The three RMC models endorsed by the U.S. Office of Education for the evaluation of Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I programs are based on narrowly conceived approaches to evaluation--the measurement of cognitive achievement gains. Each model requires the comparison of observed student performance with an estimate of what level of…

This book, one of a series prepared in connection with the Behavioral and Social Sciences Survey (BASS) conducted between 1967 and 1969, deals with problems of statistics, mathematics, and computation as they related to the social sciences. Chapter 1 shows how these subjects help in their own ways for studying learning behavior with irregular…

Recent investigations of the extent to which students with disabilities are allowed to participate in major national data collections used in measurement-driven education reform suggest that 40 to 50 percent of students with disabilities are typically excluded from major assessments, although they are included to a greater degree in assessments…

The findings of the Cost, Quality, and Child Outcomes (CQO) study in Child Care Centers, the largest and most visible child care research conducted in the 1990s, were widely publicized and used to promote increased spending on initiatives to improve child care quality, the redesign of subsidy systems to provide quality incentives, more stringent…

South Carolina's School Incentive Reward Program Program (SIRP) based on year-to-year gains in reading and mathematics achievement, which seemed to have face validity, was evaluated, particularly its use of the relative gains of students in only the highest grade in the school as the basis for the awards. When this requirement was relaxed so that…

This monograph describes a practical, low cost needs assessment process used by Broward Community College (Florida) in cooperation with the public school system. The assessment was initiated by college administrators who needed information to plan appropriate programs and services for the residents living in a newly created service area. The…

The utility of the biomedical model of adjusted statistics is demonstrated. The model is recommended for use by educational researchers to randomize subjects for a more accurate estimate of school programs' success or failure when compared across classrooms or other units. (Author/MH)

Ways that data from four major longitudinal surveys can be used in postsecondary education policy analysis are discussed: the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience (NLS-LM), Project TALENT, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), and the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-HS). The potential use…

The New York State Experimental Prekindergarten Program (PreK) evaluation studied successive waves of children while they were in PreK, and as they progressed through the third grade. For each wave, two control groups were obtained: (1) A waiting-list control group, children in districts offering PreK programs who were identified as eligible for…

Environmental education research designs will either exclude or include voices outside the dominant culture. Examining the questions we ask and the data collection techniques we use may enable us to design research that is more sensitive to marginalized voices. This article puts forward several methodological considerations that either draw out…

Research and instructional role strains are identified, based on the use of large-scale mail surveys for college self-study that are used to teach introductory research methodology. The two organizational hierarchies, the research model and the instructional model, are examined. Experiences at Northwestern University, Northeastern Illinois…

In order to make policy decisions, educators must evaluate educational research proposals and projects. Findings immediately related to practice are often inadequate, omitting the theoretical establishment of principles by which we can explain and predict the phenomena of our world. These theoretical linkages to the practical world of…

A student follow-up system was designed and implemented at Gadsden State Junior College (GSJC) in Alabama which revealed several administrative problems in integrating student follow-up into the institutional planning process. Development of the system involved tailoring existing pre-packaged follow-up methodologies to meet GSJC's individual needs…