The purpose of this study was to: (1) determine to what extent instructional technology was being utilized; (2) determine what was the descriptive profile of teacher use; and (3) to examine the environmental and personal factors that effected the decision to use instructional technology. The survey data was analyzed by cross tabulations and…

Many educational questions of research interest focus on individual differences in attitudes and behaviors related to academic achievement, changes in such attitudes and behaviors over time, and the types of academic environments that facilitate or prevent development of achievement attitudes and behaviors at school. This paper, the first in a…

This document is designed to address the educational needs of the growing and diverse California population. It outlines and describes the roles and responsibilities of the California Postsecondary Education Commission. In addition to recurring responsibilities related to data collection and reporting, information dissemination, and legislative…

The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate three online pretest item calibration/scaling methods in terms of item parameter recovery when the item responses to the pretest items in the pool would be sparse. The three methods considered were the marginal maximum likelihood estimate with one EM cycle (OEM) method, the marginal maximum…

This teaching unit is designed to help students in grades 5 to 8 explore the concepts of data analysis and measurement in the context of meteorology. The units in the series have been developed to enhance and enrich mathematics, science, and technology education and to accommodate different teaching and learning styles. Each unit consists of…

A simulation study was conducted to explore the potential of state assessment scores to improve adjustments for nonparticipation (McLaughlin, Gallagher, and Stancavage, 2004). That study found that state assessment scores could potentially be more effective than demographic information in removing the bias related to absences. The present study…

Both the United States and England initiated ambitious standards-based education reform to eliminate large gaps between their highest and lowest achievers. England appears to be ahead, having started in 1988 with a national curriculum, tests, and performance tables. The United States' No Child Left Behind Act began rewriting state rules in 2002…

This report recounts how four high schools were able to narrow or completely close the achievement gap and sustain their success over time. The four schools are all large, comprehensive public high schools that serve large percentages of minority students. They were selected based on their four-year record of narrowing or closing the achievement…

This audit, fourth in an annual series, tracks incidents of violence against Asian Pacific Americans in 1996 using data from a variety of sources. There was an increase of 17% in reported anti-Asian incidents in 1996, raising the total of suspected and confirmed incidents to 534. Although data were difficult to obtain, harassment increased by 161%…

This College Library Information Packet (CLIP) Note explores how faculty status affects librarians' promotion and tenure opportunities and the criteria at various institutions for defining librarians' status. In September 1995, a survey was sent to a group of 265 small and medium sized academic libraries, eliciting a response rate of 70% (n=185).…

This handbook was undertaken in response to the needs expressed by the higher education community for a common language--common data categories and definitions--to describe the human resources of postsecondary education institutions, and is intended as a basic guide to help institutions develop analytically useful databases of faculty and staff to…

This paper describes two uses of the Microsoft Access relational database software in the Wake County (North Carolina) public schools: first, to track data on students involved in the Student Support Team (SST) Process; and second, to handle the legal and procedural due process steps that occur after a student has been suspended from school. The…

This introductory level text provides a background for understanding the uses of qualitative research in education, its theoretical and historical underpinnings, and specific methods of educational research. This revised edition places qualitative research into the context of current discussions of research methods and alternative ways of knowing.…

During the 1991-92 school year, 109 public school library book collections in Louisiana were surveyed to determine the average ages of volumes in various categories, including all Dewey decimal numbers. Results showed that the average age of books in Louisiana public school libraries was 23.51 years in 1992. The average age of the computerized…

The purpose of this study is to examine student perceptions of instructional techniques that promote language learning. The intent was to inform practice for current and future foreign language teachers. Eight major themes emerged from interviews with numerous advanced level foreign students from throughout central Indiana. These themes include…