The self-declared mission for each campus of the University of Nevada system and future plans are described, along with projections regarding the future population and economic changes, resources for the future, and future student enrollment and academic programs. Goals of the overall state system and priorities for the 1980s and 1990s are also…

This exploration of the future of research in special education identifies components of "good research" and reasons for the existence of poor quality research. It cites the difficulty in identifying links between research findings and innovations in practice. Factors that will influence the future of research in special education are noted, such…

This handbook for institutional researchers focuses on describing methods and techniques for conducting and merging external and internal analyses in order to produce an expanded vision of alternative future environments. Such vision is needed for the formulation of strategic long-range plans. Section 1 begins with a discussion of how an internal…

This module is the seventh in an inservice education series for extension professionals that consists of seven independent training modules. It provides information and exercises on working with extension's publics to achieve a proactive stance toward the future through projecting future conditions, analyzing trends, and inventing futures. The…

Senior medical students at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences were surveyed regarding the value of a program providing regression based predictions of their individual Day 1, 2, 3, and Total Federation Licensure Examination (FLEX) scores and the probability of passing the FLEX for subsequent Arkansas licensure. The prediction formulas…

The Center for Education Statistics (CES) forecasts that current expenditures in public elementary and secondary schools will increase 3.5 percent from school year 1986-87 to school year 1987-88. Current expenditures, which increased 22.6 percent from 1981-82 to 1986-87, are projected to increase 16.4 percent from 1986-87 to 1991-92. One table and…

Whether adjustments to differential prediction observed among sex, racial/ethnic, or age subgroups in a college-level freshman class could be used to improve grade prediction accuracy for these subgroups in future freshman classes was studied. This study is based on the American College Testing program test scores, high school grades, and college…

This study examined and refined a mathematics skills instrument used to predict success in an introductory statistics course and to measure improvement in mathematics skills. Alternate forms of a 28-item true-false test were administered as a pretest and posttest to 18 undergraduate and 19 graduate students enrolled in introductory educational…

This paper illustrates a model of the layperson's reasoning patterns under conditions of uncertainty, the "outcome approach," which was developed from analysis of videotaped problem-solving interviews with 16 undergraduate students. According to the outcome approach, the goal in questions of uncertainty is to predict the outcome of an…

Three studies were conducted to test the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching as a means of instructing seventh grade poor readers about activities they could use to increase comprehension and to ascertain that their comprehension was proceeding smoothly (comprehension monitoring). Reciprocal teaching involves having teacher and students take…

The study described in this report was undertaken by Cochise College (CC) to assess the postsecondary educational needs of residents of the Willcox area of Cochise County. Part 1 describes the background and methodology of the study, examining the sampling techniques used in surveys of the general population, local businesses, current CC students…

Heckman's correction for regression in selected samples for predictive validity studies was applied to a large data file on 7,984 law school applicants. Data included ethnic group, sex, socioeconomic status, undergraduate degree, school, scores on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), writing ability, undergraduate grade point average, and age.…

Classical statistical methods and the small enrollments in graduate departments have constrained the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Validity Study Service to providing only validities for single predictors. Estimates of the validity of two or more predictors, used jointly, are considered too unreliable because the corresponding prediction…

To achieve a good teacher-pupil match, it is necessary (1) to predict the learning outcomes that will result when each student is instructed by each teacher, (2) to use the predicted performance to compute an Optimality Index for each teacher-pupil combination to indicate the quality of each combination toward maximizing learning for all students,…

Manpower information and projections in postsecondary education have present value in the sense that they guide today's decisions based on a view of what tomorrow's world will be like. But manpower decisions are complicated by the fact that the decision-maker, be it a government, an institution, or an individual, must also take account of how…