Describing the variation in test scores between and within school districts is critical for: (1) for policy-related and descriptive work that investigates the sorting of students among districts and the differential effectiveness of those districts; and (2) for methodological work planning future experiments or interventions. Intraclass…

Using 1972-2000 data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES), a nationally representative survey of spending conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this paper investigates changes in the income-based gap in monetary investments in children under the age of six, when most children typically have entered school in the United States. The…

Gender differences in mathematical performance have received considerable scrutiny in the fields of sociology, economics and psychology. We analyse a large data-set of high school graduates who took a standardised mathematical test in Russia in 2011 (n = 738,456) and find no substantial difference in mean test scores across boys and girls.…

Using a national database, this study uses discriminant analysis to explore the role of citizenship status in determining intent to leave for pre-tenure faculty members at 4-year research universities. Of the 3 possible responses (intend to stay, intend to leave, and undecided), 2 functions emerged. The first function differentiates between those…

The current study examines three regression models: OLS (ordinary least square) linear regression, Poisson regression, and negative binomial regression for analyzing count data. Simulation results show that the OLS regression model performed better than the others, since it did not produce more false statistically significant relationships than…

Attrition rates are an indicator of a school's holding power, or ability to keep students enrolled in school and learning until they graduate. This study examines regional trends in Texas for the number and percent of students lost from public high school enrollment prior to graduation. A comparative analysis of 1985-86, 2005-06, 2006-07,…

The results of this study determined that community college students who transfer to for-profit institutions are indeed different from students who follow traditional routes defined as public and non-profit institutions. This study compares the demographic characteristics, academic experiences, and socioeconomic factors of California community…

A general diagnostic model was used to specify and compare two multidimensional item-response-theory (MIRT) models for longitudinal data: (a) a model that handles repeated measurements as multiple, correlated variables over time (Andersen, 1985) and (b) a model that assumes one common variable over time and additional orthogonal variables that…

In the passionate debates over providing equal educational opportunity for all children, it's frequently argued that large financial inequities create challenges for many public schools, particularly those in lower-income urban areas. This study compares the revenues and operating expenditures of Michigan's urban, suburban, town and rural school…

Uses a confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) model as a paradigmatic basis for the comparison of three widely used structural equation modeling computer programs: (1) AMOS 4.0; (2) EQS 6; and (3) LISREL 8. Comparisons focus on aspects of programs that bear on the specification and testing of CFA models and the treatment of incomplete, nonnormally…

The primary purpose of this study was to examine significant differences, if any, in student achievement in the area of math and science of students taught by traditionally certified teachers and alternatively certified teachers. This study examined alternatively certified teachers, as identified from through the Georgia TAPP (Teacher Alternative…

Global economic transformations have never been as dramatic as in the twentieth century. Most countries have experienced radical changes in the standards of income per capita, technology, fertility, mortality, income inequality and the extent of democracy in the course of the past century. It is the goal of many disciplines--economics, history,…

This report provides an analysis of microcomputer software available for elementary and secondary level instruction in 1989 as compared to 1984. Data from the Resources in Computer Education (RICE) database are used to compare distribution of software programs by grade level; hardware manufacturer; application type (drill, tutorial, simulation,…

This set of activity sheets requires students to organize and display data with a box-and-whiskers graph. Students use the plot as a summary display to detect patterns and to highlight the important features of the data for purposes of comparison. (PK)

Introduction: The paper is based on the study of library users in Slovakia as part of a larger research project on the use of information. Method: A large-scale questionnaire survey was conducted in 2002 in sixteen academic and research libraries with 793 subjects, especially students and educators. Analysis: The data were analysed with the use of…