This article exploits a natural experiment to estimate the effects of need-based aid policies on first-year college persistence rates. In fall 2006, Ohio abruptly adopted a new state financial aid policy that was significantly more generous than the previous plan. Using student-level data and very narrowly defined sets of students, I estimate a…

Test developers are responsible to define how test scores should be interpreted and used. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) directed the Secretary of Education to use results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to confirm the proficiency scores from state developed tests. There are two sets of federal definitions…

The attempt by D.Edwards and C. B. Cummings to adjust state mean Scholastic Aptitude Test Scores for differential participation rates with a "fuzzy truncation model" satisfies three criteria the authors previously defined but falls short for two. Omission of sensitivity studies mars the otherwise exemplary study. (SLD)

Community coalitions (CCs) have labored with some difficulty to demonstrate empirical evidence of effectiveness in preventing a wide range of adolescent problem behaviors. Training and technical assistance (TA) have been identified as important elements in promoting improved functioning of CCs. A reliable, valid, and inexpensive method to assess…

Recommendations resulting from the Council of Chief State School Officers' Education Data Improvement Project are summarized. This joint effort by the states and Federal government attempts to improve the quality and timeliness of data collected, analyzed, and reported by the United States Department of Education's Center for Statistics. The goals…

The federal class-size-reduction initiative and programs such as Wisconsin's Project SAGE (Student Achievement Guarantee in Education) provide funds for a variety of "small-class models," including intact small classes with one teacher, team-taught classes with 30 or more students and 2 full-time teachers, "push-in" or…

An evaluation of a North Carolina supervision program for juvenile offenders--the Intensive Protective Supervision Project--is presented. The program involves extensive and proactive contact between the court counselor, offender, and offender's family. Statistical and field-based evaluation suggest that the project is successful in preventing…

This paper presents an overall approach, statistical techniques, and a public-use database that can be used for understanding state welfare policies and measuring their relationship with key outcomes of interest, all while learning helpful statistical techniques. We use descriptive statistics and correlations to describe state policies. We find…

This article examined differences between young women and men who were incarcerated juvenile offenders with disabilities in Oregon in terms of the barriers they faced in their transition from the correctional system back into the community. Data were gathered on 72 females and 276 males, all of whom presented disabilities and who were…

The Association for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ) is committed to ensuring that decisions about children's lives are made on sound information and that state leaders and the public are fully informed. It is the public debate that has kept reform moving forward and will be necessary to ensure success. ACNJ believes that it is critically important…

A socially moderated link was established between statewide achievement results and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) by using the same achievement level descriptions in an Iowa Test of Basic Skills standard-setting and an NAEP standard setting study. A statistically moderated link was established through an equipercentile…

The Tennessee value-added assessment system (TVAAS) is described. TVAAS is a statistical process measuring the influence which school systems, schools, and teachers have on indicators of student learning. Initially, TVAAS will furnish information at the system level for grades three through eight in math, science, reading, language, and social…

A Friedman Foundation report attempts to find empirical support for the contention that competition from private schools, through voucher programs, improves the effectiveness of public schools. In the first year of Ohio's new EdChoice voucher program, the report claims to have found substantial academic gains at public schools exposed to the…

This paper discusses the experiences and insight derived from the 1985-1986 Statewide Evaluation of the Early Education Program of Handicapped Children in Louisiana, the multimethod evaluation of preschool intervention projects for handicapped and at-risk children. The program served almost 5,000 handicapped preschoolers and their parents,…

A statistical analysis was conducted to examine changes across time in some school districts of Pennsylvania. Comparisons were made for grades 5, 8, and 11 during two assessment periods. The Educational Quality Assessment data provided the basis for analysis. Correlation coefficients for school mean goal scores are displayed. Changes at the three…