The Instructional Practices Log in Science (IPL-S) is a daily teacher log developed for K-5 teachers to self-report their science instruction. The items on the IPL-S are grouped into scales measuring five dimensions of science instruction: "Low-level Sense-making," "High-level Sense-making," "Communication,"…

There is a longstanding and pressing challenge regarding overuse of exclusionary discipline (e.g., office discipline referrals, suspensions) for students of color and students with disabilities. Moreover, many common efforts to address the problem have not been shown to enhance equity in school discipline. This article describes a promising…

Descripting Statistics provides methodology and tools for user-friendly presentation of random data. Among the summary measures that describe focal tendencies in random data, the mode is given the least amount of attention and it is frequently misinterpreted in many introductory textbooks on statistics. The purpose of the paper is to provide a…

This paper explores perceptions of the UK's Research Excellence Framework (REF) and its implications for individuals, institutions and wider academia through an analysis of media coverage of the REF over a 2-year period. In recent years, the importance attached to the REF has become an increasing focus of concern for academics and other…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify various U.S. state education departments' criteria for determining the severity of language impairment in children, with particular focus on the use of norm-referenced tests. A secondary objective was to determine if norm-referenced tests of child language were developed for the purpose of…

We provide an expanded environmental scan to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) faced by education communities. Grounded in the literature, we identified 48 indicators and grouped them into 6 broad categories: (1) budget levels, (2) funding patterns, (3) community needs, (4) external economic conditions, (5)…

This article describes the National Center Test for University Admissions, a unified national test in Japan, which is taken by 500,000 students every year. It states that implementation of the Center Test began in 1990, with the English component consisting only of the written section until 2005, when the listening section was first implemented…

The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to publish high school graduation rates for public schools; the U.S. Department of Education is currently considering a mandate to standardize high school graduation rate reporting. However, no consensus exists among researchers or policymakers about how to measure high school graduation rates. We use…

This paper discusses the educational gap between the Malay community and other ethnic communities in Singapore. Using official statistics from 1980 to 2004, the paper compares the educational achievements of the Malay community with other ethnic communities in Singapore. The paper points out that, while the Malay students have made significant…

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the latent factor structure of the Coping With Problems Experienced (COPE) inventory, and to compare this structure to an imposed, culturally relevant latent structure with a sample of African Americans. The alternate, latent structure was derived from an Africentric framework, as well as from…

Education statistics are rarely neutral; those who collect and analyze them have different purposes. In this article, Bracey discusses several principles of data interpretation to help educators avoid falling into statistical traps. For example, because such reports as A Nation At Risk contain many "selected, spun, distorted, and even manufactured…

This article focuses on the use of statistics in policy and evaluation research and the need to present statistical information in a form that is meaningful to mixed audiences. Three guidelines for formulating and presenting meaningful statistics are outlined. Understandability ensures that knowledge of statistical methods is not required for…

This study compared the predictive value of the theory of planned behavior in university students in South Africa (N = 251) and the United States (N = 160) who completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses revealed that condom use and intention were significantly predicted by positive condom attitude,…

That researchers should give anonymity to research sites and to the individuals involved in research is usually taken as an ethical norm. Such a norm is embodied internationally in most of the ethical guidelines and codes of practice of the various educational, sociological and psychological research associations and societies. This paper…

Explores ways to improve the capability of the National Center for Health Statistics to collect national health data on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Standardized interview instruments and data collection procedures offer the possibility of capitalizing on the geographic distribution of these populations in the United States. (SLD)