The heightened mobility of resources, ideas, and cultural practices across national borders--commonly known as "globalization"--entails changes in the contexts in which US research universities operate. We draw on recent developments in neo-institutional theory to understand these changes and their implications for the ways in which US…

Assessing the quality of undergraduate student learning continues to be a priority in U.S. postsecondary education. Although variations in outcome assessment practices have long been suspected, they have not been systematically documented. To follow up the 2009 National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) report on institutional…

Beyond Grey Pinstripes is a research survey and alternative ranking of business schools that spotlights innovative full-time MBA programs leading the way in integrating social and environmental stewardship into their curriculum and scholarly research. These schools are preparing today's students--tomorrow's leaders--for future market realities by…

Research on student achievement indicates the U.S. K-12 education system is not adequately preparing American students to compete in the 21st century global economy in the areas of science and mathematics. Congress has asked the scientific entities of the federal government to help increase K-12 science learning by creating standards-based…

The project summarized here focuses on the interpretability of vocational education outcome data. The booklet first covers the project problem and background, project objectives, general plan of operation, and the analysis of extant data bases in vocational education. It then discusses a case study of differences in job placement rates reported by…

Provides an overview of programs on child abuse and neglect in the United States and attempts to identify gaps in the design and problems in the performance of these programs. (CS)

Although focus groups continue to gain popularity in marketing and social science research, their use in program evaluation has been limited. Here we demonstrate how focus groups can benefit evaluators, program staff, policy makers and administrators by providing an in-depth understanding of program effectiveness from the perspective of…

The purpose of the study was to explore the academic careers of students who took AP Exams and to compare their careers with those who did not take AP Exams. For most AP Exams, students with AP grades of 3 or better had higher grade averages in intermediate college courses than did non-AP students who first took an introductory course. Two…

A project regarding the interpretability of data on vocational education outcome data was done (1) to determine how different definitions of the vocational student and relatedness of training to employment might affect the interpretability of vocational education impact data; (2) to synthesize the current literature and approaches measuring job…

A project was designed to produce a broad description of current mining training programs and to evaluate their effectiveness with respect to reducing mine injuries. Aggregate training and injury data were used to evaluate the overall training effort at 300 mines as well as specific efforts in 12 categories of training course objectives. From such…

Phase II of an Institute aimed at improving decision-making skills of the participants (State Directors, ABE Coordinators, Assistant State Directors, Special Project Directors and Assistant Directors) so as to enhance the management of Adult Basic Education in the U. S. and its territories is discussed in this report. Part I of the report…