A randomized experiment that measures the impact of a social policy in a sample of the population reveals whether the policy will work on average with universal application. An experiment that includes only the subset of the population that volunteers for the intervention generates narrower "proof-of-concept" evidence of whether the…

Head Start is a national program that helps young children from families with low incomes get ready to succeed in school. It does this by working to promote their early learning and health and their families' well-being. The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) provides national information about Head Start programs and…

Heterogeneity between and within people necessitates the need for sequential personalized interventions to optimize individual outcomes. Personalized or adaptive interventions (AIs) are relevant for diseases and maladaptive behavioral trajectories when one intervention is not curative and success of a subsequent intervention may depend on…

Researchers have become increasingly interested in programs' main and interaction effects of two variables (A and B, e.g., two treatment variables or one treatment variable and one moderator) on outcomes. A challenge for estimating main and interaction effects is to eliminate selection bias across A-by-B groups. I introduce Rubin's causal model to…

Increasing demands for design rigor and an emphasis on evidence-based practice on a national level indicated a need for further guidance related to successful implementation of randomized studies in education. Rigorous and meaningful experimental research and its conclusions help establish a valid theoretical and evidence base for educational…

This article examines the power analyses for the first wave of group-randomized trials funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. Specifically, it assesses the precision and technical accuracy of the studies. The authors identified the appropriate experimental design and estimated the minimum detectable standardized effect size (MDES) for each…

An author of the 1966 USOE report titled "Equality of Educational Opportunity" discusses some of the criticisms leveled against the study. The most serious charge is that the study attempted to do too much. By analyzing resource inputs and levels of achievement and by trying to analyze the effects of various inputs on achievement, the…

During 1967 and 1968, TEMPO, a Research affiliate of The General Electric Company, evaluated federal assistance to local school districts to use for compensatory education authorized by 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I. The specific research questions were straight-forward: (1) Has statistically significant enhancement of pupil…

This report contains procedural guidelines to assist local Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) prime sponsor staff members in developing a labor market analysis of the local economy. The guidelines are designed to be used in conjunction with other materials that have been developed by the United States Department of Labor. The focus…

This report was submitted by Education Turnkey Systems, Inc. and its subcontractor, Kirschner Associates, Inc. and key University of Maryland and other consultants in response to the needs of the National Institute of Education as specified in the Request for Proposal "to develop a Design to Study Individualized Instruction, as part of a general…

This paper describes two studies that utilize different research methods, one statistical and one non-statistical, conducted by The National Urban League to assess the needs of black communities. The first study, Black Pulse, whose purpose was to assess the conditions and attitudes of black Americans, consisted of a detailed, statistical survey of…

The research design discussed here focuses on four major questions: (1) what the relative effectiveness of well-implemented "individualized" instruction vs. well-implemented "standardized" instruction for recipients of compensatory education in terms of reading achievement, mathematics achievement and classroom climate is; (2)…

This report provides for Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) prime sponsors who are responsible for labor market information, a set of guidelines to follow for developing an agency-wide plan for the operational use of labor market information. The body of the report outlines step-by-step procedures for creating such a plan. A brief…

This document includes 14 appendices to a report submitted by Education Turnkey Systems, Inc., and its subcontractor, Kirschner Associates, Inc. and key University of Maryland and other consultants in response to the needs of the National Institute of Education as specified in the Request for Proposal "to develop a Design to Study…

The National Longitudinal Evaluation of Comprehensive School Reform (NLECSR) is a quantitative and qualitative study of behavior, decisions, processes, and outcomes. It employs a quasi-experimental design with matched treatment and comparison schools. NLECSR seeks to determine the effects of CSR models on student achievement in about 650…