Describes a school mathematics curriculum, steps for its evaluation, an explanation of the mode of implementation of each step, and discusses the ways in which cooperation and systemization enhances the evaluation. (Author/RK)

Discusses a workshop designed to explore and develop concepts and practices in the use of effective peer observation for professional development. Notes that seminar leaders established micro-goals, e.g., developing a personal and professional understanding of peer observation, examining affective and power issues, and learning objective…

Discusses the retrieval dimensions of data collection activity online and their influence on the research evaluation outcome to reinforce the link between online retrieval and bibliometrics. Topics include publication counts; citation analyses; citation databases from the Institute for Scientific Information; and data set isolation. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the components of a new methodology--consensual qualitative research (CQR)--which uses words to describe phenomena and which recognizes the importance of context. Locates CQR within the qualitative research tradition and details ways to develop a focused topic area, choose a team, attend to group dynamics, and other important issues.…

Demonstrates how perceptual mapping techniques can be used to examine campus perceptions of African American and White students at a predominantly White institution. Reports on data collection methods and influencing factors, such as familiar locations. Provides results of a survey of 411 students, detailing initial perceptions and the validity of…

Discusses advantages and limitations of six usability evaluation methods (heuristic evaluation, pluralistic walk-throughs, formal usability inspections, empirical methods, cognitive walk-throughs, and formal design analysis) and six data collection techniques (verbal reports, concurrent think-aloud method, questionnaire, video analysis,…

Students in grades three to four can collect, analyze, and represent data in order to determine which piece of playground equipment appears most popular. Students in grades five to six can investigate the geometry of playground structures using measurement and scale models. Lesson plans and reproducible worksheets are included. (CMS)

Presents a long-term investigation designed to provide practice for students in thinking in a scientific manner about a real problem--the impact that waste products may have on soil. Focuses on student questions that have some connection to the local community. (JRH)

Discusses implications for school finance data collection and analysis of shifting to schools as key management and policy units. Discusses questions that school-level data can answer concerning resource utilization efficiency, effectiveness, intent, and equity. Outlines conceptual issues (school definition and identification) and database…

BMDP/Diamond for Windows was developed as a stand-alone software package for initial data exploration and screening. The program uses advanced visualization techniques to allow one to examine the data from different perspectives, or to manipulate graphics to gain greater insight. Data can be checked quickly for a variety of characteristics. (SLD)

The utility of the three-form design coupled with maximum likelihood methods for estimation of missing values was evaluated. Simulation studies demonstrate that maximum likelihood estimation and multiple imputation methods produce the most efficient and least biased estimates of variances and covariances for normally distributed and slightly…

Describes the Indonesian Digital Library Network that is designed to develop Indonesia as a knowledge-based society. Highlights include the digital divide; problems in a developing country, including Internet accessibility, bandwidth capacity, and network delays; gathering information about national assets; information infrastructure; data…

Found that in an introductory biology course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, adoption of the Data Aggregation Project (free software that allows students in a course to aggregate a large body of data for some particular problem) resulted in an increase in the number of data points students analyzed per semester by a factor of almost…

The University of Massachusetts is in partnership with a local school district as part of the Education Trust's Transforming School Counseling Initiative. This study evolved from the partnership's concern about the greater-than-expected number of high school students who were failing classes. Summarizes the broad research base the group used as a…

Notes that program evaluations have many dimensions and that systematic efforts to evaluate an enrichment or intervention program require much decision making. Discusses factors affecting choice of evaluation measure, focuses for evaluation measures, factors affecting data collection (including family variables, screening versus psychometric…