This manual provides documentation and guidance for users of the public release data files for the Early Childhood Education (ECE) component of the 1991 National Household Education Survey (NHES:91). Information is presented about the purpose of the study, the data collection instruments, the sample design, and data collection and data processing…

The Infant Follow Along Program (IFAP) is an interagency effort to improve the identification of infants and toddlers who may experience health or developmental problems because of medical or environmental risk factors. The program also facilitates data collection and referral for services for infants and families. The program is in use in an…

Researchers too frequently consider the reliability of the scores they analyze, and this may lead to incorrect conclusions. Practice in this regard may be negatively influenced by telegraphic habits of speech implying that tests possess reliability and other measurement characteristics. Styles of speaking in journal articles, in textbooks, and in…

In this study on schema theory, interviews were conducted with three adults to identify the schema for particular words or phrases (pencil, making a hot drink, talking), which required identifying all those dimensions of meaning involved implicitly and explicitly in how the word/phrase is used. Results revealed that subjects described their ideas…

This paper documents the multistep procedure used by the Louisiana Department of Education, Bureau of School Accountability to correct and verify the data that drive the state's statewide school performance indicator program, the "Progress Profiles." The paper also reports the findings of a nationwide survey in which state departments of…

The National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) of Special Education Students provides ongoing information to the special education community regarding the transition of youth with disabilities from secondary school to early adulthood. The sample for the study began with a 1987 survey (Wave 1) involving more than 8,000 youth from the national…

Delaware County Community College (DCCC) in Media, Pennsylvania, began pursuing Total Quality/Continuous Quality Improvement (TQ/CQI) methods in 1985-86. A major initiative to support TQ/CQI efforts in the classroom was the development of a faculty in-service program to introduce models reflecting TQ/CQI principles and practice. Baugher's LEARN…

Two studies (from 1989 and 1990) are reviewed to illustrate the effectiveness and versatility of "ethnographies of thought" (as described by C. Geertz, 1983) for gaining significant understanding of the meaning perspectives of research participants and the contexts of a variety of educational settings. The methodological implications of the two…

A research plan for investigating the effects of student portfolios on teaching and learning at three different school sites is described. The plan accommodates two categories of research questions: (1) broad, cross-site questions; and (2) site-specific questions generated by participants at each individual site. Data collection strategies…

This policy guide argues the need for improved indicators of student coursework, illustrates the information that different types of measures convey, outlines the key choices that need to be made about data collection, and suggests ways in which states might develop more valid and useful indicators of student coursework. In its broadest form,…

Colleges of further education in Great Britain have been involved in three recent initiatives in the implementation of ethnic monitoring: (1) a report on ethnic monitoring in postsecondary education; (2) two management training conferences on the implementation and uses of ethnic monitoring for representatives of further, adult, and higher…

This guide, designed to help institutions plan integrated information systems which will enable them to meet their needs for data on foreign students was developed during a 3-day seminar in February, 1984. The first of five chapters provides a brief introduction on how to use the planning guide. Chapter 2 contains information designed to guide the…

In 1989 and 1990 the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance to standing committees in the U.S. Congress identified and explored issues for consideration in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and Title IV programs. Through 18 months of information gathering the Committee uncovered three problem areas. The first problem is…

A self-study model used to assess the effectiveness of occupational/technical and transfer programs at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College (JSRCC) in Virginia is provided in this manual. First, an introduction discusses the intent of the evaluation process and describes revisions of the model which was initially developed between 1979 and 1981.…

The present study investigated the reliability and validity of scores from the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory. The CAP is a screening device for physical abuse potential in adults; it is a self-administered test written on a third-grade reading level. Subjects were 113 mothers, including 53 (46.9%) mothers of young children with handicaps,…