The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) preserves the most positive legacy of the No Child Left Behind era--more accurate and transparent data about the performance of all students--and helps states take their efforts to use data in support of student learning to the next level. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) appreciates the opportunity to provide…

Like many parents and educators, the author is concerned about both quality and equity in the school systems and schools, public and private. He is equally frustrated at the seemingly zealous focus on producing more and more charter schools when America have had: (1) limited success in that arena; and (2) limited data on their success. That…

Administrators, faculty, and staff should have electronic access to records needed to perform their jobs, and students should have access to their own records--course registration and addresses. User-directed analysis and reporting are discussed and the security and audit issues are examined. (Author/MLW)

Discusses softcopy information publishing on CD-ROM and describes how to use it successfully for technical documentation. Four main areas are addressed: (1) characteristics of technical documentation; (2) goals for the information product, including access methods; (3) steps involved in publishing technical documentation on CD-ROM, including…

Six articles discuss the 1987 Economic Censuses: a historical review by Bohme; Worden on the value of economic censuses; Wikoff and Powell-Hill on planning the questionnaire; Blum, Bowman, and Sullivan on changing data needs; Zeisset on the data's availability to users; and Schlueter, Ray, and Hartz on international economic statistics. (EM)

Presents an access method for temporal data called the Snapshot Index that reconstructs a past state of a time-evolving collection of objects. Previous approaches to temporal access methods are reviewed, and migrating data to write-once optical disks are discussed. (Author/LRW)

This article reports results of a case study of text-based online and CD-ROM databases that identified design characteristics that are important to high school students' use for higher-level learning as well as for information access and retrieval. Implications for the design of databases are suggested. (Contains 62 references.) (LRW)

Seven articles by members of the Bureau of the Census discuss various aspects of the census process and uses of census figures. Areas which are discussed include the historical basis of the census; automation of the census process; access to census information and confidentiality; and census taking in developing nations. (CLB)

This is the fifth in a series of issue briefs to be written for The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement during 2006. In this brief, author Craig Jerald highlights research collected in the July 2005 special issue of the "Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk" to argue for collecting and using data to…

Presents a comparative analysis of electronic access to theses and dissertations through CitaDel and FirstSearch. Highlights include the effectiveness and ease of use in providing enduser access; strengths and weaknesses of searching capabilities; coverage; pricing; and examples of direct retrieval comparison. (LRW)

Examines optical data disk online databases as an alternative to dial access online databases and concludes that optical data disk systems are overpriced, undersized, technologically dull, and often deceptively packaged. Eight responses to the article by selected readers are provided. (CLB)

Predicts that online searching in the 1990s will be characterized by end users discovering faster and easier ways to access information. Predicted trends that are discussed include databases designed for end users, pricing innovations, increased use of CD-ROM products, improved computer graphics, and the expansion of database products into the…

Addresses issues relating to acquisition of and access to government information. Information being made available in new formats is discussed, including CD-ROM and other electronic formats; Illinois state and federal depository library programs are described; and cataloging government documents is considered. (LRW)

Describes and compares three versions of the ERIC database that are available on optical data disks: (1) DIALOG OnDisc ERIC; (2) OCLC Search CD450; and (3) SilverPlatter ERIC. The database contents, software and search commands, hardware requirements, notable features, and costs of each version are discussed. (CLB)

Discusses reasons why communities and schools should communicate electronically, reviews available technologies, presents goals supporting electronic connections to communications technologies, and examines issues involved in developing those electronic connections. A table lists types of information and appropriate technology to use to obtain…