This handbook was developed for high school teachers looking for new sources of timely information and ways to make courses more engaging and relevant to students. The American Community Survey (ACS) provides a wide online array of social, economic, and demographic information about the nation, states, and local communities. These data can be…

The Achieving the Dream (ATD) initiative works with more than 100 community colleges across the United States with the specific goal of increasing student success. Together, Achieving the Dream colleges graduate or transfer close to 250,000 students a year. With just a 5 percent increase in graduation rates, individuals can positively impact the…

Some statistical considerations in applying survey sampling methods to small populations are explored. (DS)

This resource packet presents information on youth literacy in three main sections. The first section presents statistics on literacy; facts about literacy; reading in Indiana middle, junior, and senior high schools; and family reading. The packet's second section contains a bibliography and resources, offering a reading and literacy bibliography,…

This chartbook is designed as a graphic reference on national statistical information about disabilities. Each page contains a content question, explanatory text, and an explanatory chart or table as well as information on sources used. Key terms are shown in boldface and defined in a glossary. Section 1 provides demographic data on Americans with…

The result of a pilot study funded by the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA), this document is both a report of a test of adaptations of "Output Measures for Public Libraries" for the measurement of children's services in Wisconsin public libraries, and a manual for children's librarians to use for future data collection. The…

The National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS), sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, are a set of surveys each of which has gathered information at multiple points in time on the labor market experiences of five groups of men and women since the mid-1960s. Each group of at least 5,000 persons was selected to be…

The Survey of Institutional Characteristics of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) collects the basic data that describe the universe of postsecondary institutions in the United States and its outlying areas. Data are collected annually on three different forms; appendix B of this documentation describes the use of these…

Reports the means, standard deviations, and relevant statistics on an examination of the readability of 24 contemporary textbooks that employ a hybrid approach to the basic speech communication course. Discusses some strategies for developing reading skills. (KEH)

This addendum describes the nature, rationale, and results of the second cleaning and revision of the National Longitudinal Study of 1972 (NLS-72) Postsecondary Education Transcript Files (PETS). This project, conducted for nearly 3 years, followed an initial cleaning and reduction in 1987, which came about as a reaction to the idiosyncratic…

The National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS), sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, are a set of surveys each of which has gathered information at multiple points in time on the labor market experiences of five groups of men and women since the mid-1960s. Each group of at least 5,000 persons was selected to be…

This guide describes a systematic way of identifying the resources and needs of community residents by gathering data, soliciting the perspectives of residents and leaders, and surveying service providers and other community resources. Part 1 of the guide differentiates community assessment from traditional needs assessments and details the 5-step…

This document is the user's manual for utilizing the data files containing the 1980 Census of Population and Housing School District Equivalency Files, Master Reference Files (MARF) 3 and 4. These equivalency files were created by the Bureau of the Census using school district boundary maps, and they pertain to all persons and housing units in the…

Suggestions and guidelines for using the Bureau of the Census' Current Population Survey (CPS) files are provided. CPS is based on the civilian component of a national probability sample of households and is conducted by the Bureau of the Census. The survey gathers employment data on a continuing basis, as well as supplemental information on such…

This handbook is a guide and reference document for those researching the child data files of the 1986-1990 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, sponsored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It describes the child data collection procedures, the nature of the child sample, the child data files available, and the specifics of the child assessments…