The need to improve outcomes among students with disabilities (SWD) by increasing teachers' skilled use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) has been a pressing challenge around the country. Texas, in particular, has a specific focus on supporting the increased use of teachers' EBPs within their State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP). Therefore,…

This study examined the challenges that pre-service teachers faced when implementing inquiry and their perspective on how to overcome them. The data sample was 55 pre-service teachers (PSTs) enrolled into two sections of a science methods course in a private university in North Texas. The data sources consisted of inquiry-based lesson plans, PST…

Concerns about the equitable distribution of school funding within and across school districts have led to new federal data collections on school-level expenditures. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) required states to collect and report, for the first time, school-level data on both personnel and non-personnel expenditures…

Using two major data sets from the Texas Youth Fitness Study, ordinary least squares regression, and hierarchical linear modeling, we examined the impact of key correlates in school physical education programs and policies on students' fitness status and cross-grade differences. While a number of factors, such as teachers' training/updates, recess…

Due to the frequent change in expectations from education/learning, youth, the educational system's most dynamic participants, are experiencing low-level motivation in education and learning, because of growth and psychological characteristics or sociological, economic, and other reasons. This negative process is pushing program-developers,…

Debates over the use of college rankings are often framed in binaries: ardent advocates versus outright rejectionists, rankers versus rankees. But the American higher education landscape is complex, and so too should be discussions of rankings. Moreover, the policymaking process is simultaneously intricate and predictable--information is processed…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Measuring What Matters": Report Evaluates States' Progress on Developing High-Quality Data Systems; (2)…

A manual has been designed to assist Texas Education Agency investigators in their attempt to take a state-wide inventory of elementary and secondary school facilities and educational technology. This manual examines data collection activities, data storage and maintenance, deliverables, and reporting. Every campus is expected to be inventoried…

Suggests ways in which states that are administering a Title IV-E independent-living program may generate program and evaluation data to meet requirements of a federal program report. Presents two examples of current evaluations of independent-living programs. (RJC)

Discusses a method of evaluating results of child protective services which uses a comprehensive checklist of indicators of abuse and neglect. Also explains how the evaluation instrument was developed and explores its uses at the service delivery level, including its use as a diagnostic aid in quantifying family problems normally assessed…

A study compared the effects of different methods of analyzing trends to illustrate how failure to account for change in classification will lead to misinterpretation of data on the performance of students with disabilities. Data from five years of assessment in Texas is used to illustrate effects of classification changes. (Contains references.)…

This guide was constructed to meet the need of superintendents for easily accessible information for more intelligent decision-making and for a process for gathering information necessitated by impending Texas Education Agency accreditation visits. It was designed to be functional, yet brief, and to be flexible so that it can be used by various…

The incorporation of technology into library processes has tremendously impacted staff and users alike. The University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries is no exception. Sixteen years of reference statistics are analyzed to examine the relationships between the implementation of CD-ROMs and web-based resources and the number of reference questions.…

Officials with the National Center for Education Statistics asked the National Research Center's Board on Testing and Assessment to convene a workshop to assist them with their decisions about reporting results for accommodating test takers. The day-long workshop brought together four panels of representatives from state assessment offices,…

This report is intended to serve as a handbook for persons concerned about analyzing the statewide need for new or additional services to young children and their families, and for those interested in developing a data base on which to base decisions. The first part of the report, an update of a report originally published in 1973, outlines the…