Reliable and current data is the foundation upon which good public policymaking is built. While California collects a good deal of data on its teaching workforce, policymakers have lacked a state-level data and analysis system to provide answers to even some of the most basic questions: How many credential holders actually take jobs? In what types…

The purpose of this article is to describe a capstone course in undergraduate student geographical research in which GIS and other geospatial tools were used to teach undergraduate students basic geographical principles. The course uses the "cooperative learning" pedagogical approach to address one of a number of client-supplied research projects,…

This paper presents outcomes of a practicum that was designed to address a need that was created when the Ministry of Education in Ontario, Canada, mandated that all grade 9 classes be "destreamed." A review of educational literature found no methods for ensuring that classes are truly heterogeneously mixed. The practicum was designed to…

This paper explores educational productivity in Texas as it relates to the development of an educational productivity model based on information in the Accountability System of the Texas Education Agency. A number of educational inputs were identified that were found to be related to specific educational outputs. Stepwise regression analysis was…

This document lists 248 federal funding programs available to rural areas. The programs were selected from the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, 1995, which is available online from the Federal Assistance Programs Retrieval System (FAPRS). Entries are listed under the following federal departments or agencies: Department of Agriculture,…

The Post-Education Employment Tracking System (PEETS) is an automated system for tracking employment rates and earnings of community college program completers and leavers, linking state Employment Development Department (EDD) unemployment insurance (UI) records with student data from the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges. A…

This review of research connected to Project Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) is a summary of the project's ongoing work in the form of a letter from researchers to a hypothetical colleague. Project STAR has investigated the effect on student achievement and development of small classes in the primary grades (K through 3). A research…

The Public Libraries Survey has been conducted annually since 1988 by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through the Federal-State Cooperative System for Public Library Data (FSCS). The survey collects identifying information and basic data on public libraries (8946 in 1992) and their outlets in the United States; identifying…

This bibliography lists materials available from the National Agricultural Library's (NAL) AGRICOLA database that are related to crime and crime prevention in rural areas. The bibliography was derived from a search of books, journals, research reports, and Cooperative Extension Service publications that have been entered into the database since…

As of 1993, Nevada had no systems for statewide automation and transfer of student records. This guide book presents findings of a collaborative study, conducted by the Nevada Department of Education and local school districts, that explored the need for and feasibility of developing a statewide system for automating and transferring student…

This document tabulates extensive and detailed information about the assessment programs of each state. It is the third edition of the database and remains the single best source for information about the student assessments that states conduct. The database is compiled from a survey completed by state directors of assessment. The first section of…

The New Generation System (NGS) is a computer network developed to transfer academic records of migrant students. NGS was developed as a result of the phasing out of the Migrant Student Record Transfer System. NGS is backed by a 29-state consortium that uses the Internet to transfer records because of its speed, availability, and…

This guide to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is designed to help the secondary data analyst use the NAEP and to introduce some of the sophisticated technology used by the NAEP. The NAEP has been gathering information on American students since 1969. It samples populations that consist of all students in U.S. schools, both…

The National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education (NCPSE) is a federally funded project that collects and disseminates information on the training and available supply of special education professionals. Pertinent information on the supply, demand, and need of special education teachers in rural areas is difficult to find. This…

Techniques for building a world-wide information infrastructure by reverse engineering existing databases to link them in a hierarchical system of subject clusters to create an integrated database are explored. The controlled vocabulary of the Library of Congress Subject Headings is used to ensure consistency and group similar items. Each database…