Excessive college course withdrawals are costly to the student and the institution in terms of time to degree completion, available classroom space, and other resources. Although generally well quantified, detailed analysis of the reasons given by students for course withdrawal is less common. To address this, a text mining analysis was performed…

Curriculum administration and evaluation require specific information on such curriculum components as content, time, teaching methodology, materials, evaluation, and scheduling. Without such information, planning, coordination, resources allocation, and other decision-making activities are severely handicapped. Furthermore, evaluation of the…

A feedback system for reporting individual pupil variables; classroom, school, and districtwide summaries was designed. The system utilized optically scanned forms which produced input files for report production. The system was designed so that the numbers and types of variables were fixed, but that the content of the variables was completely…

User perception of data importance and the economic feasibility of hardware and storage devices will determine the future direction of online systems. A retrieval system's functions are ultimately dictated by database design. Early online sytems were designed for bibliographic information limited to citations only using sequential files. When…

The importance of information systems management to institutional research efforts of colleges and universities is discussed. The goal of information system management is to make an institution's information system more consistent, efficient, and informative. Each of the different functions of the university, such as admissions and registration,…

This paper reports on the implementation of the first two parts of an integrated data base designed to replace the fragmented surveys and data files of Virginia's institutions of higher education. The two parts being examined involve the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) Student Data Base and the Institutional Information…

Two recent developments in management information system technology and higher education administration have brought about the need for this study, designed to develop a methodology for revealing a relational model of the data base that administrators are operating from currently or would like to be able to operate from in the future.…

The components of an information system for institutions in higher education are described. The information produced from such a system will be that which is required not only for record keeping and operations but also for planning and budgeting. Technical details are not included, only an overview of the main components of the system as seen from…

This report (1) describes a Nebraska school district's implementation of a central data processing capability and (2) summarizes study findings researched in cooperation with International Business Machines (IBM). In the mid-seventies, the district hired data processing personnel and introduced microcomputers into buildings; lack of…

This paper reviews the question of the cost and benefits of data for the analysis of state policy questions, and concludes that in the abstract the question cannot be answered; rather, it must be considered on a continuing basis whenever data is to be collected in the support of baseline studies or special projects. The paper suggests six criteria…

This paper deals with systems concepts, particularly those related to management information systems (MIS) as exemplified by the Center for the Study of Evaluation (CSE) Formative Evaluation Kit. The concept of MIS is in numerous ways more flexible than might be imagined from a cursory reading of the business-management literature. An MIS does not…

The New York City Public School System has mandated an Integrated Student Data System (ISDS). This integrated system will include data already maintained in independent computerized files, as well as data that have not been computerized in any systematic way. This paper explores general issues about data accuracy for a system that covers all the…

This paper examines needs, resources, and trends in the computer-based development of field-specific terminologies in varied languages. The range of special terminologies, their users, and their producers is noted, and the kinds of resources produced (data and tools) are outlined. Data types include: terminological information proper (information…

This paper describes the first-year results of Distributive Information Systems for Campuses (DISC), a project implemented in the Austin Independent School District (Texas). The goal was to increase the data access and information-generating capabilities of campuses by decentralizing data manipulation functions, while maintaining centralized data…

A study was conducted in September 1981 of factors which influence the process of communication between clients and staff at six high-capacity computer facilities in the Sacramento, California, metropolitan area. These included two large government organizations, a medium-sized corporation, two bibliographic database settings, and a computer…