During the past decade the Federal Government has significantly retreated from its historical responsibility to maintain the free flow of information that is essential to maintain a healthy democracy. This responsibility includes the collection of basic data on the health of the economy as well as the dissemination of information that assists and…

In March 1990, the Center for the Study of Community Colleges in Los Angeles hosted a Transfer Assembly as part of an on-going effort to stabilize the imprecise definitions and data relating to student transfers from community colleges to four-year institutions. This report provides excerpts from six of the presentations given to the assembly.…

The development of a Computer Assisted Language Learning for Information Organization and Production in Europe (CALLIOPE) program is discussed. CALLIOPE is a program launched by the European Community that is intended to provide computer-based foreign language instruction for the business and industrial environment. Program goals are two-fold: (1)…

Growing institutional concern for excellence coupled with legislative mandates calling for accountability have prompted many colleges to emphasize student outcomes when evaluating and designing courses and programs. A careful review of the accountability literature, however, suggests that continuing education courses and students, in spite of…

Project MAP (Model Accounting Plan) is designed to test a demographic system for monitoring the within-school and post-school transitions of special education participants. Implemented at the local level, this system produces data to inform school-level decision-making. In addition, the data that are produced can be aggregated for use at higher…

The purpose of this report was to explore one way in which quantitative and qualitative paradigms in program evaluation can be employed to reinforce each other. An evaluation was conducted of a large number of special education programs for preschoolers with handicaps in Louisiana. Since 1978, Louisiana has funded programs in 65 public school…

This fact sheet compares statutory data collection and reporting provisions of the federal education block grant (chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981) with the nine other block grant programs funded in fiscal year 1986; data on statutory administrative cost limits are also provided. Each grant's legislation was…

This study addresses the test-disclosure-related need for more Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test editions in a situation where the number of examinees is stable or declining. Equating is used to guarantee that examinees of different test editions are treated equitably. The data collection designs used in this study were: (1)…

This study of the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on the academic achievement of educationally disadvantaged students in grades 2 through 8 in four urban schools tested three hypotheses: (1) supplementary CAI programs are significantly more effective than non-CAI supplementary instruction approaches for disadvantaged students; (2)…

A major reason for the paucity of usable data on the contributions and effectiveness of community colleges is that the definitions on which the data are based are imprecise. Colleges' contributions might be better understood if their functions were reconceptualized. The collegiate dimension of community colleges (i.e, that portion of the…

A directory on comparative data about higher education is presented. Descriptions are provided of a total of 50 reports/data collections concerning the following areas: comparative state information about state funding and expenditures for higher education; comparative state and institutional information about salaries of college faculty and…

A review is provided of statewide and institutional data reflecting the magnitude and causes of the reverse transfer phenomenon. First, data from California, North Carolina, Illinois, Missouri, and Minnesota are presented, contrasting the numbers of students who transfer from two- to four-year colleges to the sometimes greater number of students…

This case study analyzes and evaluates the administrative computer systems in the British Columbia public school organization in order to investigate the costs and benefits of computers, their impact on managerial work, their influence on centralization in organizations, and the relationship between organizational objectives and the design of…

This memorandum discusses a number of recommendations proposed for changes in the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP). The Higher Level Assessment Study Group discussed ways to further MEAP testing goals: expand testing into additional subject areas, for every pupil, on a cyclical basis; set higher standards encouraging student…

A manual to help students analyze public policy issues in a systematic and well-informed way is presented, with emphasis on the conceptual, information-gathering, and analytical skills required. The text is intended for two major audiences: (1) introductory college-level courses in political science, public policy, or social science research; and…