This paper addresses specific and general issues regarding data needs and considerations that might improve and better facilitate the collection, use, and interpretation of educational data at the elementary and secondary levels. Specific issues discussed are: (1) preschooling and early education, with emphasis on the nature of preschool…

Reasons for the increasing numbers of independent college students are considered, with attention to the provision for independent students in the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (Pell) program. The availability of grants to independent students may have two consequences: college students under age 22 with access to parental resources might…

The impact of a parent-school partnership program on elementary school children's reading achievement and attitudes is being evaluated over five years. The program involves the parents in children's reading activities and allows them to influence their children's attitudes toward school achievement. Participating parents agree to support seven…

This paper analyzes data on trends of black student achievement from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Focus is placed on reading and math. Eleven graphs are provided and analyzed to discern trends for population estimates of average reading and math achievement scores for black and white school children at ages 9, 13, and…

This report examines participation rates in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. TRIM2, a microsimulation model that simulated the eligibility and benefit rules of the AFDC program on a state-by-state basis, showed that there had been a dramatic decline after 1981 in the rate at which AFDC families were applying for and…

Many big cities have instituted systematic retention to replace social promotion policies. This study examined the extent to which retaining low achieving students in their current grade for an additional year has a built-in effect on the average reading scores for the grade in which they were retained and the grade they would have been promoted…

A longitudinal study of advanced senior high students' writing abilities indicates that, over a three-year period, students exhibit significantly improved writing skills. Follow a continuous program of writing enhancement, graduating seniors exit the system with reasonable or better than reasonable skills in essay organization, sentence formation,…

Many studies in higher education have focused on the development of late adolescent and adult personality change on the assumption that such change was brought about by the college experience. The focus of this study is on the value changes that occur during college years and the changes that endure beyond college. Group and individual values…

This longitudinal study, which is second in a series of reports on the Detroit Public Schools' Extended Day Kindergarten (EDK) Program, investigated effects of the program on students as they went through elementary school. Participants were randomly selected groups of students who were provided EDK experiences and, for comparison purposes,…

Third in a series investigating the effects of the Detroit Public Schools' Extended Day Kindergarten (EDK) Program on students as they progress through elementary school, this report presents longitudinal data on randomly selected experimental (EDK) and control (traditional kindergarten) groups who were in kindergarten during 1983-84, 1984-85, and…

This final report describes the development of personal, social, and moral values, as well as the development of moral judgments of West Point cadets. The values of cadets at entrance and throughout their four years at the United States Military Academy were assessed. The basic research evaluated how cadets become socialized into the military…

This paper examines the life-span approach to developmental psychology as it relates to teacher development research and presents some empirical results demonstrating the potential of the approach for increasing understanding of teacher development. Five assumptions of the life-span orientation as applied to the study of teacher development are…

An examination of definition, causes, variables, and strategies of implementation suggests the kinds of data necessary for measuring school effectiveness. By focusing on students who first enter school below grade level standards and by understanding that student learning is embedded in a system of key elements or variables that, over time, are…

An earlier path analytic study of the predictive validity of Tinto's theory of college student attrition was replicated using an independent sample of students from another university. Tinto conceived of the attrition/retention process as a series of sociopsychological interactions between the characteristics students bring with them to college…

A model for systematic data gathering and evaluation of programs in teacher education at Tennessee Technological University was developed in 1973. The objective was the evaluation and subsequent modification and improvement of the programs. During the eleventh year of the project, three groups of graduates (1981-83) who had completed either the…