In a data-driven school culture, there is an institutionalized willingness to use numbers systematically to reveal important patterns and answer focused questions about policy, methods, and outcomes. A central data team relies on input from teachers, ultimately responsible for student success. Massachusetts applications and examples are described.…

Provides guidelines for building a consistent and reliable database of expenditures within an institution of higher education. Stresses the importance of involving key constituencies, including both data providers and data users, in decisions about building the data elements for such a database and the resulting campus cost studies. (DB)

Describes the use of geographic information systems (GIS) by a "local learning team" to map socioeconomic patterns in Jackson County, Kentucky, and to evaluate the distribution of local funding and the geographic equity of representation related to the Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community program. Discusses advantages and disadvantages…

Identifies the stages of acquisition of gateway drugs in fourth, fifth, and sixth graders (N=811). Research confirmed the existence of discrete stages of acquisition. The concept of gateway drugs was supported in that subjects indicated further progression through the stages of acquisition of alcohol use than through use of other substances.…

Evaluation data about extension programs are subject to variation. Program improvement requires control of this variance. Statistical quality control charts provide a means of measuring variation, determining sources, and making modifications. (SK)

Over the past decade, quantitative methods have evolved to provide evaluators with more effective means for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information. The advances discussed are: (1) facilitating advances that consist of changes that make carrying out quantitative evaluation easier; (2) advances in measurement; and (3) advances in…

Describes and assesses missing data methods currently used to analyze data from matrix sampling designs implemented by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Several improved methods are developed, and these models are evaluated using an EM algorithm to obtain maximum likelihood estimates followed by multiple imputation of complete data…

Responds to criticism by Levy, Wong, Benbenisty, and Mattaini (1996) of Rubin and Knox's (1996) article (CG 548 550) concerning data analysis in single-case evaluations. Refutes assertions that the intention of the article was to reject all single-case methodology. The intention was to emphasize the limitations inherent in applying such methods in…

Discusses contemporary theories of adolescence, stressing developmental systems models that integrate individual and contextual levels of analysis. Maintains that adolescence should be studied with multivariate-longitudinal designs, change-sensitive measures, and data analytic strategies capitalizing on triangulation across quantitative and…

Describes and demonstrates analytical techniques used in organizational psychology and contemporary multilevel analysis. Using these analytic techniques, examines the relationship between educational outcomes and the school environment. Finds that at least some indicators might be represented as school-level phenomena. Results imply that the…

Discussion and analysis of effects of educational debt for professional school students includes four tables based on the National Student Loan Survey showing: (1) income and debt levels by graduate field of study; (2) graduate students in law and medicine (debts and income); (3) fields of graduate study with high payment-to-income ratios; and (4)…

Examines perceived risk data from the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea. Compares similar results collected from previous studies. Analyzes psychometric scaling scores from Burkina Faso, France, Norway, and Hungary. (Author/CCM)

Argues that students need to recognize the purpose for which data is gathered, classified, and arranged. Discusses insights into mathematics teaching and learning in a Japanese classroom. (CCM)

Churn management is a concern for businesses, particularly in the digital economy. A customer relationship framework is proposed to help deal with churn issues. The model integrates the electronic channel and involves four tools for enhancing data collection, data treatment, data analysis and data integration in the decision-making process.…

Uses data from the 1994 AIDS Knowledge and Attitudes Supplement to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to illustrate that biased point estimates, inappropriate standard errors, and misleading tests of significance can result from using traditional software packages, such as SPSS or SAS, for complex survey analysis. (BF)