In this publication, designed to serve interested laymen as well as educators, various authors explore the viewpoints of the proponents and the opponents of the National Assessment Program. In their analysis of assessment and its related issues, these authors attempt to provide information that could serve as a basis for an objective consideration…

This paper shows how the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) can be carried out in a country with a very complicated upper-secondary educational system. The difficulties are not linked to the measurement of achievement, since the international project provides a common achievement scale. The challenge lies in the design of…

The discovery of disproportionate minority enrollments in special education classes has been a subject of considerable concern to federal, state, and local education officials alike for the past decade. Because the existence of disproportions is frequently thought to result from discriminatory placement practices on the part of local school…

Among the variables contributing to the therapeutic relationship between counselor and client, empathy has received much attention in counseling process research. Most of this research has relied on brief segments as a sampling unit; seldom have these segments been compared with entire counseling sessions. Segments of sessions and entire sessions…

A general process for testing the feasibility of applying alternative mathematical or statistical models to the solution of a practical problem is presented and flowcharted. The system is used to compare five models for test equating: (1) anchor test equating using classical test theory; (2) anchor test equating using the one-parameter logistic…

Selected data from the Commission on Human Resources data base are reported for two major groups that have been underrepresented in doctoral education in the past: minorities and women. A wide selection of tabulations of data on doctorate holders by sex and racial/ethnic group membership is presented. Characteristics of minority and women Ph.D.…

The purposes of the assessment project were to determine when the fourth grade math skills were acquired by the majority of students in the Salem, Oregon public schools, and to compare accomplishment on the criterion-referenced test with accomplishment on a standardized test. Because the project required testing grades 3-6, multiple matrix…

The principal uses of statistics in library planning may be illustrated by examples from the state of Illinois. State law specifies that the Illinois State Library compile and publish statistics on libraries. State agencies also play an important and expanding role in this effort. The state library now compiles statistics on all types of…

An ongoing, multiphased project to measure and reduce book loss due to theft was instituted in the main library at the University of Kentucky. Though book loss was significantly reduced, the issue of whether an electronic security system is more effective than a manual checking procedure remains unresolved. (6 references) (EJS)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often called the "Nation's Report Card," is the only nationally representative, continuing assessment of what U.S. students know and can do in various subject areas. NAEP provides a comprehensive measure of students' learning at critical junctures in their school experience. The…

In this study we test the performance of some nonexperimental estimators of impacts applied to an educational intervention--reduction in class size--where achievement test scores were the outcome. We compare the nonexperimental estimates of the impacts to "true impact" estimates provided by a random-assignment design used to assess the…

Scores in reading and comprehension on the University of Minnesota Reading and Speed of Reading examinations for the years 1928 and 1978 were compared. The 1978 freshmen were found to be at least one grade level below their 1928 counterparts in vocabulary, reading comprehension, and rate of reading. (MLW)

This paper reports labour market returns to education in Bangladesh using data from recent nationwide household survey. Returns are estimated separately for rural and urban samples, males, females and private-sector employees. Substantial heterogeneity in returns is observed; for example, estimates are higher for urban (than rural sample) and…

This report summarizes the National Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Study, which examined the impact of Title IIA of JTPA on participants' employment, earnings, and welfare receipt. Between 1987 and 1989, more than 20,000 adults and out-of-school youths who applied for JTPA services in 16 areas across the country were randomly assigned to a…

Effect sizes have been increasingly emphasized in research as more researchers have recognized that: (1) all parametric analyses (t-tests, analyses of variance, etc.) are correlational; (2) effect sizes have played an important role in meta-analytic work; and (3) statistical significance testing is limited in its capacity to inform scientific…