Background: The relation between academic self-concept and achievement has been examined in a large number of studies. The majority of these studies have found evidence for a reciprocal effects model. However, there is an ongoing debate on how students' achievement should be measured and whether the type of achievement indicator (grades, tests,…

Two approaches to assessment of quality in higher education, the production-measurement and stakeholder-judgment perspectives, are described and compared in a review of literature. It is concluded that, although the production-measurement approach is dominant, it is too narrow a conceptualization and cannot accommodate the diversity of goals and…

Compares test formats that may be used to measure student achievement levels in library media skills, including strengths and weaknesses of test items, ability levels required to answer items, and possible modifications to items. Different testing methods are also discussed. (CLB)

This essay is based on a close examination of 10 books published by Jack Gourman since 1967 that rank colleges, universities, and individual departments. A comparison of each with the others, an interview with Gourman, and reliable reference materials for accurate ranking information are included. Thirty-seven references are cited. (EJS)

Cognitive learning and cognitive measures are defined and various types of objective measures of cognitive learning are discussed and compared, including short answer test items, true-false items, multiple choice items, matching items, and written simulations. (MSE)

Although higher education institutions dislike rankings published in the mass media, they like the attention the rankings create and prefer to be included rather than excluded. Common criticisms of the methodology include emphasis on inappropriate criteria, unfair comparison of private and public institutions, faulty assumptions, inaccurate data,…

The revised version of this monograph serves two purposes: (1) to describe what the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) measures with regard to reading/learning disability in the light of current findings, and (2) to summarize research with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and WISC-R as related to…

Issues related to the estimation of individuals' vocabulary size are discussed, including the rationale for vocabulary size research and the psychological, pedagogical, and quantitative approaches to vocabulary research and methodological problems associated with them. Some results from a large-scale assessment of Finnish comprehensive school…

Investigates costs and operations of back office activities of three middle-sized research libraries focusing on costs of labor and effects of automation. Measuring costs, labor compensation differences, differences in hours per volume, differences in organization, reduction of labor costs due to automation, and the quality dimension are…

Cost analysis makes it possible to establish how much things costs, set budgets, determine prices, and compare the costs of different options. In distance education (DE), the main areas of cost analysis are as follows: print-based correspondence systems; educational/institutional television and radio systems; multimedia systems, and e-education…

Tuition Assistance (TA) is a military-sponsored program that reimburses military members for 75% of the tuition costs of college classes while on active duty in the hope of making military service more attractive to young people and encouraging them to remain in the military. TA's effectiveness was examined by using two models--a bivariate probit…

The Composite Indicator of Changes (CIC) in average salaries and wages paid by public school systems is designed to reflect overall changes, to compare salary trends among various categories of personnel, and to analyze salary trends in an individual school system and among groups of school systems. Annual updates of the CIC are computed from data…

This report provides data to evaluate salary and wage trends in education. The statistical measure used to gauge and compare changes in salaries and wages paid by school systems is the Composite Indicator of Changes (CIC). This measure is designed to reflect changes in much the same way as the Dow Jones Average or the Standard and Poor's Index.…