This guide is for any individual seeking to develop knowledge and practical skills related to the "Quality Indicators with Critical Components for K-12." The target audience includes administrators, educators, and service providers at the state and local levels, as well as families of students with disabilities. As a result of completing…

The AEM Navigator facilitates the process of decision-making around accessible formats of educational materials for individual students. It assists teams in making informed, accurate, and multi-step decisions related to determining a student's need for accessible formats, selecting the format(s) needed, acquiring materials, and determining the…

TIMSS measures trends in mathematics and science achievement at the fourth and eighth grades in participating countries around the world, while also monitoring curricular implementation and identifying promising instructional practices. Conducted on a regular 4-year cycle, TIMSS has assessed mathematics and science in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and…

To support and promote secondary analyses, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) is making the SITES 2006 international database and accompanying User Guide available to researchers, analysts, and public users. The database comprises national contexts and school- and teacher-level data from 23 education…

Many education reporters are drawn to the beat because of its complexity and rich variety. Few topics provide such a wealth of political, business, human interest, breaking news, feature, and investigative stories. A reporter's day can start in a classroom with 4-year-olds struggling to learn to read, and end at a school board meeting with…

Presents six steps of data warehouse development that result in valuable, long-term reporting solutions, discussing how to choose the right reporting vehicle. The six steps are: defining one's needs; mapping the source for each element; extracting the data; cleaning and verifying the data; moving the data into a relational database; and developing…

Mindtools are computer applications that, when used by learners to represent what they know, engage them in critical thinking. This article discusses computers as semantic organization (databases and semantic networking), dynamic modeling (spreadsheets, expert systems, systems modeling, microworlds), information interpretation, knowledge…

Discusses fund raising for school-technology projects using the Internet. Lists Web sites where federal government funding sources can be found and sites with more than 130 federal bulletin boards, including the Department of Education's Grants Database and private-sector grant funding in technologies. (GR)

This article discusses how to use technology to collect, store, sort, and reformat assessment data on the school improvement process, explaining the use of desktop computers with databases and the use of portable devices in the assessment process. (SM)

Discusses the concept of distance educators sending a mass distribution of messages to students via electronic mail. The concept uses course information databases to customize and generate message content. Describes steps of using off-the-shelf commercial software to process course data and send it to course participants by electronic mail via the…

Discusses 10 ways that middle-school social-studies teachers can transform their teaching through computer-based technology. Emphasizes general concepts related to middle-school social studies, such as databases, e-mail, simulations, and the web. (SR)

Presents four computer applications that can complement the work of peer helper trainers and peer helpers themselves. The applications include multimedia presentations, databases, desktop publishing, and the Internet. The article describes each application and also discusses the use of electronic mail, KeyPals, Listserv, and the World Wide Web to…

This paper addresses the potential influence of current and projected microcomputer technological advances on the profession of school psychology. An overview of the uses and abuses of computers in school psychology is presented, followed by a brief discussion of three general uses of computers in school psychology: the computer as tool, tutor,…

Information technology will be an important influence in education in the future. This article discusses the use of instructional technology for science teaching and considers the impact of technology on what is taught and how science is taught. (Author/CW)

Many colleges and universities are undergoing cultural changes as a result of extensive voice, data, and video networking. Local area networks link large portions of most campuses, and national networks have evolved from specialized services for researchers in computer-related disciplines to general utilities on many campuses. Campuswide systems…