As the education and workforce development community looks more and more to CTE to help ensure students are both college and career ready, understanding and using CTE data and research becomes increasingly important. This is the first in a series of six practitioner training modules developed as part of the Career & Technical Education (CTE)…

Against the backdrop of the ever-increasing influx of big data, this article examines the opportunities and concerns over big data in education. Specifically, this article first introduces big data, followed by delineating the potential opportunities of using big data in education in two areas: learning analytics and educational policy. Then, the…

This resource has been written specifically for higher education practitioners who are interested in improving students' learning experiences through the process of researching their own practice. We use the term 'higher education practitioners' to describe all who work in universities and who have a stake in students' learning experiences.…

The purpose of this monograph is to give readers a practical and theoretical foundation in learning analytics in higher education, including an understanding of the challenges and incentives that are present in the institution, in the individual, and in the technologies themselves. Among questions that are explored and answered are: (1) What are…

Knowledge derived from practice forms a significant portion of the knowledge base in the education field, yet is not accessible using existing empirical research methods. This paper describes a systematic, rigorous, grounded approach to collecting and analysing practice-based knowledge using the authors' research in teacher leadership as an…

Social return on investment (SROI) offers a new strategy to measure and communicate the value of outcomes achieved by programs that provide social, health, and education services to children and their families. It can be a powerful tool for demonstrating the monetary value of programs and services and for communicating that value in a way that can…

Social return on investment (SROI) analysis offers a practical new approach for measuring and communicating the value of outcomes achieved by programs that provide social, health, and educational services to children and their families. This guide highlights the key steps in conducting SROI research, issues in data-gathering and analysis, as well…

In recent years, the concept of teachers as researchers in both special and mainstream school settings has become part of our everyday language. Whilst many educational practitioners will see the need for research within their setting, many may not be familiar with the technical elements they believe are required. "Creating Meaningful Inquiry in…

Without using data to inform their actions at every step of the way, teachers and administrators will probably not reach their goals for school improvement. In this article, the authors describe a CRESST initiative that helps educators develop the skills to collect, analyze, and be guided by data. Five steps to effective date use are described in…

This handbook is a roadmap for action research facilitators to help groups as they work through the research process. It offers quotations, handouts, strategies, resources, and insights from actual experiences. The sections of the handbook follow the action research cycle, focusing on: "What is Action Research?"; "What is the Action…

This book offers an introduction for teachers, students, and other educational practitioners to the techniques that transform informal observation into a recognized research tool. It is intended for those with little or no experience with formal observation. Four chapters focus on: (1) "Observation as a Data-Gathering Technique" (how observation…

The postsecondary seminars report presents the distillation of the discussions and the recommendations of approximately 115 representatives of educational institutions, associations, and State and Federal agencies attending the Postsecondary Education Seminars Conference of 1976. The conference addressed the changing nature of postsecondary…

This handbook is devoted to the process of teacher research. It shows teacher-researchers how they can pursue their research activities systematically and carefully and provides a number of research techniques, methods for categorizing data, and suggestions for publishing research. The chapters are: (1) "Try To Love the Questions Themselves:…

Directed primarily at teachers in bilingual programs, this report suggests ways in which they may assist evaluators in improving the quality of evaluation, particularly regarding descriptive information about the bilingual classroom. Six principles of classroom description are examined: (1) program model, type, and design; (2) student…

This compendium is a guide to the major national data resources related to higher education in the United States. Designed to support quality educational research and policy analysis, the Compendium describes 100 resources, including general references as well as resources pertaining to students and learning, faculty and staff, finance and…