Educational institutions and governing practices are increasingly augmented with digital database technologies that function as new kinds of policy instruments. This article surveys and maps the landscape of digital policy instrumentation in education and provides two detailed case studies of new digital data systems. The Learning Curve is a…

Because the relationship between computer use and achievement is still puzzling, there is a need to prepare and analyze good quality datasets on computer use and achievement. Such a dataset can be derived from TIMSS data. This paper describes how this dataset can be prepared. It also gives an example of how the dataset may be analyzed. The…

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) began a study to compare English Language Learner (ELL) enrollment in charter schools to ELL enrollment in traditional public schools. For the study, they obtained ELL enrollment counts for school year 2010-11 from the U.S. Department of Education's (Education's) only available dataset containing the…

Researchers often presume that it is better to use administrative data from grades 4 and 5 than data from grades 6 through 8 for conducting research on teacher effectiveness that uses value-added models because (1) elementary school teachers teach all subjects to their students in self-contained classrooms and (2) classrooms are more homogenous at…

The Invaders of Texas program is a successful citizen science program in which volunteers survey and monitor invasive plants throughout Texas. Invasive plants are being introduced at alarming rates, and our limited knowledge about their distribution is a major cause for concern. The Invaders of Texas program trains citizen scientists to detect the…

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a rare genetic disorder within the autistic spectrum. This study compared socio-demographic, clinical and genetic characteristics of the international database, InterRett, and the population-based Australian Rett syndrome database (ARSD). It also explored the strengths and limitations of InterRett in comparison with other…

Background: A small but growing body of research evidence suggests that place-based police interventions generate significant crime control gains. While place-based policing strategies have been adopted by a majority of U.S. police departments, very few agencies make a priori commitments to rigorous evaluations. Objective: Recent methodological…

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop a realist evaluation paradigm in social work evidence-based practice. Method: Wraparound (at Gateway-Longview Inc., New York) used a reliable outcome measure and an electronic database to systematically collect and analyze data on the interventions, the client demographics and circumstances, and…

Trinity College Dublin was proud to host, in April 2016, the Second International Conference on Telecollaboration in Higher Education, with the theme "New Directions in Telecollaborative Research and Practice." Over two and a half days, 150 participants offered 95 research presentations, posters, and "problem shared" sessions.…

Chapters in this book include: (1) E-Learning Indicators: A Multidimensional Model for Planning Developing and Evaluating E-Learning Software Solutions (Bekim Fetaji and Majlinda Fetaji); (2) Barriers to Effective use of Information Technology in Science Education at Yanbu Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Abdulkareem Eid S. Alwani and Safeeullah Soomro);…

Aim: Recently, attention has focused on the health inequalities experienced by people with intellectual disabilities (ID) when compared with the general population. To inform policies aimed at equalizing health opportunities, comparable evidence is needed about the aspects of their health that may be amenable to intervention. Method: Applying the…

Education, it seems, is increasingly driven by the numbers. Whether it is measuring student performance or a school district's ability to balance the books, one will find data out there about it. So much data, in fact, that it is difficult to sort through all the numbers to get the needed information. This article describes California's Ed-Data…

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)'s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) provides internationally comparative data about students' reading achievement in primary school (the fourth grade in most participating countries). PIRLS also provides extensive information about the home and…

Collecting weather data is a traditional part of a meteorology unit at the middle level. However, making connections between the data and weather conditions can be a challenge. One way to make these connections clearer is to enter the data into a database. This allows students to quickly compare different fields of data and recognize which…

This paper serves as an example of how one may approach the use of a large database for comparative education purposes. Considerations include determining three aspects about the databases, and one case study. The three aspects include the type of database that is used, the method in which the data were collected and errors, and the structure of…