According to the National Science Foundation (NSF; 2006), science and engineering jobs constitute a growing sector of the United States economy. The number of science and engineering degrees has lagged behind this occupational growth. In describing Wisconsin's technology profile, Winters, Strang, and Klus (2000) report that the state is nationally…

The true power of comparative research around the impact and use of open educational resources is only just being realised, largely through the work done by the Hewlett-funded OER Research Hub, based at The Open University (UK). Since late 2012, the project has used a combination of surveys, interviews and focus groups to gather data about the use…

The first decade of the 21st Century in the United States witnessed two major events that have come to be understood as national disasters: September 11, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina. Numerous historical institutions quickly mobilized to collect material relating to the two events, prompting the creation of what is now referred to as "disaster…

Objective: U.S. and Canadian data demonstrate decreasing inpatient days, increasing nonurgent emergency department (ED) visits, and short supply of child psychiatrists. Our study aims to determine whether aftercare reduces ED visits and/or readmission in adolescents with first psychiatric hospitalization. Method: We conducted a population-based…

This document provides an overview of the critical role of fiscal data in state Part C systems. This information is intended to help state Part C lead agency staff better understand strategic fiscal policy questions, the fiscal data elements needed to address those questions, and the benefits of using these data. Fiscal data provide powerful…

Researchers often presume that it is better to use administrative data from grades 4 and 5 than data from grades 6 through 8 for conducting research on teacher effectiveness that uses value-added models because (1) elementary school teachers teach all subjects to their students in self-contained classrooms and (2) classrooms are more homogenous at…

This guide is designed for use by school, district, and state staff to improve the effectiveness of efforts to collect and use disciplinary incident data, including reporting accurate and timely incident data to the federal government. It provides recommendations on what types of data to collect, why it is critical to collect such data, and how to…

Early education leaders--inside and outside of government--are looking for new ways to improve quality, accountability, and efficiency across many different programs serving young children and their families, and they see investment in data systems as a pivotal part of that effort. However, it can be challenging to develop and implement effective…

This, the 32nd annual National Child Count of Children and Youth Who Are Deaf-Blind, is the first and longest running registry and knowledge base of children who are deaf-blind in the world. Begun in 1986 on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, it represents a thirty-plus year collaborative effort between the National Center on…

Research and policy have established that data are necessary to guide decisions within education. Many of these decisions are made within problem solving and response to intervention frameworks for service delivery. Curriculum-Based Measurement in Reading (CBM-R) is a widely used data collection procedure within those models of service delivery.…

Major advances in the number, capabilities, and quality of state, national, and transnational databases have opened up new opportunities for evaluators. Both large-scale data sets collected for administrative purposes and those collected by other researchers can provide data for a variety of evaluation-related activities. These include (a)…

This paper examined attrition in primary schools in Nigeria with specific reference and focus on some policies and programmes of Nigeria's educational system with a view to highlighting its possible effect on the attainment of the Education for All (EFA) goals by 2015. It reviewed equal educational opportunity in relation to school environments…

The silo is a well-worn metaphor in information systems used to illustrate separateness, isolation, and lack of connectivity. Through the many iterations of system development, libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) have sought to avoid silos and find the sweet spot between interface design and metadata interoperability. This effort is being…

As state policymakers implement statewide longitudinal data systems that collect, store, link and share student-level data, it is critical that they understand applicable privacy and data security standards and laws designed to ensure the privacy, security, and confidentiality of that data. To help state policymakers navigate this complex legal…

This study describes a national data audit of the National Intellectual Disability Database (NIDD). The NIDD is a national information system for intellectual disability (ID) for Ireland. The purpose of this audit was to assess the overall accuracy of information contained on the NIDD, as well as collecting qualitative information to support the…