Describes the model for decision making used in inferential statistics and real-world applications that parallel the statistical model. Discusses two activities that ask students to write about a personal decision-making experience and create a mock trial in which the class makes the decision of guilt or innocence. (MDH)

The purpose of this study was to compare students enrolled in an alternative school with students in a traditional school on the bases of academic achievement and attitudes toward school subjects. The subjects were 33 sixth-grade students who attended an open education school modeled after the British infant school. The control group consisted of…

Applied simple difference and regression methods for determining discrepancies between Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and achievement to second- and fifth-grade IQ, reading and math achievement scores. Simple difference discrepancies covaried with IQ and produced disproportionate ethnic representation for both grades in reading and for second graders…

Of all the areas within public elementary and secondary education that are experiencing rapid change, none is experiencing more turmoil than school finance. This publication contains papers commissioned by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to address the twin concerns of what additional school-finance information NCES should…

The relationship between teacher effectiveness, as measured by residualized student grades, and teacher evaluations by secondary principals is analyzed in this study. The two-step methodology involved baseline data collection and an effectiveness development phase. In the first phase, demographic variables were obtained from personnel files of 145…

Describes a circulation model for academic research libraries which uses the mixed Poisson model, incorporating ageing of library materials, to predict future use of monographs and to suggest weeding procedures based on frequency of circulation. Longitudinal studies are examined and statistical details are appended. (Author/LRW)

Practices identified by experts as critical variables in eliciting writing samples were checked against 12 randomly selected studies using holistic ratings to derive descriptions of inferential statistical results for described samples. The studies often lacked precise information about these variables, limiting understanding of writing evaluation…

This study was designed to assess the attitudes of Nigerian secondary school teachers to student evaluation of teachers (SET), and to find out if the attitudes expressed were influenced by teacher characteristics such as gender, professional status, geographical location, academic qualification and teaching experience. The study was a survey, and…

Assessing fit of psychometric models has always been an issue of enormous interest, but there exists no unanimously agreed upon item fit diagnostic for the models. Bayesian networks, frequently used in educational assessments (see, for example, Mislevy, Almond, Yan, & Steinberg, 2001) primarily for learning about students' knowledge and…

A method for drawing inferences from complex samples is based on Rubin's approach to missing data in survey research. Standard procedures for drawing such inferences do not apply when the variables of interest are not observed directly, but must be inferred from secondary random variables which depend on the variables of interest stochastically.…

This paper comments on a critical review of cohort studies on PCB-related neurodevelopmental deficit in young children by D.V. Cicchetti, A.S. Kaufman, and S.S. Sparrow (CKS). Major points of criticism of CKS, namely alleged violation of statistical principles, presumed lack of clinical significance of findings, and alleged insufficient control of…

This paper evaluates the logic underlying various criticisms of statistical significance testing and makes specific recommendations for scientific and editorial practice that might better increase the knowledge base. Reliance on the traditional hypothesis testing model has led to a major bias against nonsignificant results and to misinterpretation…

Describes the background, development, and testing of a computer software program designed to teach principles of statistical sampling in social science courses. Compares results of a field test of the program, Introduction to Sampling Error Experiments (ISEE), with traditional instruction. (CFR)

This digest focuses on the data that show significant disparities between the number of teachers of color and the number of students of color and examines how well schools, colleges, and departments of education are doing in supplying teachers of color for U.S. classrooms. The document is organized into three sections. The first section discusses…

This report presents data from the March 1988 Current Population Survey on the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of the Hispanic population of the United States, including age, sex, marital status, educational attainment, school enrollment, fertility, voting and registration, employment status, family composition and size, income,…