This forum guide was developed to meet the need for common, widely understood, standardized course codes. The purpose of this guide is to introduce the voluntary School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED) classification system, including information on the structure of SCED codes, the process for ensuring that SCED remains up to date and…

The purpose of this document is to provide timely and useful best practice information to help education agencies understand the different uses and benefits of School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED). This guide was developed to provide a brief overview of SCED, highlight the research application and benefits of SCED to users, and…

We address the problem of selecting the best of a set of units based on a criterion variable, when its value is recorded for every unit subject to estimation, measurement, or another source of error. The solution is constructed in a decision-theoretical framework, incorporating the consequences (ramifications) of the various kinds of error that…

The College Course Map (CCM) is a taxonomy system for coding postsecondary education courses in NCES research studies. Originally developed in 1988 in support of the postsecondary transcript study in the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72), the taxonomy was updated in 1993 for the High School and Beyond Study…

In this handbook, "Prior-to-Secondary School Course Classification System: School Codes for the Exchange of Data" (SCED), the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the National Forum on Education Statistics have extended the existing secondary course classification system with codes and descriptions for courses offered at…

An individual student's educational experience often includes multiple transitions: progressing through K12 school levels, transitioning to postsecondary education or the workforce, and sometimes changing schools. It is important for both the student and the school systems that course information be easily understood and transferrable through each…

Assigning difficulty level indicators to the knowledge units helps the learners plan their learning activities more efficiently. This paper focuses on how to use the topology of a knowledge map to compute and rank the difficulty levels of knowledge units. Firstly, the authors present the hierarchical structure and properties of the knowledge map.…

In this paper, I discuss different types of models in science education and applications of them in learning and teaching science, in particular physics. Based on the literature, I categorize models as conceptual and mental models according to their characteristics. In addition to these models, there is another model called "physics model" by the…

This handbook presents a taxonomy and course descriptions for secondary education. The system is intended to help schools and education agencies maintain longitudinal information about students' coursework in an efficient, standardized format that facilitates the exchange of records as students transfer from one school to another, or to…

Most people in the United States, no matter how extensive their education, have never had a course dealing primarily with the future. But they have had at least one course, and probably many courses, dealing with the past. Most also have never questioned why the past is so emphasized in formal education while the future--the only arena over which…

The objectives, activities, and results of a project to classify higher education undergraduate courses are summarized. The Classification System for Postsecondary Courses (CSPEC) is based on the structure of the Center for Education Statistics' Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) but provides a greater level of detail for course…

Presents a classification system for freshman orientation courses formulated from reviews of current practices of colleges and universities. Characteristic features and analogous programs are presented as a descriptive guide and planning tool for student personnel staff who must respond to changing needs of freshman and their interface with…

Summarized in this report are the activities undertaken in the development of the Classification of Secondary School Courses (CSSC) for the National Center for Education Statistics' use in coding transcripts of high school students. Fifty-two secondary school course catalogs selected from those collected in the High School and Beyond study…

This article describes an interactive professional development unit that engages both novice and experienced evaluators in (a) learning about the Essential Competencies for Program Evaluators (ECPE), (b) applying the competencies to program evaluation contexts, and (c) using the ECPE to reflect on their own professional practices. The article…

This document presents a national tapestry of what is studied where, and by whom, in U.S. colleges, community colleges, and postsecondary trade schools. The "Map" is based on empirical information from national samples of postsecondary transcripts in two national longitudinal studies, the National Longitudinal Study of the High School…