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…

The Center for Education Statistics conducted the 1985-86 private school study to collect data on private elementary and secondary schools and teachers within these schools. This is the first national study to collect information directly from private school teachers. Representatives of the private school community helped develop the study…

This inquiry was conducted to examine influences on perceptions of survey subjects regarding ideographic characteristics of the subjects, incentives to enhance mail returns, and multiple requests for information. A mail survey sent to 297 former education students from a large university produced responses from 48.3% of the sample. The ideographic…

This study was designed to test a less labor intensive data collection methodology than the extensive interview system developed by the University of Michigan currently used to show the relationship between faculty rationale and course description. Subjects (N=210) were randomly selected faculty members each of whom was responsible for teaching…

This is the second of 12 research reports on the phenomenon of language instruction within a large class environment. The report is written in five sections. The second section (following the introductory first section) discusses the reasons for studying large classes in language instruction, including the facts that teachers find large classes…

These three users' manuals are for specific files of the High School and Beyond Study, a national longitudinal study of high school sophomores and seniors in 1980. The three files are computerized databases that are available on magnetic tape. As one component of base year data collection, information identifying twins, triplets, and some non-twin…

Outlines initial work of the "Science Education Information Network" which employs a rapid response procedure for science teachers throughout North Carolina. This work includes collecting and analyzing educational problems and salary concerns. Indicates that the network is feasible and provides information for decision making at the…

A quasi-experimental design with two experimental groups and one control group was used to evaluate the use of two books in the Quantitative Literacy Series, "Exploring Data" and "Exploring Probability." Group X teachers were those who had attended a workshop on the use of the materials and were using the materials during the…

Asserts that the need for precise and detailed procedures in the collection of qualitative data is of paramount importance. Describes qualitative procedures that were used in a research study of teachers' and students' perceptions of effective teaching and learning. (CFR)

Two data-gathering instruments, the Supervisory Behavior Description Questionnaire (SBDQ) and the derivative Supervising Teacher Behavior Description Questionnaire (STBDQ), are described in one paper and employed in three others in this symposium series. Both forms are useful in evaluating perceived behaviors of supervisory educational personnel,…

This paper describes the practical steps employed in controlling interview data generated from a research project investigating teachers' perspectives on the worth of a sex equity educational demonstration project. These perspectives were then considered as value frameworks that might be used to formulate and interpret a naturalistic-responsive…

This study adds to the effective schools debate a criticism of existing criteria--based on standardized achievement test profiles--for targeting schools for intervention programs. Qualitative and quantitative methods of gathering data result in conflicting assessments of the magnet elementary school studied as needing or not needing intervention.…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) integrated some of its national surveys of educational information into the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), which was initiated in 1987-88 and is being repeated at intervals to provide information about the nation's schools and their educators. The 1988-89 Teacher Followup Survey (TFS), a…