In recent years the educational policy environment has emphasised data-driven change. This has increased the expectation for school personnel to use statistical information to inform their programs and to improve teaching practices. Such data include system reports of student achievement tests and socio-economic profiles provided to schools by…

One of the lightning rods in the discourse over teacher pay has been the question of "how much" teachers should be paid. What the "how much" debate does not directly address, however, is the question of "how" teachers should be paid. This paper attempts to help lay groundwork for a better understanding of what exactly teachers want in terms of how…

Because most current literature regarding needs assessment data fails to discuss the meaning of the identified needs, two research questions are investigated: What valid and reliable constructs (components) can be derived from the data which reflect the interrelationships among teacher perceived skills needed for working with mildly handicapped…

A review of educational research reveals that free and inexpensive materials are used today to a much greater extent than they had been in the past. Two studies, sponsored by the American Iron and Steel Institute, are evidence of the producer's interest in determining the strengths and weaknesses of the materials being sent into classrooms and…

To determine which summer-session length was most effective, a comparative analysis was made of student enrollments, student grade point averages (GPA), student satisfaction, and faculty opinions on the three campuses (Easter, Western, and Metropolitan) of Cuyahoga Community College. The terms compared were five, five and one-half, and eight…

This paper provides an analysis of a teacher development experiment (cf. Simon, 2000) designed to support teachers' understandings of statistical data analysis. The experiment was conducted as part of collaborative efforts between the author and a cohort of middle-school mathematics teachers during the 2000-2001 academic year. Analysis of the…

The study was designed to identify and define the factors which contribute to undergraduate navigator training (UNT) attrition and to present recommendations to reduce the effects of those factors. Longitudinal data were collected from six UNT classes and augmented with cross-sectional data from a sample of 15 UNT classes. The student data are…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) gathers and publishes information on the status and progress of education in the United States. The "Condition of Education" is an annual, Congressionally mandated report produced by the NCES. It is an indicator report, presenting key data analyses that measure the health of education, monitor…