To address a public relations problem faced by a large urban public school district in Texas, we conducted action research that resulted in an audited self-monitoring system for high-stakes testing environments. The system monitors violations of testing protocols while identifying and disseminating best practices to improve the education of…

This paper evaluates the long-term benefits of a Syracuse University course offering, "Maxwell 201: Quantitative Methods for the Social Sciences" (MAX 201). The authors analyze data collected from class-administered pre- and post-tests and from a questionnaire sent to a random sample MAX 201 alumni to evaluate the extent to which…

The elimination of racial and ethnic health inequities has become a central focus of health education and the national health agenda. The documentation of an increasing gap in life expectancy and other health outcomes suggests the need for more effective strategies to eliminate health inequities, which can be informed by better monitoring and…

This article summarizes five K-12 school-based dating violence prevention curricula/programs that have gone through some form of evaluation and peer review. These programs were selected as a result of a broad and comprehensive review of the relationship violence literature that has been published in the past decade. Program objectives, components,…

The expansion of interpretation research projects across national boundaries contributes to improved personal, professional, and intellectual outcomes for researchers and practitioners. Establishing and maintaining these collaborative teams may be especially beneficial to strengthening the research agenda of new researchers. Conducting…

This article describes an exploratory case study of secondary school physics teachers' conceptions of scientific evidence. The nature of teachers' conceptions of evidence was derived from an analysis of data collected from 1 preservice and 2 in-service teachers. Each teacher responded to a series of research prompts in multiple interviews and…

Traditionally, educational institutions have relied heavily on the use of tables and graphs to analyze and present enrollment data. However, in dealing with information that has a spatial component (such as enrollment data), graphs and tables are often insufficient for communicating the spatial dimension. An effective way to add this extra…

Purpose: The aim of this pilot feasibility study was to evaluate the effects of an innovative, Internet-based psychosocial intervention for family caregivers of older adults with neurodegenerative disease. Design and Methods: After receiving signed informed consent from each participant, we randomly assigned 66 caregivers to an Internet-based…

Purpose: We sought to determine whether participants in the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) with an informal caregiver have a higher or lower risk of nursing home admission than those without caregivers. Design and Methods: We performed a secondary data analysis of 3,189 participants aged 55 years or older who were enrolled in…

Increasingly, social work researchers are interested in examining how "place" and "location" contribute to social problems. Yet, often these researchers do not use the specialized spatial statistical techniques developed to handle the analytic issues faced when conducting ecological analyses. This article explains the importance of these…

Data sharing among multiple lab sections increases statistical power of data analyses and informs student-generated hypotheses. We describe how to collect, organize, and manage data to support replicate and rolling inquiry models, with three illustrative examples of activities from a population-level biology course for science majors. (Contains 1…

A single-semester elective combines Mendelian and molecular genetics in a problem-solving format. Students encounter a genetic disease scenario, construct a family pedigree, and try to confirm their medical diagnoses through laboratory experiences. Encouraged to generate ideas as they test their hypotheses, students realize the importance of data…

The current high-stakes accountability environment has created strong incentives for educators to systematically collect and use data to inform instructional decisions. This article examines the strategies employed by three urban school districts to promote data use for instructional improvement and their effect on administrator, principal, and…

Can community colleges make better use of data to improve student outcomes? That's the fundamental idea behind "Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count," a bold initiative launched in 2003 by Lumina Foundation for Education to help community college students succeed--particularly, low-income students and students of color, who have…

This article discusses Rochester's two academic models that offer different tools for different purposes--measuring individual learning and measuring what affects learning. The main focus of currently available growth measures is formative assessment--providing data to inform instructional planning. Value-added assessment is not a student…