In the first of a series of "how-to" essays on conducting qualitative data analysis, Ron Chenail points out the challenges of determining units to analyze qualitatively when dealing with text. He acknowledges that although we may read a document word-by-word or line-by-line, we need to adjust our focus when processing the text for purposes of…

This report uses NAEP background data to track time and learning since the mid-1990s in three areas: student absenteeism; classroom instructional time in mathematics, reading, music and the visual arts; and homework time expected by teachers. Key report findings are: (1) Students with higher rates of "monthly absenteeism" score…

Between 1960-1976, more EdD than PhD degrees were awarded in secondary reading, number of female recipients increased (degree tended to be PhD), dissertation topics varied by year and degree, EdD dissertations varied more in length, and more empirical research and sophisticated data analysis techniques were used in secondary dissertation research.…

Though the television program "The Electric Company" was intended for a second and third grade audience, in May of 1975 the Children's Television Workshop undertook an evaluation of the effects of the program on four, five, and six year olds. The research was aimed at measuring reading gains, the retention of reading gains, and the…

The Follow Through experience is beginning to provide compelling evidence bearing upon important policy issues in compensatory education. This evidence, coming as it does from a naturalistic quasi-experiment, cannot draw its plausibility from the conventional statistical inference appropriate to probabilistically-constructed true experiments. The…

Measuring student progress toward higher achievement has been the purpose of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) since its inception in 1969. Students in both public and nonpublic schools have been assessed in various subject areas on a regular basis. This report presents results of the 1994 NAEP trend assessments in science,…

Data collection procedures for the Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study are described. The instructional time phase of this study investigated the amount of time the teacher spent teaching particular objectives in reading and mathematics, and its relationship to student achievement. Two types of data were gathered from the second and fifth grade…