In 1991, a student learning outcomes assessment was conducted at Wenatchee Valley College, Washington. All English 101 students in the winter and spring quarters of 1990 wrote a 2-hour final exam. Winter quarter students wrote on the same topic while spring quarter students wrote on one of three randomly assigned topics. Five English 101…

The purpose of this study was to determine preservice secondary biology teachers' (N=18) ability to transmit knowledge of the subject to pupils through methodologies designed to translate theory into practice. The cooperating teachers (N=12) provided data regarding abilities demonstrated by the student teachers. The student teachers utilized the…

A study was designed in which a battery of 11 selected instruments was given to 320 professional students (four classes) at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine to measure a variety of parameters of brain function and cognitive ability. Results were to be used to develop ability or competency profiles, to compare scores, to…

In the 1980-81 school year, the Title I program in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, initiated research into the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) for mathematics in grades 3-6. Children from two lower socioeconomic area schools, who were one or more years below grade placement but were already making gains of 6-9 months due to an…

This project paper reports the interobserver agreements and reliabilities for the observation procedures used in the Descriptive Study of Phase IV of the Individually Guided Education Evaluation Project. Only data from four observers--at the two Developing Mathematical Processes Schools and the two Wisconsin Design for Reading Skills Development…

To aid the Office of Evaluation and Dissemination (OED) and the Office of Indian Education in development of a Request for Proposal to conduct an impact evaluation of the Indian Education Act, Part A, investigators used findings of the OED-sponsored evaluation of the Indian Education Act and observations of the principal investigator to establish…

A national survey of liberal arts colleges' institutional policies and practices in evaluating faculty performance and classroom teaching, focusing on the changes in evaluation since 1978, is reported. Factors considered, their frequency of use, and sources of information for evaluation are examined. (MSE)

Equity in faculty salaries has always been a controversial issue facing institutions of higher education. As a bastion of academic freedom where faculty and students purse knowledge, it is almost anti-intellectual to find a gender gap in salaries. More importantly, there are laws, which ensure gender equity in salaries. Thus, salary equity has…

This study investigated the relationship between the scales used for the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT) assessments and the RIT scales used to report performance on Northwest Evaluation Association tests. The RIT scale was developed using Rasch scaling methodologies. RIT-based tests are used to inform a variety of educational…

This report contains results from a survey of U.S. fourth and eighth grade teachers that examined their teaching philosophies, classroom teaching methods and practices, academic expectations for students, and opinions on other education policy issues. Overall, a majority of teachers described their teaching philosophies as leaning more toward…

In February 1995, a supplement to the Current Population Survey examined the job search rate among a sample of 108,876 employed persons (except unpaid family workers) who had worked for their employer for at least 3 months were asked if they had looked for others employment since December 1994. Of those surveyed, 6,044 (5.6%) had actively searched…

To address the need to understand the extent and types of teacher use of computers and the Internet, as well as teachers' perceptions of their own preparedness to use these tools in their classes, a National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) survey was commissioned. The survey found that 99% of full-time regular public school teachers…

This paper seeks to extend the application of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods in item response theory (IRT) to include the estimation of equating relationships along with the estimation of test item parameters. A method is proposed that incorporates estimation of the equating relationship in the item calibration phase. Item parameters from…

Presents data on the percent of full-time public school teachers indicating the extent to which participation in professional development activities in various content areas improved their classroom teaching, by number of hours spent in professional development in that content area in the last 12 months (1998). (SM)

Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA) designates federal funds to support the education of students with limited English proficiency and provides for formula-based grants to states. This report describes the data the Education Department used to distribute Title III funds and the implications of data measurement issues for the…