A study examined cultural practices of female international students at the University of Texas at Austin. Data were collected from 259 students (representing a 24.7 percent response rate) who revealed those aspects of their own culture which the students retained or modified as well as which American practices they borrowed. A two-page…

The chief accomplishment of the Texas Automated Follow-Up System in program year 1994-95 was a major expansion of services to secondary education. Data were collected on the results achieved by former seniors who exited high schools in 25 volunteer districts. Because the pilot districts were not necessarily representative of all school districts…

This paper discusses the importance of pilot studies in the development and implementation of a research project, focusing on the use of a pilot study to revise conceptual and methodological issues in dissertation research on higher education leadership. It examines the hermeneutic circle, as described by M. Heidegger, that stresses the importance…

This paper reports 20 unsolved problems in educational measurement and points toward what seem to be promising avenues of solution. The first group of concerns involves validity, posing the problems of obtaining suitable validity criteria, determining and measuring the predictor variables that best characterize the traits and proficiencies of…

"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…

In recent assessments, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has permitted schools to exclude some students with disabilities or limited English proficiency because it believed that its assessments would not accurately measure the ability and achievement levels of these students. The exclusion of a portion of students from…

Guidelines for taking oral histories are presented in this guide. The guide was developed for a project to teach Nicaraguan literacy teachers how to record personal narratives for the purpose of preserving cultural history and heritage. An introductory chapter discusses the distinction and relationship between "testimony," which…

As of 1993, Nevada had no systems for statewide automation and transfer of student records. This guide book presents findings of a collaborative study, conducted by the Nevada Department of Education and local school districts, that explored the need for and feasibility of developing a statewide system for automating and transferring student…

This paper contains the results of a survey of graduates of Boise State University (Idaho) from 1992-93 and 1993-94. The report presents respondents'(N=1,476) answers to three open-ended questions of the survey concerning "what they liked most" about their BSU experience, "the hardest thing they had to do" in order to complete…

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…

This study evaluated accuracy of the assumption of the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) that higher education students of unknown race or ethnicity should be distributed over the remaining resident categories in the proportion of those whose race/ethnicity is known. This study endeavored to estimate the error associated with any…

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.…

This report summarizes the discussion and recommendations of a symposium which focused on issues addressing the collection, sharing, and use of information to improve transition services and supports to youth and young adults with disabilities. Participants included representatives from state agencies, advocates, family members, and Community…

Multigrade classes have been recognized as part of elementary education for many years, but their special needs have been largely ignored. This manual focuses on the survey research that should predate the design of instructional management strategies in multigrade classrooms. It describes rapid and reliable ways to collect information about the…

This document presents summaries of 28 national data collection programs, to document the amount and nature of information on individuals with disabilities included in the programs. For each program, information provided includes sponsor, purpose, collection cycle, data sources, collection methods, study design, variable domains,…