Historically, colleges have used standardized testing to determine whether a student is ready for college-level work or requires developmental courses first, but this method has been criticized as inaccurate. To obtain more accurate placements, nearly three-quarters of colleges now use multiple measures assessment (MMA) systems. These systems…

The main objective of this Methods Showcase Article is to show how the technique of adaptive comparative judgment, coupled with a crowdsourcing approach, can offer practical solutions to reliability issues as well as to address the time and cost difficulties associated with a text-based approach to proficiency assessment in L2 research. We…

Cost-effectiveness analysis is rarely used in education. When it is used, it often fails to meet methodological standards, especially with regard to cost measurement. Although there are occasional criticisms of these failings, we believe that it is useful to provide a listing of the more common concerns and how they might be addressed. Based upon…

This paper estimates private and social returns to investment in education in Azerbaijan, using the 2015 Azerbaijan Monitoring Survey for Social Welfare. The private rate of return to education is 6 percent; this is the first estimate of returns to schooling in Azerbaijan since 1995. The returns to schooling are 6 percent for men and 8 percent for…

We evaluate feedback methods for oral presentations used in training non-quantitative research skills (literature review and various associated tasks). Training is provided through a credit-bearing module taught to MSc students of banking, economics and finance in the UK. Monitoring oral presentations and providing "best practice"…

This article discusses best practices for evaluating open source software for use in library projects, based on the authors' experience evaluating electronic publishing solutions. First, it presents a brief review of the literature, emphasizing the need to evaluate open source solutions carefully in order to minimize Total Cost of Ownership. Next,…

Parent report has proven a valid and cost-effective means of evaluating early child language. Norming datasets for these instruments, which provide the basis for standardized comparisons of individual children to a population, can also be used to derive norms for the acquisition of individual words in production and comprehension and also early…

Although a great deal of time, resources and effort goes into the education of potential or existing entrepreneurs, our knowledge of the effects of this education is still rather limited. It can be argued that an imbalance exists between the substantial amount of finance and manpower invested in entrepreneurship education programmes and the very…

Schools and school systems throughout the nation are increasingly experimenting with using various instructional technologies to improve productivity and decrease costs, but evidence on both the effectiveness and the costs of education technology is limited. A recent report published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute sets out to describe "the…

This research describes, classifies, and comparatively evaluates national models and mechanisms used to evaluate research and allocate research funding in 16 countries. Although these models and mechanisms vary widely in terms of how research is evaluated and financed, nearly all share the common characteristic of relating funding to some measure…

Three commonly used indices of cost-effectiveness are compared for their usefulness to health care professionals. The methods are the cost-benefit ratio, the cost-effectiveness ratio, and the net benefit methods. The net benefit is considered the preferred index of cost-effectiveness. (TJH)

The BRIGHT program was designed to improve the educational outcomes of children in Burkina Faso. It focused on girls in particular and was implemented in 132 rural villages throughout the 10 provinces of the country in which girls' enrollment rates were lowest. It consisted of constructing primary schools with three classrooms and implementing a…

Presented is a personal computer computer-analysis system to help the consumer decide which microcomputer best suits his needs. (KC)

Proposes a framework utilizing feature and functionality appraisal and quantitative and qualitative techniques to allow systematic evaluation of different Internet telephony systems. Techniques include voice process evaluation through signal reproduction, Diagnostic Rhyme Test, Diagnostic Acceptability Measure, Degradation Category Rating, and…

This chapter outlines the theory of cost-benefit analysis and discusses its application to determining the cost-benefit of instructional development projects. Three types of applications are discussed: (1) descriptive applications of single projects; (2) predictive studies of proposed projects; and (3) comparative analysis of alternative projects…