A new report published by the Manhattan Institute for Education Policy, "The Effect of Special Education Vouchers on Public School Achievement: Evidence from Florida's McKay Scholarship Program," attempts to examine the complex issue of how competition introduced through school vouchers affects student outcomes in public schools. The…

Background/Context: With the growth of the small-school movement, many urban districts have restructured large underperforming high schools into new, small high schools or schools-within-a-school designed to engage adolescents in rigorous and meaningful learning along with strong teacher-student relationships. In the case of this study, the…

Since the publication of the first edition of "Studying Your Own School", practitioner action research has become an established professional development practice in schools and teacher education programs.While the fundamentals of practitioner action research have not changed, the challenges of large scale reform have dramatically…

The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance produced this major study of the effectiveness of education technology. Mandated by Congress, the report uses scientifically based research methods and control groups to focus on the impact of technology on student academic achievement. Thirty-three districts, 132 schools, and…

The AP Course Audit utilizes a criterion-based professional judgment method of analysis within a nested multi-step review process. The overall goal of the methodology is to yield a final judgment on each syllabus that is ultimately valid. While reviewer consistency is an important consideration, the most important goal is to reach a final judgment…

A longitudinal study was planned to track a class in a prekindergarten program to determine program effectiveness. There are many problems in conducting a longitudinal study, most of which revolve around the long-term commitment required. A carefully designed information system is important. For the study in question, computer software and…

This paper focuses on the mechanics of assessing the impact of educational technology. The basics of program evaluation, research design, data collection and analysis, and report generation are covered to provide useful information to those responsible for program evaluation research and to decision makers, who are the usual recipients of…

The purpose of this study was to compare the scores of students who were allowed unlimited retakes of a multiple-choice test with the scores of students who were limited to only four retakes (five trials) of the same test. The tests were each made up of 20 randomly drawn questions from a large pool of questions about research methods. Three…

Although an extensive body of literature exists on Head Start, only a small part of this literature is program impact research. The body of existing research is inadequate in size, quality, and comparability for use in drawing conclusions about the impact of Head Start in any area in which Head Start provides services. This report from the General…

This publication reports on a policy conversation, the theme for which was defining a research strategy for literacy in Canada. It is a compilation of a variety of documents--some were available at the event, others have been prepared to summarize the policy conversation itself. Section I, National Literacy Secretariat (NLS): Policy Conversations,…

A shortage of teachers to staff primary and secondary schools is a common occurrence internationally. The fact of, or potential for, teacher shortages is a major consideration in any nation's aspirations of attaining, or maintaining, an educational system of high quality. To study and understand the nature of teacher shortages, it is first…

In response to 1986 state legislation calling for improvements in college effectiveness and accountability, the California Community Colleges began various efforts to promote the evaluation of matriculation. One effort, the Matriculation Local Research Options Project, was formed in 1989 to develop models for local evaluation of matriculation and…

Standard errors and bias of unidimensional and multidimensional ability estimates were compared in a factorial, simulation design with two item response theory (IRT) approaches, two levels of test correlation (0.42 and 0.63), two sample sizes (500 and 1,000), and a hierarchical test content structure. Bias and standard errors of subtest scores…

Hypermedia computing now makes it possible to integrate media into interactive programs with the potential to expand the use of visualization in science, art, and other professional disciplines. After an overview of some visualization issues in hypermedia, a research project called "HyperGlyphs" at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in…

The nine-volume Survey Kit is designed to help readers prepare and conduct surveys and become better users of survey results. All the books in the series contain instructional objectives, exercises and answers, examples of surveys in use, illustrations of survey questions, guidelines for action, checklists of "dos and don'ts," and…