Data have long been considered a key factor in organizational decision-making (Simon, 1955; Lindblom & Cohen, 1979). Data offer perspective, guidance, and insights that inform policy and practice (Newell & Simon, 1972; Kennedy, 1984). Recently, education policymakers have invested in the use of data for organizational improvement in states…

This study explored pre-service teachers' conceptual understanding and performance on science process skills. A sample comprised 91 elementary pre-service teachers at a university in the Midwest of the USA. Participants were enrolled in two science education courses; introductory science teaching methods course and advanced science methods course.…

During a summer cruise to Mexico and Central America, students earned academic credit for doctoral-level coursework in qualitative research approaches and data collection and analysis. This study explored how participants, 16 doctoral students at a midwestern university, perceived experiential education and its effect upon their understanding of…

The management and curation of digital geospatial data has become a central concern for many academic libraries. Geospatial data is a complex type of data critical to many different disciplines, and its use has become more expansive in the past decade. The University of Idaho Library maintains a geospatial data repository called the Interactive…

Within the subfields of political psychology and the study of gender, the introduction of new data collection efforts, methodologies, and theoretical approaches are transforming our understandings of these two fields and the places at which they intersect. In this article we present an overview of the research that was presented at a National…

In light of the fact that policy makers are attempting to build accountability systems that will hold teachers, and the teacher education programs that prepared them, accountable for student achievement results, failure on the part of teacher educators to repeatedly and assertively advocate for a significant role in shaping the accountability…

This publication presents estimates of apprentice and trainee activity in Australia for the March quarter 2011. The figures in this publication are derived from the National Apprentice and Trainee Collection no. 68 (June 2011 estimates). The most recent figures in this publication are estimated (those for training activity from the September…

This user's guide documents the procedures used to collect, process, and summarize data from the 2009 High School Transcript Study (HSTS 2009). Chapters detail the sampling of schools and graduates (chapters 2 and 3), data collection procedures (chapter 4), data processing procedures (chapter 5), and weighting procedures (chapter 6). Chapter 7…

For schools to be effective learning organization, their teachers and leaders need to continuously evaluate what is working and what is not. Some recent research shows that such reflection might be particularly important in the middle grades--a crucial time to identify and intervene with students at risk of later academic failure. To make the best…

This study which dealt with the localization in education and strengthening the participation of parents in school administrations was a descriptive research. In this research, where qualitative design was used, purposeful sampling method was preferred. A work group consisting of 15 schools administrators who were working in schools with varying…

The purpose of this article is to introduce a 12-step approach for an abbreviated research project to promote research writing in an undergraduate measurement course. This 12-step approach assumes a 14-week semester schedule that is common among many colleges and universities. The steps for the proposed research project include selecting a topic,…

The critical communicative methodology (CCM) is a methodological response to the dialogic turn of societies and sciences that has already had an important impact in transforming situations of inequality and exclusion. Research conducted with the CCM implies continuous and egalitarian dialogue among researchers and the people involved in the…

This study analyses the experiences of youth workers in dealing with challenging behaviour among young people. The findings from a qualitative approach to the collection and analysis of data from 45 research participants are presented. The paper begins by briefly exploring the context of youth work in Ireland and outlining the research process.…

Major advances in the number, capabilities, and quality of state, national, and transnational databases have opened up new opportunities for evaluators. Both large-scale data sets collected for administrative purposes and those collected by other researchers can provide data for a variety of evaluation-related activities. These include (a)…

In this study, I discuss the need to increase girls' involvement with game design due to the numerous benefits that engaging in this practice might have. In particular, I discuss the tool Twine, an accessible and relatively easy-to-use platform for creating text-based games. I provide an overview of the tool and its potential benefits for…