The acquisition of early literacy skills prior to school can positively influence later educational outcomes. However, children from culturally and economically disadvantaged backgrounds often lack stimulating educational activities at home. This analysis provides empirical evidence for 31 education systems on the association between parental…

This work brings forward the geographically-based classification scheme for the public Master's Colleges and Universities sector. Using the same methodology developed by Katsinas and Hardy (2005) to classify community colleges, this work classifies Master's Colleges and Universities. This work has four major findings and conclusions. First, a…

Multiple comparison procedures (MCPs), in the context of analysis of variance, are becoming more popular than the overall F tests. An attempt is made to clarify confusion among the different MCPs by systematically comparing and contrasting the procedures in terms of their purposes, restrictions, robustness to assumptions, and other special…

The iterative expanding reweighted least squares (IERLS), a weighted-least-squares robust regression procedure, is developed and compared with Huber's M estimator (P. Huber, 1973), the Least Absolute Deviations, the Least Median of Squares, and the Ordinary Least Squares. Data with various outliers contamination were simulated and analyzed. The…

The main purposes of this study were to investigate, by means of simulation: (1) whether the difference likelihood ratio chi-square statistic (G2-dif) for comparing item response theory (IRT) models is asymptotically distributed as a chi-square distribution; and (2) the accuracy rate of applying G2-dif in selection of nested IRT models. Two…

The purpose of the study was to compare reliability estimates for a test composed of stimulus-dependent testlets as derived from item scores, testlet scores, and under the univariate generalizability theory and multivariate generalizability theory designs, as well as to determine the influence of the number of testlets and the number of items per…

This paper is an analysis of Intranets and Extranets at selected state libraries in the United States. The paper does not review World Wide Web sites designed for use by the general public; rather, it focuses on Web sites designed and delivered by the state library to a targeted audience, typically state government employees, state library…

The paper analyzes and compares trends in the occupational distribution of white and nonwhite men between 1962 and 1972 at ages 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64. The findings suggest that in 1972, as in 1962, the inferior occupational chances of nonwhites are due primarily to their disadvantageous patterns of occupational mobility, rather than to…

A comparison of the components of the Gregg Diamond Jubilee shorthand and Century 21 shorthand systems was studied based on the 2,500 most frequently used words in business and communications. Comparisons were analyzed for the following areas: (1) number of class sessions necessary to teach the theory portion of the system, (2) number of words…

Focusing on linear interpolation, an accurate method of implementing parallel analysis, this article contains tables of 95th percentile eigenvalues from random data than can be used with sample sizes of 50 to 500 subjects and between 5 and 50 variables. An empirical example illustrates how to obtain the eigenvalues. (SLD)

Presents two new algorithms for performing arithmetic coding without employing multiplication and discusses their implementation requirements. The first algorithm, suitable for an alphabet of arbitrary size, reduces the worst case excess length to under 0.8%. The second algorithm, suitable only for alphabets of less than 12 symbols, allows even…

This paper discusses the digital divide from the perspective of Latin America and the Caribbean. Highlights include: new issues that make access to electronic resources difficult for users; differences in technological infrastructure among countries; how Internet users are distributed worldwide; Internet access in Africa; the number of students…

The purposes of this study were to introduce the iterative purification procedure and to compare this with the two-step purification procedure, to compare false positive error rates and the power of five observed score approaches and to identify factors affecting power and false positive rates in each method. This study used 2,400 data sets that…

Discusses the need for experimental studies with realistic test collections to determine the applicability of advanced information storage and retrieval techniques. The results of studies that compared user reactions to Boolean, extended Boolean, vector, and vector with probabilistic feedback approaches are described. (42 references) (CLB)

Discusses alternatives to the Boolean system that would enable users of online bibliographic databases--primarily those containing scientific and technical information--to obtain their required level of performance at lowest cost. Highlights include recall and precision factors (natural and controlled language, titles, abstracts, quorum function)…