Often, when an evaluation is needed, there is always a tendency to jump into data collection without first considering what might be already available. This paper demonstrates how an existing student database from a large school district could be used to provide some rigorous evidence regarding the impact of a supplementary teacher professional…

Since there is no standard national Pre and Post Test for Principles of Finance, akin to the one for Economics, by authors created one by selecting questions from previously administered examinations. The Cronbach's Alpha of 0.851, exceeding the minimum of 0.70 for reliable pen and paper test, indicates that our Test can detect differences in…

This report seeks to alert administrators, school staff, and database managers to variations in the naming systems of other cultures; to help these groups accommodate other cultures and identify students consistently in school databases; and to provide knowledge of other cultures' naming conventions and forms of address to assist in interacting…

The purpose of this Handbook is to assist educators in understanding grade level of achievement (GLA), the role it plays in communicating student learning, and how to effectively implement the reporting of grade level of achievement for students enrolled in grades one through nine to Alberta Education as an adjunct to the on-going reporting to…

Designed to protect the privacy of individual student test scores, grades, and other education records, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 places limits the access of educational researches, and slows research not only in education but also in related fields, such as child welfare and health. Recent trends have converged…

This brief concluding chapter offers final observations and potential new developments in tracking community college students.

This study examined the question of the relationship between the modality used to administer a final exam and the student outcomes achieved on the final exam in online university courses. This question directly addressed the issues of 1) the ongoing and dynamic growth of online university offerings and 2) the need for online universities to employ…

The CSU (California State University) Chancellor's Office received a grant from the Lumina Foundation to engage in a year of planning activities to increase productivity within the CSU system. The grant is part of the Making Opportunity Affordable (MOA) initiative of the Lumina Foundation that is aimed at improving higher education productivity…

Educators are concerned about the loss of instructional time resulting from student suspension. The right to obtain a free appropriate public education must be balanced with the myriad of discipline and school safety issues. The loss of instructional time due to disciplinary sanctions negatively impacts student achievement, possibly resulting in…

This event history analysis explores factors driving the emergence over recent decades of comprehensive state-level student unit-record [SUR] systems, a potentially powerful tool for increasing student success. Findings suggest that the adoption of these systems is rooted in demand and ideological factors. Larger states, states with high…

In January 2009, in the last week of the Bush Administration, the U.S. Department of Education (ED), upon orders from the departing political appointee staff, published the final report in a long running National Evaluation of Upward Bound (UB). The study was conducted by the contractor, Mathematica Policy Research. After more than a year in…

This study evaluates a curriculum policy that required college preparatory coursework for all students, using data from Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Beginning in 1997, CPS ended remedial coursework and required all students to complete a college-preparatory course sequence for graduation. In this study, the authors constrain their analysis to the…

It is imperative that school administrators understand the rights of parents and students as guaranteed by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). School personnel should know the rights of parents and students regarding access to education records and understand the restrictions of disclosure. Educational leaders must balance the…

There is a national movement to universalize the high school curriculum so that all students graduate prepared for college. The present work evaluates a policy in Chicago that ended remedial classes and mandated college preparatory course work for all students. Based on an interrupted time-series cohort design with multiple comparisons, this study…

Market-oriented reforms and school choice policies have had a high political profile in a number of developed countries. This article examines the issue of school choice through the lens of the English market-oriented reforms; it focuses on the quasi-regulation and regulation of admissions to publicly funded secondary schools. It examines…