Today the majority of the United States work force is employed in the production, processing, and dissemination of information. However, the situation with regard to videotex, the medium that served as the basis for predicting an information society, is far from settled. The statistics concerning videotex are impressive, the technology…

The authors argue that recent events have given rise to a need for a new class of information related to strategic decisionmaking. They describe some of the characteristics of "ideal" systems to meet this need and suggest a program for building sophisticated systems that will develop toward that ideal. (Author)

How implicit assumptions govern the process of policymaking, and how those implicit assumptions are simultaneously consistent with both the political culture of the state and with behaviors that are effective in achieving desired policy outcomes are investigated in this paper. Interview data were gathered from policymakers and analyzed to discover…

The generation of categories of instructional leadership descriptors and the identification of past influences and current resources is the purpose of this study. Data for the first research purpose were gathered through application of Flannigan's (1954) critical incident and functional description techniques to responses of experts on…

Information sources used by parents of majority and minority students in making decisions about school choice, with a focus on busing, are examined in this report. A mailed survey of parents of approximately 8,431 students in the San Jose Unified School District (California) yielded 934 responses, of which minority households comprised 60 percent…

Program presentations on issues related to the use of statistics by research libraries and business meeting minutes are combined in this report from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The full text is provided for the three papers on the program theme that were presented at the meeting: (1) "Information to Manage--The Economics of…

The precision of item parameter estimates can be increased by taking advantage of dependencies between the latent proficiency variable and auxiliary examinee variables such as age, courses taken, and years of schooling. Score gains roughly equivalent to two to six additional item responses can be expected in typical educational and psychological…

Designed for educational evaluators, this paper discusses reasons for the growing concern with linking or interfacing computers for information sharing; compares three major approaches to linking; and discusses the implications of each. An initial overview presents three linking applications in educational evaluation: (1) linking microcomputers…

Based on data from a longitudinal study of preservice teacher education conducted at a large midwestern university, this paper describes and appraises what prospective elementary teachers in two different teacher preparation programs were taught about textbooks, what they learned, and what they did with these lessons during student teaching. It is…

This study surveyed families in Arkansas to obtain information on where parents acquire advice and information to assist with their childrearing efforts. The sample for the study were 23 parents of the University of Arkasas' nursery school children, 24 parents of first-grade children in a rural Arkansas county, and 18 parents located throughout…

The purpose of this case study was to provide the Portland Public Schools' Research and Evaluation Department with information to guide the development of improved data collection, reporting, and information delivery systems in order to target these systems to more effectively meet the decision-making needs of teachers, principals, parents and…

Designed to determine to what extent the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) products and services are utilized by certified school personnel, this study found that, on the average, 25.1% of the teachers, librarians, counselors, and administrators in three educational service regions in west central Illinois have used Resources in…

Directed to the heads of executive departments and establishments, this circular establishes policy for the management of federal information resources. Procedural and analytic guidelines for implemented aspects of these policies are included as appendices. The policies apply to the information activities of all agencies of the executive branch of…

The development of the communication component of a program promoting breast feeding to a variety of audiences through a variety of media is the focus of this paper. The introduction discusses groups, in addition to pregnant and lactating mothers, who should be involved and receive information. The paper then (1) identifies audiences--including…

Prepared for a meeting of the Northwest Regional Exchange (NWRx) Advisory Board and its staff and consultants, this document first reviews nine reports' findings on nine hypotheses concerning the institutionalization of educational change or innovation, especially as institutionalization relates to the dissemination functions of state…