The Star Schools Assistance Program has been funding activities since 1988. It provides projects with seed money to develop distance learning programming and equip sites. In addition, Star Schools has served as a focal point for demonstrating innovative uses of technology to advance educational opportunity and improvement. This paper represents…

This study examined the predictive factors of demand for degrees and academic performance at the University of the Basque Country (Spain). The study followed two cohorts of university students from secondary education to the completion of the third year of higher education. The data analyzed included secondary school qualifications, selectivity…

The 1995 National Household Education Survey (NHES:95) was a random digit dial telephone survey of households developed by the National Center for Education Statistics. The NHES:95 included two topical survey components: the Adult Education component, which collected information about adults' participation in adult education, and the Early…

As part of a graduate research course, nine students formed a research team to carry out all aspects of a multimethod research study, including design, data collection and analysis, interpretation, and presentation of results in a final evaluation report to a local school corporation. Benefits and challenges were noted by both the instructor and…

Three chapters discuss language usage in the classroom: "Language in the Classroom" (Jack Thomson); "Directions for Research into Classroom Communication" (Douglas Barnes); and "Teachers' Attitudes to Usage" (Ken Watson). The first article discusses how students view their classroom, with actual examples from a newspaper survey. Various teaching…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducts a unified set of surveys that facilitates comparison between public and private schools, school districts, and administrator data. The integrated set of surveys is called the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). A Teacher Followup Survey (TFS) is conducted a year after the SASS survey to…

The California Community Colleges (CCC) has implemented a prototype model for determining student transfer readiness as a primary means of assessing community college transfer effectiveness. This report provides definitions of transfer readiness and guidelines for colleges participating in the CCC transfer readiness study. First, a memorandum from…

The perceived self-efficacy concept plays a significant role in predicting human performance in several areas of human effort, but self-efficacy theory has seldom been applied in the fields of adult literacy and English as a second language (ESL). This study designed a questionnaire for adult literacy and ESL learners to assess their self-efficacy…

This paper analyzes the teaching practice of one of the authors and articulates the role of such reflexive analysis in the practice of professors of teacher education. The study extends the recommendation that teachers reflect on their practice to include the relationship between personal educational experiences of teacher educators and their…

This book in intended to train students in reading a research report critically. It uses actual research articles as examples including both good and flawed studies in each category and provides interpretation and evaluation of the appropriateness of the statistical analyses in each study. Individual chapters usually include two sample studies and…

Institutional research has long relied on surveys to learn about student experiences. This study describes and evaluates two methods of using electronic mail to gather information from students about their experiences. Data were based on two case studies conducted during spring 1996 and fall 1997 at a 5,000-student state university. The report…

A longitudinal study of otitis media in young children, begun in 1981, aimed to provide information on the incidence and prevalence of otitis media in young children in the Newcastle (England) region and to follow their academic progress. Subjects selected for the study were kindergartners in five schools and represented an ethnically homogeneous…

The Common Core of Data (CCD) is the primary database of the National Center for Education Statistics on elementary and secondary education in the United States. CCD is a comprehensive, annual, national statistical database of all elementary and secondary schools and school districts. It contains data that are comparable across all states, and all…

The National Household Education Survey (NHES) is an ongoing project of the National Center for Education Statistics. The NHES uses random digit dial sampling and computer-assisted telephone interviewing to conduct studies on important education issues. This disc contains six NHES components. These are: (1) the 1991 Adult Education Survey, which…

This report concerns the use of benchmarking as a strategy for assessing and improving efficiency and productivity of administrative processes and instructional models in colleges and universities. The introductory chapter addresses the need for new tools and strategies to meet the increased competition and the higher demand for accountability…