Various claims have been made about the efficiency of different composition scoring schemes. This paper reports the results of a systematic analysis of the robustness of holistic scoring, analytical scoring, and an obective diagnostic test, Davidson's "Test of the Ability to Subordinate." Compositions from an advanced English as a Second…

The Center for the Study of Educational Finance at Illinois State University has been monitoring the progress toward or away from equity in Illinois since the state finance reform of 1973. The two main areas of concern are (1) wealth neutrality, or to what extent a district's expenditures are a function of its wealth and (2) permissible variance,…

A replication of Peter Blau's theory of differentiation was carried out in a sample of 100 school districts. Blau has demonstrated that as organizations increase in size, the levels of hierarchy and the number of horizontal components increase at a decelerating rate with the result that large organizations have proportionately fewer administrators…

This paper uses the year 1972-73 as a base line in evaluating the progress of Illinois toward certain "equity goals." In determining the equity goals, two dimensions are studied--disparity and wealth neutrality. One measure of disparity is the permissible variance in school district expenditures expressed in the coefficient of variation,…

Three procedures used to control Type I error rate in stepwise regression analysis are forward selection, backward elimination, and true stepwise. In the forward selection method, a model of the dependent variable is formed by choosing the single best predictor; then the second predictor which makes the strongest contribution to the prediction of…

Ridge regression is presented as an analytic technique to be used when predictor variables in a multiple linear regression situation are highly correlated, a situation which may result in unstable regression coefficients and difficulties in interpretation. Ridge regression avoids the problem of selection of variables that may occur in stepwise…

The purposes of this paper are to provide an explanation of the way in which suppressor variables operate in multiple regression, and to provide illustrations of their effects with actual social science data. Examples are reviewed in which one predictor accounts for more of the variance in the dependent variable when another predictor is included,…

The effects of using different data analysis methods on estimates of treatment effects of educational programs were investigated. Various regression models, such as those recommended for Title I program evaluations, were studied. The first effect studied was the amount of bias that might be expected to occur in the various settings. Results…

Since migration is strongly influenced by economic variables, an economic model was developed to identify, locate, and track migrant and seasonal farmworkers as they move throughout the United States. Focusing on the Florida-based migrant agricultural workers who migrated at least once during the past five years, the model included the following…

This study investigated the relationship between collective negotiations and teacher salaries in Wisconsin public school districts. Data were collected from a random sample of 324 Wisconsin school districts with professional staffs ranging from 30 to 500 members. A six-indicator index was developed to measure the comprehensiveness of collective…

Commonality analysis is an attempt to understand the relative predictive power of the regressor variables, both individually and in combination. The squared multiple correlation is broken up into elements assigned to each individual regressor and to each possible combination of regressors. The elements have the property that the appropriate sums…

The use of characteristic coding (dummy coding) is made in showing solutions to four multivariate problems using canonical analysis. The canonical variates can be themselves analyzed by the use of multiple linear regression. When the canonical variates are used as criteria in a multiple linear regression, the R2 values are equal to 0, where 0 is…

The development of new admissions standards for freshmen entering the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Forestry, the Institute of Technology, and the University of Minnesota at Morris is described and supporting research presented. The new admissions standards, which are based on a multiple correlation and regression approach using first…

This paper discusses MacCrimmon's general theoretical framework for collective decisions, reveals the modeling for collective decisions, and presents selected descriptive research in the general area of collective decisionmaking. The intent is to stimulate research or provide insight that could have practical implications for management…

The Quality Measurement Project of New York State, in an attempt to simplify the assessment of school effectiveness, has applied nomographic techniques to this process. Essentially a nomograph is an easy graphic method of obtaining a predicted score without the use of the original regression equation upon which it is based. In the case herein…