In today's data-driven and data-informed educational landscape, leaders face increasing pressure to make decisions and present results based on what appear to be comprehensive statistical analyses. However, the ethical implications of these responsibilities can be complex, particularly when statistical results carry the potential to be…

This document provides a technical description of the sources and methods used to generate the set of employment projections by industry and occupation presented in the reports from the Nuffield funded research programme -- "The Skills Imperative 2035: Essential Skills for Tomorrow's Workforce." This Technical report provides details on…

Using assessment data to determine student growth has become an integral part of the accountability movement, and researchers and educators are currently examining how new rules impact the academic assessment of gifted learners. In 2008, the Association for the Gifted's Annual Symposium at the Council for Exceptional Children Convention focused on…

In the push to bring data to bear on all of the important education issues of the day, one essential fact is often overlooked: Not all indicators are created equal. This book provides a comprehensive approach for understanding how statistical measures of achievement are developed, evaluated, and interpreted. Given the extent to which…

It is curious that so many people are accepting of statistics despite Disraeli's famous aphorism concerning "three kinds of lies." This acceptance certainly seems to hold for education statistics, especially when they imply something negative about American public schools. Sometimes people accept statistics because they are not in a position to…

Statistical modeling provides a method for colleges to use alumni-development information to create an equation predicting who is likely to respond positively to fund-raising appeals. This can make fund raising more cost-effective, provide higher returns on minimal investment, provide results quickly, and improve competitiveness. Resources…

Using data for school reform is like painting a series of pictures--pictures that are subtle and capture the nuances of the subject. This is a far cry from drawing stick figures or paint-by-numbers. Imagine the experiences of the French painter Claude Monet as he wandered through his garden at Giverny at different times of the day and year,…

Describes how the State University of New York, using large databases and regression techniques, has developed several coordinated, comprehensive efforts to evaluate and project current and future enrollments. One requires decomposition of the student population into mutually exclusive subgroups. The other, superior, approach uses logistic…

The greater organizational complexity of libraries and information centers in recent years has given rise to more complex problems for managers. To facilitate solutions, operations research (OR) techniques have been developed that consider the quantitative dimensions of problems along with their political and organizational aspects. Eight standard…

The practice and methods of federal research impact assessment are described. Three areas of evaluation (selection of research project, research review, and postresearch assessment) are examined, and different evaluation methods (qualitative, retrospective, and quantitative) are compared. Peer evaluation, the most common assessment method, is seen…

Explores the impact of budget changes on the intensity of program services received by students in federal compensatory education programs under Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (1981). Results show that moderate budget cuts translated into service intensity declines, implying that Gramm-Rudman impacts could be worse.…

The statistical methods used by courts and regulatory agencies to analyze data relating to equal employment and affirmative action are reviewed, along with suggested methods for colleges and universities to produce more meaningful Equal Employment Opportunity management documents. (MSE)

A quantitative method developed at Stanford University that addresses programmatically the short- and long-term needs of the college physical plant is discussed. The approach allows the administrator to accurately assess funding resources for the maintenance program in conjunction with academic and construction programs. A special task force at…

Examples of the use of a mathematical model to evaluate the future renewal and replacement, or maintenance requirements, of the college physical plant are provided. The model, which was developed at Stanford University, simulates actual conditions at a specific location and allows resource allocation to be based on a definable quantitative base.…

A University of Arizona undergraduate pharmacy course designed to develop student skills in evaluation of research has five parts: introduction to the scientific method; statistical techniques/data analysis review; research design; fundamentals of clinical studies; and practical applications. Prerequisites include biostatistics and drug…