The need to understand how prospective students decide which higher education institution to attend is becoming of paramount importance as the policy context for higher education moves towards market-based systems in many countries. This paper provides a novel methodology by which student preferences between institutions can be assessed, using the…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which was established under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002. It is an important part of IES's strategy to use rigorous and relevant research, evaluation, and statistics to improve the nation's education system.…

This paper illustrates the use of a quality assessment tool for regression analysis. It is designed for non-specialist "consumers" of evidence, such as policy makers. The tool provides a series of questions such consumers of evidence can ask to interrogate regression analysis, and is illustrated with reference to a recent study published…

In Australia there is no centrally administered nationwide assessment system for students who complete their final year (Year 12) of high school. Each state and territory uses its own Year 12 assessment system. Apart from Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory, all states and territories use externally set competitive examinations. The…

The purpose of this correlational study was to analyze the relationships of various performance variables of pre-service teachers enrolled in a teacher preparation program at Delta State University from fall 2009 to spring 2012. For this group of teacher candidates, the following relationships were analyzed: (a) the significance of the…

School districts and states across the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic Region and the country as a whole have been modifying their teacher evaluation systems to identify more effective and less effective teachers and provide better feedback to improve instructional practice. The new systems typically include components related to…

The Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) was developed by California State University (CSU) faculty and high school educators to improve the academic literacy of high school seniors, thereby reducing the need for students to enroll in remedial English courses upon entering college. This report, produced by Innovation Studies at WestEd,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficiency of Texas public school districts through Data Envelopment Analysis. The Data Envelopment Analysis estimation method calculated and assigned efficiency scores to each of the 931 school districts considered in the study. The efficiency scores were utilized in two phases. First, the school…

Background: In 2004, a firework factory in a residential area of a large Danish city exploded. The children at the local school were screened for symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 16 months and 3½ years after the incident. A large proportion of the children still suffered from a substantial number of symptoms 3½ years after the…

A previous Monte Carlo study examined the relative powers of several simple and more complex procedures for testing the significance of difference in mean rates of change in a controlled, longitudinal, treatment evaluation study. Results revealed that the relative powers depended on the correlation structure of the simulated repeated measurements.…

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…

Background: A functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the monoamine oxidizing gene "monoamine oxidase A" ("MAOA") has been associated with behavioral sensitivity to adverse environmental conditions in multiple studies (e.g., Caspi et al. 2002; Kim-Cohen et al., 2006). The present study investigates the effects of…

Contrary to popular opinion, significance testing does not inform the researcher of the likelihood of the replication of results from current research findings. Result replicability has been ignored by researchers because of an overreliance on significance testing. Several alternatives have been offered to provide the researcher with more…

Three criticisms of overreliance on results from statistical significance tests are noted. It is suggested that: (1) statistical significance tests are often tautological; (2) some uses can involve comparisons that are not completely sensible; and (3) using statistical significance tests to evaluate both methodological assumptions (e.g., the…

The following models which provide an estimate of the reliability of a rating scale are described: (1) disattenuation; (2) common factor; (3) external criterion; (4) treatment effects; and (5) regression. Such models are especially useful in selecting, evaluating, and training participants in clinical research. (SLD)