Three papers contributed to the joint conference of the Arizona State Library Association (ASLA) and the Arizona Educational Media Association (AEMA) are presented. "Participatory Evaluation: Alternatives for Library Instruction Evaluation" (Dennis Isbell and Lisa Kammerlocher) describes the experimental library instruction evaluation…

The information that high school library media specialists in Georgia have about the Georgia Online Database (GOLD), interlibrary loan, and online access was investigated. This study also evaluated whether they have the funding for GOLD and related technology. A 45-item questionnaire was developed and sent to a stratified random sample of 128…

Nine of 10 programs, known collectively as the Special Incentive Programs of the New York City public schools, were evaluated by the Office of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment of the New York City Board of Education. The nine programs are: (1) Intensive Teacher Institute in Bilingual Education and English as a Second Language; (2) Scholarship…

The Cluster Schools Program attempted to restructure the governance structure in participating Newark (New Jersey) schools through shared decision making and site-based management. It also sought to foster strong links with other public and private institutions by establishing a collaborative that includes university participants among others.…

Metacognitions about study activities and strategy use were assessed in 166 fifth and sixth graders (54 percent female and 39 percent African American), 108 seventh and eighth graders (55 percent female and 32 percent African American), and 168 college students (60 percent female, 10 percent African American, and 10 percent from other ethnic…

Users of optical data disk (CD-ROM) materials at the Main Library workstations of the State University of New York at Albany were surveyed to examine the problems they encountered while conducting their searches, identify factors that interfere with their task performance, determine their needs with regard to improvement in the databases they…

A project was undertaken to reduce the amount of time required to screen first year students into an oversubscribed early childhood education program at a multicampus community college in Ontario, Canada, and to reduce faculty complaints concerning the procedure. The original process consisted of applicant questionnaires scored by faculty and…

The purpose, design, and key findings of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) are discussed. The SASS is a triennial set of unified surveys conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. In conjunction with a teacher follow-up survey, the SASS profiles the nation's elementary school and secondary school teaching force and analyzes…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of presentation interference on students' ability to learn from, and their beliefs regarding, computer-generated presentations. Informed by single-element screen design studies and professional practice, this combined-element study compared a contextually based, intentionally interference free…

Forty-one small liberal arts colleges were visited during the 1997-98 school year in order to talk to key information technology staff and to see computing facilities. A survey containing 15 factual and 10 open-ended questions was used to gather information. This paper presents findings in the following areas and comparison with results of a…

This paper presents a World Wide Web-based electronic feedback system for use in lectures and practical classes. The system is based on Java and provides a configurable feedback form, a managing tool for administrators, and a statistics viewer for presenting the generated statistical data in various ways. In addition, it generates a statistical…

This goal of this project was to create a public school district World Wide Web site that staff and community members would use more frequently. The project included three solutions. First, 33 one-on-one and small-group training sessions were conducted to increase awareness and improve Web services. A Web-site advisory committee, which developed…

For the fourth straight year, responding to an open-ended question, more 12- to 17-year olds named drugs the most important problem they face than named social pressures, violence, crime, or any other issue. One of a continuing series, this survey of teens, teachers, and principals is an attempt to increase understanding of the causes and effects…

Traditionally, libraries have had a role of providing equitable access for those who might not otherwise have access, and this role continues today in implementing access to electronic resources. However, there are special problems in applying this mission to prison libraries. A short history of automation in prison libraries is followed by a…

This report is based on efforts by the National Center for Education Statistics to collect data on teacher preparation and qualifications using a nationally representative survey of full-time public school teachers whose main teaching assignment is in English/language arts, social studies/social sciences, foreign language, mathematics, or science…