This Policy Snapshot defines and explores statewide longitudinal data systems, as well as relevant 2016 and 2017 legislation.

Each edition of the IDRA Newsletter strives to provide many different perspectives on the issues in education topics discussed and to define its significance in the state and national dialogue. This issue focuses on Using Data for Action and includes: (1) Community and School Use of Data for College Readiness and Postsecondary Success (Karmen…

In November and early December 2010, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) conducted consultations to identify research topics using the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY). LSAY tracks young people from the age of 15 to 25 as they move from school into further study, work and other destinations. It uses large,…

This article examines the use of institutional research data on tertiary academic success of students in the first-year Biology program at the University of Canterbury in relation to their secondary school performance in English, Mathematics with Statistics, Biology and Chemistry. This study was commissioned by the School of Biological Sciences to…

The status of education as a recognized professional field will not be achieved until more value and emphasis are placed on the conduct of educational research. (SK)

As the evidence-based practice movement gains momentum, continuing education practitioners increasingly confront the challenge of developing and conducting opportunities for achieving research uptake. Recent thinking invites new approaches to continuing education for health professionals, with due consideration of what knowledge merits uptake by…

The improvement of instructional methods or the solutions of problems of an instructional nature requires information that is not usually part of the Canadian common experience and must be discovered by means of research. Types of fundamental and applied research are discussed, including action, developmental, evaluation, and diagnostic research.…

This document presents four background studies related to one of the major themes of the OECD Conference on Future Structures of Post-Secondary Education. The major thrust of the papers deals with structure of studies and place of research in mass higher education. Topics cover new teaching-research relationships in mass postsecondary education,…

Although many agree that institutional research in higher education has come of age and is accepted as a part of institutional management, great variations exist in the extent to which institutional research findings are synthesized and utilized in management decision-making. A number of reasons can be identified as accounting for this phenomenon,…

Administrators cannot afford to remain ignorant of the work of neuroscientists over the last 30 years. The findings of brain research can help administrators gain a better understanding of decision making. The author lists four benefits to education that administrators can provide through greater knowledge of the brain. (WD)

After the elimination of federal Pell Grants and Ohio Instructional Grants for prison postsecondary education, Ohio Penal Education Consortium conducted studies of recidivism demonstrating the positive effects of educational programs. Funding was obtained for the kind of college programs that significantly lower recidivism. (SK)

A research study comparing vocational success of proprietary schools and public community college graduates, serves to demonstrate the distortion of research findings when those findings are contrary to the expectations of special interest groups and its effect on public policy. (KE)

This document presents a technical report on faculty research to the Montana Commission on Postsecondary Education. Recommendations suggest: (1) There must be recognition of the fact that faculty members of the Montana University System are users and communicators of a vast array of existing knowledge developed within the larger regional national…

In an era of ever-shrinking dollars for education and especially for educational research, one must ask the question, "Does the proposed research add value to agricultural education?" Although it may not be possible to answer the question completely, a framework can be developed within which the answer can be pondered. Researchers,…

The article provides an overview of research needs in vocational education; lists some problem areas; discusses research methods and statistical treatment of data; and touches upon sponsorship, dissemination, and future research challenges. (MW)