In this study, the researchers aim to compare the personal attributes and experiences of children who met or exceeded physical activity guidelines with those who did not. By creating profiles, the researchers could compare motor performance, physical fitness, self-efficacy, time spent outdoors during physical activity, social support from friends…

Kentucky has developed an assessment and accountability system that provides outcome data for a set of state early childhood standards for children birth to 5 years of age that are aligned with early childhood outcomes designated by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). Within this flexible and comprehensive state assessment system,…

In this qualitative study, various professionals in specialized schools for students who are visually impaired provided information on assessment tools; how information was used to plan Individualized Education Programs; and their opinions on the reliability, validity, and usefulness of various measurements. The implications of the findings for…

This document describes research which investigated the effectiveness of the Cities in Schools (CIS) hypermedia training course for senior executives of that national dropout prevention program. The study employed a hybrid methodology of qualitative techniques and computer tracking tools, in order to provide a complete picture of how the…

This booklet is intended for practitioners interested in administering, hand scoring, and providing individualized feedback reports on the Leader Attributes Inventory (LAI), an inventory designed to provide assessment data on 37 leader attributes. The following topics are discussed in the booklet's six sections: preparing the instruments for use;…

This booklet is intended for practitioners interested in administering, hand scoring, and providing individualized feedback reports on the Leader Effectiveness Index (LEI), a seven-item instrument designed to provide assessment data on leader effectiveness. The following topics are discussed in the booklet's six sections: preparing the instruments…

In 1990, Milwaukee (Wisconsin) became the site of the first publicly funded school-choice program providing low-income parents with vouchers that could be used to send their children to secular, private schools. An evaluation of Milwaukee's school-choice experiment was conducted by a team of researchers, headed by John Witte at the University of…

Differences in test performance on time-limited tests may be due in part to differential response-time rates between subgroups, rather than real differences in the knowledge, skills, or developed abilities of interest. With computer-administered tests, response times are available and may be used to address this issue. This study investigates…

This paper describes the design and use of a Web-based instructional design (ID) case in a team case competition involving six universities. It provides background information on case methods and techniques used to help students learn about instructional design practice. Teams participating in the 1996 competition were from: Arizona State…

Abuses and misuses of statistics are frequent. This digest attempts to warn against these in three broad classes of pitfalls: sources of bias, errors of methodology, and misinterpretation of results. Sources of bias are conditions or circumstances that affect the external validity of statistical results. In order for a researcher to make…

During the past 6 years, under a contract from the National Center for Education Statistics, a Technical Review Panel has overseen and conducted a series of research studies addressing a range of validity questions relevant to the various uses and interpretations of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Study topics included: (1)…

This review identifies options for developing alternate assessments for students with disabilities who are unable to participate in the general district and state assessments used for accountability purposes. It notes that students with disabilities are often excluded from these educational assessments used for accountability and urges development…

In 1991, Ohio received National Science Foundation (NSF) funding through its Statewide Systemic Initiative (SSI) program. One aspect of the reform effort involved evaluating the performance of middle school students with a test item bank of items from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). This paper presents the results of…

This resource paper describes two recent studies and one report on special education costs and the methodology used in their analyses. Each study and its data source are summarized with a short discussion on the quality of the data and its usefulness and limitations in generating reliable cost estimates for special education. The paper summarizes…

Two reports concerning the education of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students are presented. The Task D100 report summarizes demographic characteristics and key research issues associated with high-school-age youth, including students and dropouts, who are identifiable as language minority and LEP in the National Educational Longitudinal Study…