Early childhood is a crucial stage in a child's life, and aspects of the environment in the physical, social-emotional, cognitive, and health and safety domains all play important roles in shaping children's development during these early years. Having a valid and reliable measure of the quality of these aspects of children's care settings is…

This technical appendix provides additional information about the sample, data, and estimation strategy that were used for a series of AEP Data Notes published by the RAND Corporation in 2018 and 2019. The Data Note series is intended to provide brief, incisive analyses of teacher and school leader survey results which may be of immediate interest…

The purpose of this monograph is to give readers a practical and theoretical foundation in learning analytics in higher education, including an understanding of the challenges and incentives that are present in the institution, in the individual, and in the technologies themselves. Among questions that are explored and answered are: (1) What are…

Multilevel modeling (MLM) gives researchers the ability to make inferences about organizations where nesting factors will bias results and the assumption of independence is not tenable. This article provides an overview of the variety of data sources that lend themselves to conducting institutional research (IR). It not only serves as a repository…

Since 2004, IPEDS data has been diffused via a product known as the Data Feedback Report (DFR). Produced yearly for each institution in the IPEDS universe, the DFR is a print product that contrasts the IPEDS data submitted by an institution with its institutionally-defined comparison group. The DFR is free to all users, covers a wide range of…

The purpose of this paper is to offer an analytic perspective to policy makers and educational practitioners regarding how to use longitudinal achievement data to evaluate schools. The authors further discuss the potential practical applications of their models for superintendents, researchers, and policy makers. The premise of the study is that…

Institutional comparison groups can be selected in several ways, depending on the comparison issue. The method chosen involves both technical and political considerations. (Author/MSE)

This manual is designed to familiarize data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the base-year school component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). A corollary objective is to provide the necessary documentation for use of the data files. The manual provides a wide range of…

This is one of a series of reports based on an ongoing reality test of systemic evaluation for instructional decision making. This feasibility study is being carried out by the Center for the Study of Evaluation with the Laboratory in School and Community Relations at a suburban Los Angeles high school (called Site A). Viewing a school as a…

The Institute for Research on Educational Finance and Governance (IFG) has designed and implemented a major survey of public and private schools in the six-county San Francisco Bay Area which focuses on organizational dimensions in elementary and secondary schools. Private schools include Catholic parochial and private schools, independent…

This paper examines whether failure to control for family background, aptitude, high school quality, high school curriculum, and community characteristics leads to bias in estimates of the economic return resulting from postsecondary education. High school specific fixed effects were used to control for all observed and unobserved characteristics…