Using 20 comparative research studies, this paper compares advantages and disadvantages of family day care and center care. The results are discussed in terms of (1) the effects of family day care and center care on the intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development of young children and their parents; (2) the environmental differences…

This executive summary presents the major results of the longitudinal evaluation of Project Developmental Continuity (PDC). A Head Start demonstration project initiated by the Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) in 1974, the PDC aimed to stimulate the development and implementation of comprehensive programs linking Head Start…

From six institutions in the Illinois Department of Corrections school district, 359 adult male inmates served as subjects for this research evaluation of basic skills. Three groups were in traditional self-paced instruction, and the other three groups were in Program Logic for Automated Training Operations (PLATO) computer managed instruction…

This paper reviews a sample of follow-up studies conducted by community colleges to determine the employment experiences of occupational program graduates. Part I discusses the types of follow-up studies conducted, including institutional follow-up studies of graduates from individual vocational programs, of all vocational graduates, and of…

Efficient methods of using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyze National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data files are discussed. One error in the NAEP SPSS file is discussed, and another error (which may be system-dependent) is mentioned. In addition, purely mathematical methods are used to address the…

This guide for writing research or technical reports discusses eleven basic elements of such reports and provides examples of "good" and "bad" wordings. These elements are the title, problem statement, purpose statement, need statement, hypothesis, assumptions, procedures, limitations, terminology, conclusion and recommendations. This guide is…

This report critically reviews major empirical studies of student demand for higher education in the United States. It focuses on one policy issue, that of equalizing the access of students of different economic means and using tuition and student aid to achieve the desired distribution of those students in colleges. The studies reviewed are…

The effect of an advance organizer on post test performance was studied in a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial design with the effects of the organizer, pretest and mathematics learning passage controlled. An advance organizer of approximately 500 words and a learning passage of approximately 1,000 words were developed. A 41-item multiple choice test based on…

The failure to find strong instructional effects of simulation is usually attributed to poor measurement and faulty research design. However, weak implementation of simulation into the classroom, rather than methodological inadequacy, is presented here as the primary reason for finding insignificant effects. The types of environments under which…

Methods of achieving compromises between the classical laboratory experiment, and the constrictions affecting educational researchers conducting experiments to build upon correlational process-outcome data are suggested. Ecological validity is achieved through partnership relationships between researchers and the teachers implementing treatments,…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) encountered problems when developing a comprehensive assessment of consumer skills of 17-year-olds in 1978. When NAEP conducted a nationwide assessment of basic life skills of 17-year-olds in 1977, there was considerable interest in the consumer skills portion. Therefore, it was decided to…

The inconsistency in research investigations of the process of white flight is especially evident when social scientists become actors in the legal drama surrounding the desegregation of public schools. Social science "experts" for the contending litigants often present contradictory evidence. The resultant ambiguity allows judges and…

In this paper a broad perspective on the phenomenon of teaching and learning is presented. The complex dynamics of interaction between teacher, student, and educational researcher are explored. Conventional research in education is characterized as relying heavily on methods adopted from other types of research in such fields as agriculture and…

Special transportation assistance is currently provided for elderly and handicapped persons in the United States through a variety of programs at the federal, state, and local levels of government. The programs are concerned with improving the mobility of the client groups served, thereby making various activities and locations in urban areas more…

Program evaluation research, including reputational studies and studies based on objective indicators, and research on the quantitative correlates of program quality are reviewed. Reputational studies, which have dominated research on program quality in higher education, emphasize peer evaluation. Some major reputational studies of graduate…