In the past few years an important beginning has been made toward defining and exploring the major issues in the economics of higher education. The research of economists covers a wide range of problems, from that of the Nation's requirements for college-trained people, to detailed questions of financing. Perhaps no single area of this work offers…

A meta analysis was conducted of studies of college students' evaluations of their teachers. Forty-seven studies were included, representing 74 multisection courses, in which four selection criteria were met. An actual, rather than an experimental class was used; the unit of analysis was the class rather than the individual student; a common…

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…

This report was designed to respond to two major methodological shortcomings in the item bias literature: (1) misfitting test models; and (2) the use of significance tests. Specifically, the goals of the research were to describe a newly developed method known as the "plot method" for identifying potentially biased test items and to…

This paper provides an overview of common sampling methods (both the good and the bad) likely to be used in community college self-evaluations and presents the results from several simulated trials. The report begins by reviewing various survey techniques, discussing the negative and positive aspects of each method. The increased accuracy and…

This study addressed four questions which parents of children with selective mutism (SM) frequently ask: (1) Is SM associated with anxiety or oppositional behavior? (2) Is SM associated with parenting and family dysfunction? (3) Will my child fail at school? and (4) Will my child make friends or be teased and bullied? In comparison to a sample of…

Aimhigher: Excellence Challenge (initially known as Excellence Challenge) was specifically established by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in 2001, with the aim of increasing the number of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who had the qualifications and aspirations necessary to enter higher education. The analysis conducted…

In the past few years an important beginning has been made toward defining and exploring the major issues in the economics of higher education. The research of economists covers a wide range of problems, from that of the Nation's requirements for college-trained people, to detailed questions of financing. Perhaps no single area of this work offers…

Evaluates two British ethnographic studies by Bruce Carrington and Edward Wood, and by Cecile Y. Wright claiming to find evidence of teachers' racist attitudes and behaviors toward Afro-Caribbean students that contributed to student underachievement. Delineates methodological flaws. Argues that Wright's findings that the source of racism is in…

The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) is a large-scale, national longitudinal study designed and sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), with support from other government agencies. Beginning in the spring of 1988 with a cohort of eighth graders (25,000) attending public and private schools across…

The National Job Corps Study was conducted in 1994-1996 to provide a thorough and rigorous assessment of the impacts of the Job Corps on key participant outcomes. To ensure that the study was well implemented, a study team from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., (MPR) investigated outcome and admission (OA) procedures in each Job Corps region and…