This is a compendium of research instruments and procedures concerned with the school curriculum and instructional practices for developing a data base to be used in comprehensive educational planning. The instruments and procedures were designed and tested with the cooperation of the boards of education, administrators, teachers, students, and…

These 11 behavior observation schedules were developed to serve as a source of data for evaluation experimental variations in instructional procedures and classroom organization, and for monitoring changes in teacher, teacher aide, and child behaviors. (MS)

A study on child day care is presented. The primary function of the research strategy was to pretest and develop an independent sample measurement scales to use in a panel study. The focus of the research is on family day care arrangements made by working mothers for children under six years of age. The sample used was a fairly successful one of…

The research reported here was designed to measure the abilities of school-age children to form and generalize "visual concepts" on the basis of their observation of prepared sets of art reproductions. The art reproduction sets displayed similarities based upon various visual attributes. Discrimination of the attributes common to any…

A nonmetric multidimensional scaling technique was employed to determine the characteristics of the ideal professor. Subsequently, the results were compared across varying levels of program personnel, including administrators, faculty, staff and students. Centered in a relatively self-contained academic program of a large midwestern university,…

Discusses issues relating to the reliability, validity, utility, and information value of unobtrusive testing of library reference services; provides suggestions for practical applications of these criteria; applies study findings to library decision making and planning; and identifies topics for further methodological refinement. (Author/CLB)

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Beyond the Gap: What Educators and Researchers Are Learning from High-Achieving African American and Latino Students (Michael Sadowski); (2) Aiming for AYP:…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Must be in the Front Row!: High Schools, Graduation Rates Receive New Attention from Policy Community and World of…

Since the first edition of "Schools and Data", the No Child Left Behind Act has swept the country, and data-based decision making is no longer an option for educators. Today's educational climate makes it imperative for all schools to collect data and use statistical analysis to help create clear goals and recognize strategies for…

This report examines the ways that credit-based transition programs (CBTPs) may help middle- and low-achieving students enter and succeed in college. It highlights promising practices used by CBTPs to help students who might have been considered noncollege-bound prepare for college credit course work. The report also discusses the challenges that…

This is the fifth in a series of issue briefs to be written for The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement during 2006. In this brief, author Craig Jerald highlights research collected in the July 2005 special issue of the "Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk" to argue for collecting and using data to…

Along with the rapid expansion over the past decade of Head Start, a program providing comprehensive early childhood development services to low-income children, their families, and their communities, has come the demand for rigorous research to demonstrate program effectiveness. This report describes the proposed design of a national study of the…

This volume presents second year findings from a 3-year project that collected case study data on 10 promising strategies for educating disadvantaged children. The study occurred at 25 urban or suburban/rural sites. Participating schools had Chapter 1 programs or were eligible for Chapter 1. The sample included students in grades 1, 3, and 9 who…

This report provides information about test takers with disabilities who participated in a variety of accommodated administrations of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Results indicate the number of LSATs administered with accommodations increased 100% from 1990 to 1993. During that 4-year period, more than 2,700 LSATs were administered under…

In fall 1994, 14 state Migrant Education Programs were receiving direct federal grants to administer Migrant Even Start projects. These projects provide migrant families with an integrated program of early childhood education, adult education, and parenting education. As part of the national evaluation of the Even Start Family Literacy Program,…