Assessing use of language learning strategies has become commonplace around the world. One strategy assessment tool is the questionnaire, which usually asks students to report on their typical, general use of language learning strategies. Because of this general focus, most questionnaires do not require respondents to complete an actual language…

The study examines the extent to which elementary education teacher preparation programs in 36 randomly selected colleges and universities in the six Southeast Region states integrate content related to students with disabilities. Findings indicate that a variety of strategies are utilized to integrate disability content into teacher preparation…

This paper reports 20 unsolved problems in educational measurement and points toward what seem to be promising avenues of solution. The first group of concerns involves validity, posing the problems of obtaining suitable validity criteria, determining and measuring the predictor variables that best characterize the traits and proficiencies of…

In recent assessments, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has permitted schools to exclude some students with disabilities or limited English proficiency because it believed that its assessments would not accurately measure the ability and achievement levels of these students. The exclusion of a portion of students from…

This report presents the recommendations of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) concerning issues in data collection on school exit status. Of major concern were: (1) the high proportion of students exiting with status unknown, (2) the extreme state-to-state variability in reports of basis of exit, and (3) the incomparability of the…

Use of complementarity as a deliberate and necessary program evaluation strategy is discussed. Quantitative and qualitative approaches are viewed as complementary and can be integrated into a single study. The synergy that results from using complementary methods in a single study seems to enhance understanding and interpretation. A review of the…

The inherent methodological problem in conducting research at multiple sites is how to best derive an overall estimate of program impact across multiple sites, best being the estimate that minimizes the mean square error, that is, the square of the difference between the observed and true values. An empirical example illustrates the use of the…

Hints on conducting surveys appropriate for university use are outlined, and sample checklists and forms are provided. The following research elements concerning generic surveys are covered: sequences of events for surveys conducted by mail (15 weeks) and telephone (11 weeks); algorithms for estimating materials costs and quantities; a catalog of…

This report includes a collection of workshop materials which address ways microcomputers can be used in evaluation and assessment and what basic information should be covered in introducing newcomers to the use of microcomputers. It is designed for use by experienced trainers with microcomputer experience but with few workshop support materials.…

Generalizability theory is described and applied to data collection methods for student ratings of instruction. Three generalizability coefficients (generalizing over both students and items, generalizing over students only, and generalizing over items only) are defined, and the appropriateness of each for various purposes is discussed.…

The failure of educational research to fully allow for limitations in methodology when drawing conclusions is faulted. In addition to this, a failure on the part of the media--educational and other--to fully publicize these limitations is also criticized. Methodological shortcomings of the 1977-78 American Institutes of Research (AIR) study of…

The research report provides information on recruits' military occupational preferences, match of military assignments to recruits' preferences, and changes that occur in these preferences between service entry and completion of basic training. Questionnaires were administered to recruits from four services just before classification interviewing…

This report presents statistical analyses of data derived from the first year's use of the Instructional Assessment System. Included are: means, standard deviations, and several reliability estimates for each item within each form; inter-item correlations; and correlations of items with non-evaluative variables. Among the major results discussed…

The objective of the project was to develop methods for establishing output and input performance standards for the placement and placement-support functions of the U.S. Employment Service (ES). Volume 3 presents the conceptual framework, practical definitions, and feasibile methods for establishing and using performance standards. The ES labor…

The principal uses of statistics in library planning may be illustrated by examples from the state of Illinois. State law specifies that the Illinois State Library compile and publish statistics on libraries. State agencies also play an important and expanding role in this effort. The state library now compiles statistics on all types of…