This paper describes the Beginning Educator Support and Training (BEST) program in Connecticut. In 1999, Connecticut became the first state in the United States to implement mandatory portfolio assessment as a component of its teacher certification program. The BEST program itself has been part of the state's educational reform initiatives for…

This study examined policies to help states develop, recruit, and retain more highly qualified teachers. Researchers conducted interviews to examine the data systems in 14 states. Results indicated that comparable, timely, and accurate data about teacher quality were conspicuously absent from many policy discussions. Although states collected and…

This paper describes the use of the CoFIND (Collaborative Filter in N Dimensions) system to evaluate two assessment styles. CoFIND is a resource database that organizes itself around its users' needs. Learners enter resources, categorize, then rate them using "qualities," aspects of resources which learners find worthwhile, the n…

An action research project explored whether teacher access to information about high school students at the beginning of the semester would result in changes in instruction and interactions with students. Nine pilot project teachers received instruction in how to access the school district's student database, along with information about access to…

The foundations of national bibliography remain an effective legal deposit regime and the use of widely accepted bibliographic standards, but its nature, format, presentation, and way in which national bibliographies are produced are evolving to reflect changes in technology and user expectations. This paper presents experiences in Australia,…

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K), Kindergarten Class of 1998-99, selected a nationally representative sample of approximately 22,000 kindergartners in the fall of 1998 and is following these children through the end of the fifth grade. Baseline data about these children, their families, and their kindergarten programs were collected…

This text provides a solid introduction to the foundations of research methods, with the goal of enabling students and professionals in the field of applied linguistics to become not just "casual" consumers of research who passively read bits and pieces of a research article, but "discerning" consumers able to effectively use published research…

Describes how group of end users (engineering undergraduates) at Chalmers University of Technology were trained to perform interactive online searching on BYGGDOK, a small, specialized Scandinavian database. Goals and objectives of the instruction, teaching methods, evaluation, and comparison of searching between end users and intermediaries are…

Strategies, heuristics, and tradeoffs involved in online searching of bibliographic citation networks are discussed using results from field of citation analysis to describe mathematical structure of citation networks. Discussion of two studies of human information seeking behavior examines the search question and interconnectivity of the…

Training and Educational Data Services, Inc. (TEDS), which began as a CETA-funded project in 1981, has become a nonprofit corporation "owned" by various educational and state agencies, providing students with numerous means of access to vocational guidance information. Discusses local files, specific usage/marketing of TEDS, and TEDS…

The University of Georgia's computer-based recruitment file of about 20,000 annual freshmen prospects has several primary sources: Georgia achievement award winners, names purchased from the College Board, and superior prospects who submit scores. The file can also record various student interactions with the admissions office and students'…

Considers the impact of Remote Electronic Access and Delivery of Information (READI) upon library services, discusses the uses of online public access information systems in a library setting, describes videotex systems currently in use, and outlines possibilities for the creation of local databases, automatic borrowing of books, and other…

Describes the growing use of computers in our world and how their use will affect vocational education. Discusses recordkeeping and database functions, computer graphics, problem-solving simulations, satellite communications, home computers, and how they will affect office education, home economics education, marketing and distributive education,…

A major information systems planning study undertaken by Boston University and recommendations that were made to enable the university to meet the new demands and changing priorities of educational management are discussed. (BH)

Surveys of students and alumni are viewed as helpful by accrediting teams, college recruiters, career counseling and placement officers, current and prospective students, etc. Only in large-scale national surveys like Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) is there potential for individual colleges to utilize data for their own…