The DeKalb County School System, Georgia, has developed a unique leadership assessment program geared toward professional improvement through staff development based on assessed needs. The following three elements of this approach contribute to its uniqueness and address the three most common problems associated with assessments: (1) the…

This report reviews the ways in which statistical analysis can be used as a tool by vocational rehabilitation program managers to investigate the causes of problematic performance and generate strategies for corrective action. Two types of data collection are noted: operational studies and statistical data studies. Descriptions follow of two…

A new approach to assessing unexpected differential item performance (item bias or item fairness) is introduced and applied to the item responses of different subpopulations of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) takers. The essential features of the standardization approach are described. The primary goal of the standardization approach is to control…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of different practice conditions upon technical accuracy and musicality of student instrumental performance. High school instrumental students attending summer music camps at the Florida State University were randomly assigned to one of three different practice groups: (a) teacher-designed…

Effectiveness ratings of principals by researchers have frequently been hampered by relying on teachers' one-dimensional, research-triggered "global" ratings. This paper reports a 1979-80 British Comumbia superintendents' study geared toward multidimensional subjective assessments of 266 administrators, and concentrates primarily on ways…

The influences of class size and the number of students completing surveys on faculty and course ratings were studied. For classes of 30 or more, a 50 percent response rate gives an acceptable indication of rating, while for a class of less than 30, about 80 percent return is needed. (Author/SW)

A discussion of the use of meta-analysis to study the effects of student rating feedback on college teacher behavior traces the source of failure of the method and outlines the elements necessary for comprehensive meta-analysis. Researchers are cautioned to report their results more thoroughly and clearly. (Author/MSE)

This study was conducted to determine how the pattern of learning on an abstract concept, plate tectonics, differed between groups of different cognitive levels, sex, and intelligence quotient (IQ). The intensive time-series design was used to examine the achievement of eighth grade and ninth grade earth science students. The unique characteristic…

This study examined the external impacts and monitoring patterns of student assessment information on institutions, based on institutional type and control in seven areas: student applications or acceptance rates, allocation or share of state funding, evaluations from regional accrediting agency, private fund-raising results, success on grant…

A study tested a resampling methodology (bootstrap simulation) by examining the effects of class size and student motivation on students' ratings of teaching effectiveness. Results suggest that evaluations based on student ratings should look at more than class averages, and that class size and student motivation affect overall ratings. Examples…

Using an effort toward comprehension paradigm developed by P. M. Auble, J. J. Franks, and S. A. Soraci, Jr. (1979), the worry component of state test anxiety was related to long-term memory for sentence encoding conditions that involved comprehension, but low effort (embedded-cue) and comprehension-high effort (post-cue). A noncomprehension…

This notebook contains 21 standards established by the Center for Educational Statistics (CES); CES legislation; and a description of the CES publication and publication review processes. The publication clearance procedures and the external advice and peer review policies are established by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement…

Compares grades awarded by 5 examination boards for 11 subjects at A levels. Uses data from the A Level Information System (ALIS) project for 1989. Finds discrepancies among boards not statistically significant. Fails to identify grading as consistently severe or lenient. (NL)

The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) is a large-scale, national longitudinal study designed and sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), with support from other government agencies. Beginning in the spring of 1988 with a cohort of eighth graders (25,000) attending public and private schools across…