The article is a critical sociological analysis of current transnational practices on creating comparable measurements of dropout and completion in higher education and the consequences for the conditions of scientific knowledge production on the topic. The analysis revolves around questions of epistemological, methodological and symbolic types…

The paper presents the results from a study which examined whether tablets together with a mobile application with augmented reality features can help students to better understand the functions of the respiratory and the circulatory system. The target group was 75 sixth-grade primary school students, divided into three groups. The first group was…

We evaluated a self-instructional training manual for conducting multiple-stimulus without replacement stimulus preference assessment. The manual was compared to a method description, adapted from the method sections of previous published research articles, in an unbalanced crossover design with 18 undergraduate university students, randomly…

Colleges and universities have recently been under great pressure to increase institutional graduation rates, due to a surge in consumer demand for accountability and the use of graduation rates to deter nine effectiveness and funding. Many colleges may choose to achieve higher graduation rates by simply increasing selectivity. However, this…

This document provides guidance about how to describe studies and report their findings in a way that is clear, complete, and transparent. This document does not include information about how studies are judged against What Works Clearinghouse evidence standards. For information about What Works Clearinghouse evidence standards, please refer to…

One of the greatest challenges of an elementary school teacher is equipping students with comprehension strategies that transfer to all content areas. With stable levels of reading achievement over the last two decades in the United States, it is necessary that further research be conducted on methods of increasing students' comprehension…

This "What Works Clearinghouse Procedures and Standards Handbook (Version 3.0)" provides a detailed description of the standards and procedures of the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC). The remaining chapters of this Handbook are organized to take the reader through the basic steps that the WWC uses to develop a review protocol, identify…

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) provides international comparative data about students' reading achievement after four years of primary schooling, while also measuring trends over time, monitoring curricular implementation, and identifying promising instructional practices. Conducted on a regular 5-year cycle, PIRLS has…

Previous high school research has highlighted the importance of students' freshman year. Limited research has supported the implementation of a smaller learning community, also known as a freshman academy. The theoretical framework of the study was based on stage environment fit, adolescence development and smaller learning community theories. The…

The PIRLS 2011 international database includes data for all questionnaires administered as part of the PIRLS 2011 assessment. This supplement contains the international version of the PIRLS 2011 background questionnaires and curriculum questionnaires in the following 5 sections: (1) Student Questionnaire; (2) Home Questionnaire (Learning to Read…

With its critical assessments of scientific evidence on the effectiveness of education programs, policies, and practices (referred to as "interventions"), and a range of products summarizing this evidence, the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is an important part of the Institute of Education Sciences' strategy to use rigorous and relevant…

An easy-to-use plan that offers the accuracy and objectivity of statistics without the complexities is described. The plan is an adaptation of a general statistical procedure called the Median Test. The 10-step computation of the Median Test is given. An appendix discusses the "median." (DB)

The Anchor Test Study Manual was reviewed with the practitioner in mind. It represents an effort to equate and standardize eight commonly used elementary reading tests. Possibilities and limitations in using the manual are discussed. (BJG)

An analysis was made of quality ratings of elementary level standardized tests. Applying multidimensional scaling to intercorrelations of quality ratings, it was found that the criterion of content and construct validity was a central element in the evaluation of elementary tests. In addition, several types of validity and reliability were found…

This Manual has been designed to provide step-by-step guidelines for conducting an evaluation of a structured training sequence. The assessment design to be presented involves essentially: the testing of a group of trainees before and after a sequence of instruction by administration of the same set of objective-form items under structured testing…