This report from the Charter School Achievement Consensus Panel, a group of nine researchers convened by the National Charter School Research Project, examines the existing research on student achievement in charter schools and details how future research could be improved. The panel reviewed and rated more than 40 evaluations of charter school…

This report presents findings from two investigations of the use of classroom artifacts to measure the presence of reform-oriented teaching practices in middle-school science classes. It complements previous research on the use of artifacts to describe reform-oriented teaching practices in mathematics. In both studies, ratings based on collections…

A glyph--short for hieroglyphic--is a form of picture writing that conveys information. This book uses 10 glyphs to teach math concepts that are linked to the new NCTM Standards. There are four key parts to each glyph: (1) a legend (or survey questions); (2) directions for the teacher that tell students what to draw, color, or write based on…

The term "registry" has become a catchall phrase for various vehicles that states are using to build more coherent professional development systems for the early care and education (ECE) field. This policy brief presents the results of a recent nationwide survey of ECE workforce registries, brief profiles of registries in nine states, an…

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the College learners' attitudes toward Online Synchronous Communications (OSCs) to build knowledge networks. Also, this study focuses on how to improve these learners' critical thinking skills via synchronous communicational activities. Based on the main purpose of this study and the concerns, the…

This issue of "Early Developments" is devoted to program evaluation, a type of work that many at FPG are engaged in, either conducting evaluations or helping agencies and states conduct evaluations. Many readers know FPG for its research in prevention, early intervention, child care, and child and family development, but in the past several years,…

This toolkit is designed to provide educational leaders with information, tools, resources, and practical examples to help schools to effectively implement Title I schoolwide programs. It is intended to serve as a useful resource for states, districts, and schools to use, along with other resources and technical support, to create or refine…

This explorative data mining project used distance based clustering algorithm to study 3 indicators, called OIndex, of student behavioral data and stabilized at a 6-cluster scenario following an exhaustive explorative study of 4, 5, and 6 cluster scenarios produced by K-Means and TwoStep algorithms. Using principles in data mining, the study…

The third research study in a series of qualitative studies examines the functions and practices of local professional development committees in Ohio. This descriptive study interviewed key informants from five Local Professional Development Committees (LPDCs) regarding their processes and practices. Resultant data indicated that several districts…

This paper reports the findings of an experiment designed to test extensions of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) within the context of using the World Wide Web to gather and analyze financial information. The proposed extensions are three-fold. Based on prior research, cognitive absorption variables are posited as predeterminants of ease of…

Following a referral from the March 2000 Annual General Meeting of the British Columbia (B.C.) Teachers' Federation, the Spring 2000 Representative Assembly passed a motion that recommended research be collected, conducted, and disseminated on the current status of students in the province. This research report identifies current information on…

This compendium is a guide to the major national data resources related to higher education in the United States. Designed to support quality educational research and policy analysis, the Compendium describes 100 resources, including general references as well as resources pertaining to students and learning, faculty and staff, finance and…

School system leaders are discovering the power of data for promoting school improvement. This guide provides practitioners, parents, and community with insights and tools for cultivating a districtwide culture of data-driven inquiry. Chapter 1 points out that data provide quantifiable proof, taking the emotion and rancor out of the…

The authors point out that offices of institutional research are valuable resources for collecting data to help faculty improve their teaching, and can involve the whole institution in a collaborative effort towards improved student learning. Defining institutional research as a capacity to work closely with faculty to explore questions about what…

This paper explores the role of organising data in representing numerical data in an organised way--a skill which does not come naturally to most students. Grade 6 children were given a series of lessons on organising data and then representing the data graphically. It was found that after instruction, more students were able to reorganise the…