High schools are increasingly expected to use data for improvement and to provide evidence that programs and instructional practices are preparing all students to develop essential knowledge and skills. This publication describes how schools can develop the capacity to analyze and use data as a core component of improving secondary schools using…

The authors outline a proposed student information system incorporating a cross-section of student characteristics to provide a basis for longitudinal analysis and an examination of changes in students. (Data might include standard biographical information, achievement test scores, and information obtained from a required test battery in…

Wesleyan University's imaginative use of computer programing helped project into the future and consider alternative fund-raising methods. The process of planning the model and its use in assessing three program options are outlined, and the computer method's usefulness in motivating development staff is emphasized. (MSE)

Michigan's Wayne County Intermediate School District, which serves 36 constituent districts, has converted from a centralized to a distributed computer system, resulting in improved and expanded data processing service to local district administrators, staff, and students at a substantially lower cost. (Author/MLF)

The University of Rochester's experience with online analytical processing (OLAP), part of its executive information system, is reported. The server, a multiuser, local area network (LAN)-based database loaded from legacy systems or a data warehouse, can rapidly manipulate and display data, and allows quick creation and changing of analytical…

Advocates an approach to teaching environmentally related studies based on constructivism. Presents an activity that makes use of data on chemicals in the water supply, and discusses obtaining and using data sets in the classroom. (LZ)

Ways a microcomputer can be used to establish and maintain an evaluation database and types of data management features possible on a microcomputer are described in this report, which contains step-by-step procedures and numerous examples for establishing a database, manipulating data, and designing and printing reports. Following a brief…

Gavilan College has purchased a small computer system which provides a workable student data base, a course data base, and an efficient student registration system. It can also be used to generate reports. This one system handles the record keeping and still leaves terminals free for instructional purposes. (DC)

This manual is designed to familiarize data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the base-year school component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). A corollary objective is to provide the necessary documentation for use of the data files. The manual provides a wide range of…

This manual is intended to accompany a software system for the Apple II microcomputer that is designed to aid local districts in completing vocational education enrollment claims and Vocational Education Data System (VEDS) reports. Part I, Introduction, gives a brief overview of the Microcomputer Vocational Education Reporting System (MICRO-VERS),…

This manual is intended to accompany a software system for the TRS-80 Model III computer that is designed to aid local districts in completing vocational education enrollment claims and Vocational Education Data System (VEDS) reports. Part I, Introduction, gives a brief overview of the Microcomputer Vocational Education Reporting System…

This report describes the machine-readable data and tabulating routines that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is prepared to distribute. An introduction discusses the LABSTAT (Labor Statistics) database and the BLS policy on release of unpublished data. Descriptions summarizing data stored in 25 files follow this format: overview, data…

This report describes plans for the development of a major longitudinal research database designed to support the development and validation of new predictors of Army performance, and also new measures of Army performance against which the new predictors can be validated. The following aspects of the database are addressed: (1) the anticipated…

This report delineates the theory and terminology of data compression. It surveys four data compression methods--null suppression, pattern substitution, statistical encoding, and telemetry compression--and relates them to a standard statistical coding problem, i.e., the noiseless coding problem. The well defined solution to that problem can serve…

Problems associated with uncoordinated proliferation of data collection procedures will not be alleviated until educational agencies and legislative bodies, at both state and federal levels, view data as a scarce resource which must be managed efficiently. Better linkages must be made between the data transfer requirements generated by the…