"A Guide to Improving the National Education Data System" (1990) makes 36 recommendations for improving data collection in the areas of student/background characteristics, education resources, school processes, and student outcomes. This paper uses the framework of the "Guide" to review issues raised in "Education…

This document describes the methodology used to carry out the Assessment of School-Based Management Study, which identified the conditions in schools that promote high performance through school-based management (SBM). The 3-year project, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), began…

The seventh national plan (1976-80) in France provided for development of indicators describing initial labor market entry and the place of young people in recruitments. The National School-to-Work Transition Observatory was created in response to the desire to have a permanent system of information on youth labor market entry.…

In 1989, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) introduced a microcomputer-based evaluation tool called the Collection Analysis CD. In 1993, the SUNY Stony Brook Libraries used this tool to measure its collections against those of 27 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) peer libraries and of a "mythical" peer group. In 1996, the…

One may receive the most benefit from an evaluation of an educational program or the performance of a teacher if the evaluation process is approached from a Total Quality Management (TQM) point of view. Under the philosophy of TQM, the purpose of any evaluation process is to provide feedback for the continual improvement of the educational process…

Reviewing the history and status of accountability efforts in the California Community Colleges (CCC), this document describes three accountability models. Following a brief history of accountability in the state, the accountability model established by 1988's Assembly Bill 1725 is discussed, indicating that colleges are required to report data on…

The application of computer technology in qualitative research and evaluation ranges from simple word processing to doing sophisticated data sorting and retrieval. How computer software can be used for qualitative research is discussed. Researchers should consider the use of computers in data analysis in light of their own familiarity and comfort…

This guide to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is designed to help the secondary data analyst use the NAEP and to introduce some of the sophisticated technology used by the NAEP. The NAEP has been gathering information on American students since 1969. It samples populations that consist of all students in U.S. schools, both…

Classical test theory, item response theory, and generalizability theory all treat the abilities to be measured as continuous variables, and the items of a test as independent probes of underlying continua. These models are well-suited to measuring the broad, diffuse traits of traditional differential psychology, but not for measuring the outcomes…

The National Job Analysis Study (NJAS) originated from the work of the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills and was designed to provide research necessary to identify and establish a taxonomy of workplace skills. Phase 1 identified an initial set of core behaviors common across occupations. The process began by identifying task…

This guide is designed to increase a school's productivity by presenting some simple yet powerful techniques for looking at the school and making decisions to address the most immediate problems. Tracking success is tracking progress and using evaluation as a tool for implementing changes from school-based management to complete restructuring.…

This paper discusses the visual organizers and graphic interfaces used to manage and report the findings from a 10-month ethnographic study of student participation and interaction in computer mediated communication (CMC) activities within the classrooms of both a freshman writing class and a plant science lab. The study focuses on social…

This paper offers reasons for using traditional quantitative research methods and illustrates some of the considerations demanding rigor in a study on gender discrimination in school-administrator salaries. Traditional quantitative methods provide a meaningful language based on numbers and objectivity, and they are less time-consuming and complex…

The first section of this guide contains detailed instructions on how to stage a Microscopic Explorations Festival and an overview of learning station activities that can be used during such an event. The main section of this guide provides concise instructions for setting up each of the festival stations. For each station there is an overview,…

This fact book presents comprehensive information on the 24 Florida four-year colleges associated with the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF), with data drawn primarily from the institutional surveys completed as part of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. Introductory information describes the history of the…