The treatment of kurtosis in textbooks is both sparse and contradictory with applications rarely discussed. To address this, an easily understood definition of kurtosis is introduced and important applications are demonstrated. Two different approaches to teaching kurtosis are presented based on a financial application.

The aim of this paper is to provide an introduction of new imputation algorithms for estimating missing values from official statistics in larger data sets of data pre-processing, or outliers. The goal is to propose a new algorithm called IRMI (iterative robust model-based imputation). This algorithm is able to deal with all challenges like…

This First Look report presents data on public elementary and secondary education revenues and expenditures at the local education agency (LEA) or school district level for fiscal year (FY) 2013. Specifically, this report includes findings from the following types of school finance data: (1) revenue and expenditure totals by state and the 100…

In 2009, President Barack Obama set forth a goal that America would have the highest percentage of college graduates (associate's and bachelor's degree recipients) in the world by 2020. The U.S. Department of Education estimated that to reach this goal, the number of college graduates would need to increase by 50 percent nationwide by 2020,…

A jack knife is a pocket knife that is put to many tasks, because it's ready to hand. Often there could be a better tool for the job, such as a screwdriver, a scraper, or a can-opener, but these are not usually pocket items. In statistical terms, the expression implies making do with what's available. Another simile, of an extreme situation, is…

To commemorate International Women's Day on March 8, 2015, GMAC prepared this Data-to-Go brief as a summary of current GMAT test taker and research data about women in the business school pipeline. Findings in this Data-to-Go report are derived from several sources of GMAT test taker data and GMAC surveys conducted in 2014 and 2015. In testing…

While a majority of charter schools nationwide operate in urban and suburban areas, charter schools exist in all corners of the nation, and are expanding into all types of communities. This "Details from the Dashboard" report presents statistics on the number of charter schools and students enrolled in charter schools by the four geographic…

After two years of decline, the tuition from international students increased in 2010-11 and reached more than $129 million. The revenue from international students has more than doubled in a decade, from $55.5 million in 2001-02. This revenue is the most significant source of funding for K-12 education in BC outside of direct grants from the…

This publication presents information on tertiary education and training during 2010, including statistics on participation and outcomes. The definition of tertiary education and training adopted for this publication is formal study in vocational education and training (VET) and higher education, including enrolments in Australian Qualifications…

The federal government promised that it would limit waiver grants to states for the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). It largely kept that promise, but states did gain significant flexibility through amendments to accountability plans. OLS model estimates showed that larger, more affluent, and more Republican states submitted more amendment…

This brief will discuss patterns of science and engineering educational attainment within the foreign-born population living in the United States, using data from the 2010 American Community Survey (ACS). The analysis is restricted to the population aged 25 and older, and the results are presented on science and engineering degree attainment by…

This report provides a portrait of educational attainment in the United States based on data collected in the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) and the 2005-2009 ACS 5-year estimates. It also uses data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS) collected in 2009 and earlier, as well as monthly…

This document is an appendix that is meant to accompany the main report, "Analysis of Private Returns to Vocational Education and Training". Included here are the detailed regression results that correspond to Tables 4 to 59 of the main report. This document was produced by the authors based on their research for the main report, and is…

The labor force is the number of people aged 16 or older who are either working or looking for work. It does not include active-duty military personnel or institutionalized people, such as prison inmates. Quantifying this total supply of labor is a way of determining how big the economy can get. Labor force participation rates vary significantly…

"Why Rural Matters 2011-12" is the sixth in a series of biennial reports analyzing the contexts and conditions of rural education in each of the 50 states and calling attention to the need for policymakers to address rural education issues in their respective states. While it is the sixth in a series, this report is not simply an…