social studies,…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) continuously monitors the knowledge, skills, and performance of the nation's children and youth in a variety of academic subjects. Data from the NAEP 1996 Long-Term Trend Science Assessment show mixed results since the first assessment. Scores for all three age groups fell and then rose. Both…

Ways that higher education institutions can improve their compliance procedures in responding to external requests for reports and information are addressed. Institutional officers must first determine how the data will be used by the external agency. By questioning how the requested information will be used, a determination can be made of what…

Literature indicating high rates of abuse in this population is reviewed, as is literature indicating high rates of developmental disabilities in child victims of abuse. Problems in data collecting practices are noted. Reasons for these children's greater risk for abuse are identified, including child attributes, stress, parent vulnerabilities,…

This report reviews the current characteristics of faculty in higher education institutions compared to those of faculty members 20 years ago. It is based on fall 1995 data and 1976 comparison data. A major finding is a substantial increase (91 percent) in the number of part-time faculty compared with an increase of 27 percent in the number of…

Two quantitative enrollment projection techniques and the methods used by researchers at the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR) are discussed. Two quantitative approaches that are typically used for enrollment projections are curve-fitting techniques and causal models. Many state forecasters use curve-fitting techniques, a popular approach because only…

Compiled to give readers information on current research in household production, this special issue focuses on the family as a provider of goods and services. It includes five feature articles, a summary of a survey of American farm women, and a brief analysis of sources of time-use data for estimating the value of household production. Covered…

This yearbook, consisting of 18 papers, deals with updating the content of secondary business education programs. The focus of the articles is on trends affecting secondary business education curricula, determining curriculum needs in secondary business education, implementing content changes, and changing secondary business education content to…