Recent mandates from state and accrediting agencies are requiring community colleges to provide evidence of their success in such areas as basic skills and remediation, general education, major-field content, student development, transfer effectiveness, job training, job placement, and fiscal accountability. This volume, in addition to describing…

This study examines 103 meta-analyses related to educational achievement published over 10 years to produce a meta-synthesis. Various characteristics of the meta-analyses are summarized to produce a methodological profile of research, and effect sizes are synthesized to assess an educational productivity model. (SLD)

This executive summary highlights key elements of a paper produced by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education for persons interested in maximizing benefits from research and development in vocational education. This summary describes the legislative background, conceptual model, essential framework, and operational guidelines for…

Described in this newsletter issue are research activities involving the development in Sweden of an indicator model to provide a holistic and comprehensive depiction of schools. Intended for use in continuous follow-up and evaluation activities, the model attempts to mirror the situation in schools by means of existing information expressed as…

This collection contains 24 articles dealing with career counseling and related research. Included in the volume are the following articles: "A Management Approach, Function and Counselling in Guidance/Application in the Federal Penitentiary Environment," by Pierre Dodier; "A Description of the Alternate School in Prince Albert,…

The eight articles of this issue examine the nature of differences that arise between qualitative and quantitative researchers in program evaluation in terms of goals and epistemologies. The origins of these differences and their consequences are explored. Authors represent both perspectives but do not defend their ideological turfs. (SLD)

The problem of high school dropouts has generated increased interest among researchers, policymakers, and educators in recent years. This paper examines the many issues involved in trying to understand and solve this complex social and educational problem. The issues are grouped into four areas, related to the incidence, causes, consequences, and…

Assessment systems to measure high educational standards emerged as the major theme at the 1996 conference of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), "Moving Up to Complex Assessment." This feature article, providing a summation of the proceedings of the conference, reports that the…

Suggested are concepts and ideas for organizing for institutional research so that it might become a legitimate and separate entity within higher education administration. The following three-way categorization of institutional research is advocated: institutional studies; management analyses; and periodic management reporting. The role of the…

A panel of state staff, Professional Development Center directors, and other experts reviewed current or previous exemplary projects in Pennsylvania and in the U.S. and published project descriptions in a newsletter ("FOCUS" bulletin). Twenty-two special projects were selected as exemplary based on a five-point scale for innovation,…

The public sector in Sweden is under pressure to augment its productivity and cut costs, and the education sector is faced with the same demands. Most people believe that adequately proportioned, efficiently operating schools are essential to Sweden's long-term economic development, but this is seldom mentioned in connection with spending cuts. In…

Two quantitative enrollment projection techniques and the methods used by researchers at the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR) are discussed. Two quantitative approaches that are typically used for enrollment projections are curve-fitting techniques and causal models. Many state forecasters use curve-fitting techniques, a popular approach because only…

The title reflects the first and major article in an issue of this newsletter devoted heavily to video technology. The flexible capabilities of videotape used with microteaching are presented and illustrated with case studies of childhood education and rural health development programs in Nigeria, improvement of nurses' communication skills, and…

This report examines selected studies on the search for and utilization of mental health facilities among Hispanic populations and presents a framework for research on mental health services for Hispanics. Shortcomings of available data on this topic are reviewed. The research framework proposed is based on the assumption that clinical service…

Subjects dealt with in this report include: (1) team teachers dealing with complex materials; (2) career education programs that expose students to the world of work; (3) research and development outcomes relating to publications on drugs, cooking, cognitive development, early education programs, consumer education, and math teaching; (4) special…