It is often difficult and costly to obtain individual-level student achievement data, yet, researchers are frequently reluctant to use school-level achievement data that are widely available from state websites. We argue that public-use aggregate school-level achievement data are, in fact, sufficient to address a wide range of evaluation questions…

The article describes an approach to assessment of the performance of educational institutions with regard to their social context. To develop this approach, the authors were guided by (1) the results of numerous studies corroborating correlations between student performance and contextual factors (both in Russia and abroad); (2) the experience of…

This report explores the possibility of using the discrepancy measures to assess the implementation of educational innovations. The discrepancy measure was derived from the decision to segment the educational market, and to select or develop marketing strategies, on the basis of discrepancies between the potential user and the requirements of a…

A number of organizational, personal and methodological characteristics have been identified through the literature which inhibit or can be used to facilitate the use of evaluation and testing information. Inhibitors of information usage include organizational characteristics such as loosely coupled and decentralized systems, personal…

The Interdisciplinary Assessment Model was created out of the need for improved assessment of learning, especially the assessment of critical thinking and problem solving. Development of the model required establishing a common language for library media specialists to cover various curriculum areas, a comparison of current state standards for…

Systemic efforts to implement data-based decision making at the school and classroom level face several challenges. First, most data available within district information systems are limited to what has been deemed important for the operational needs of schools and the district. Second, educational organizations have little experience integrating…

This document contains 18 papers from the human resource development and manpower training section of an international conference on vocational education and training (VET) for lifelong learning in the information era. The following papers are included: "Use of Social and Economic Modeling to Plan Vocational Education and Training"…