Discusses how the federal government collects and publishes ethnic and racial data and the problems and potential consequences inherent in revising ethnic and racial categories for census taking purposes. Problems stemming from racial self-identification and minority leadership backlash are explored, as well as the implications for American group…

Argues that public perceptions of an epidemic of school violence are media-induced; asserts that violence in schools declined during the 1990s; supports assertion with evidence from the National School Safety Center; states the estimates of bullying in school are exaggerated. (PKP)

A chart summarizes state appropriations in the United States for major higher education institutions and programs for 1999-2000, noting the percentage change over the previous year. A second chart ranks the states by appropriation amounts and by one-year percentage change, and also provides specific appropriation amounts and five-year average…

A survey was conducted to investigate public library directors' use of the Federal-State Cooperative System for Public Library Data and the Public Library Data Service reports. This article highlights the uses directors made of statistics and the aspects of statistics that they found particularly useful. (Contains 51 references.) (Author/AEF)

The paper reports on aspects of an ESRC project, "The impact of Performance 'Threshold Assessment' on teachers' work" (ESRC R000239286). The paper begins by explaining the nature and technology of "Threshold Assessment," and its location nationally within the performance management system recently introduced into schools in England. We review the…

In this article, I outline how, with the appropriate mix of external requirements and internal motivation, structure and capacity, a school can promote and maintain a culture of evaluative practices, specifically data use, for continuous improvement. I draw upon qualitative data conducted in a study of an Edison Project school. The findings from…

This article reports on the central recommendation of the federal task force for a way to better handle dropout and graduation rates. Made up of 10 academics and government statisticians, the panel comprising the Task Force on Graduation, Completion, and Dropout Indicators was formed in the fall of 2003 to advise the U.S. Department of Education's…

The "2011 State Preschool Yearbook" is the newest edition of our annual report profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. This latest "Yearbook" presents data on state-funded prekindergarten during the 2010-2011 school year as well as documenting a decade of progress since the first…

This report shows that Massachusetts school districts are making progress in providing instruction that is relevant to today's students--and in preparing students for the technological demands of the 21st century. A number of positive trends emerge from districts' 2004-2005 technology data. The daily use of technology in the classroom has…

This report is the tenth in a series of annual publications produced jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), in the U.S. Department of Education, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the U.S. Department of Justice. This report presents the most recent data available on school…

This report displays, in tabular format, four sets of outcomes, each based on a distinct set of students: (1) Participation (percent of high school graduates enrolled in any public or private college in Ohio); (2) Preparation (course-taking data from surveys that students complete when they register for exams); (3) Remedial Course Enrollment (for…

The authors' goal was to identify factors explaining intention to encourage a patient to follow complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatment among general practitioners (GPs), fourth-year medical students, and residents in family medicine. They surveyed 500 GPs and 904 medical students via a self-administered mailed questionnaire that…

This chapter focuses on indicators of postsecondary participation, looking at the characteristics of students who enroll in postsecondary education, students who receive financial aid, and students who receive different levels of postsecondary degrees. Between 1976 and 2004, minority enrollments increased as a percentage of undergraduate…

Colleges are focusing increased effort--and money--to improve the physical condition of existing facilities and address a huge backlog of deferred maintenance. According to "American School & University's" 36th annual Maintenance and Operations (M&O) Cost Study, the median college spends 16.4% of total college budget on M&O, up from 11% the year…

The Departments of Labor and Higher Education, working in close collaboration with the constituent units of public higher education, present this comprehensive report on the employment of graduates of the public colleges and universities. This report summarizes the employment and compensation experience of students who graduated from the State's…