The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD) was assigned the task of compiling, analyzing, and summarizing the data for Indicator 2--Dropout--from the FFY 2009 Annual Performance Reports (APRs) and the revised State Performance Plans (SPPs), which were submitted to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)…

The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD) was assigned the task of compiling, analyzing, and summarizing the data for Indicator 1--Graduation--from the FFY 2010 Annual Performance Reports (APRs) and amended State Performance Plans (SPPs), which were submitted by states to the Office of Special Education…

As rural Appalachian schools in Ohio in the United States struggle to overcome institutional bias and lack of understanding to accommodate the needs of the growing population of immigrant students from diverse countries, immigrant parents struggle to fit into a new cultural environment and to secure the best education for their children. This…

The Secretary amends the regulations in 34 CFR part 76 governing State reporting requirements. These final regulations require States to submit their performance reports, financial reports, and any other required reports, in the manner prescribed by the Secretary, including through electronic submission, if the Secretary has obtained approval from…

For the purposes of measurement such as aggregation, improvement, diagnosis, assessment, evaluation, reporting, and research; constructs must be measured and not just observed, counted, or collected. Valid and reliable measurement includes a defined construct, a choice of appropriate models, creation of instruments, and meaningful results. In…

Experimental research involves comparing two or more conditions. One of those conditions in single subject research is often the baseline. Adequate description of the baseline conditions is necessary for evaluating the effects of independent variables, drawing generalizations from studies, and providing information for subsequent replication…

The general steps in conducting an evaluation using an online survey are the same as in using other methods: planning, data collection, data analysis, reporting, and application. Even though the process of evaluation using Internet-based surveys begins in a familiar manner, the unique requirements of the online methodology become apparent almost…

This technical report, produced in partnership by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and SPSS Inc., explores the promise of data mining alumni records at educational institutions. Working with individual alumni records from The Johns Hopkins Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, a predictive regression model is…

Methodological and political issues arise during the designing, conducting, and reporting of campus-climate studies for LGBT students. These issues interact; making a decision about a methodological issue (e.g., sample size) has an impact on a political issue (e.g., how well the findings will be received). Ten key questions that must be addressed…

Developing good record-keeping habits is essential for organizing, processing, and communicating experimental results objectively. Therefore, the authors designed an interactive method of teaching first graders to record, organize, and interpret data as they studied the life cycle of the spotted salamander ("Ambystoma maculatum"). In their…

It is argued that numerical peculiarities in Burt's reports of kinship correlations are more reasonably attributable to carelessness than to fraud. No analysis shows that Burt's results are biased so as to favor his theory, and they are in close agreement with numerous independent studies. (Author/AM)

Prior to conducting a statistical analysis, sufficient data screening methods should be used for all research variables to identify miscoded, missing, or otherwise messy data. The primary purpose of these exercises was to demonstrate the role of data screening techniques and their potential to improve the performance of statistical methods. A…

A review of Research and the School Counselor (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Mass., 1970) by Stanley H. Cramer, Edwin L. Herr, Charles N. Morris, and Thomas T. Frantz. (DB)

Using the evaluation work on the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Unleashing Resources Initiative as an example, in this article we explicate a general four-step model appropriate for multilevel evaluation alignment. We review the relevant literature, argue for the need for evaluation alignment in a multilevel context, explain the four-step model,…

America brims with education data and these days it seems everyone in education claims to be guided by data. In this book, leaders and scholars map the landscape of data providers and users and explores why what is supplied by the former but frequently fails to meet the needs of the latter. It documents the barriers to collecting good information,…