Studied the improvement in precision of population estimates from the inclusion of extensive covariates in the multivariate procedure that imputes values for the missing proficiencies. Analysis of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (samples of 10,291 eighth graders and 8,416 fourth graders) shows that improvement in…

The representativeness of behavioral observation samples with durations of less than the whole time of interest was investigated with five profoundly mentally retarded physically handicapped adults in an institutional setting. It was found that the session representativeness was a function of the relative duration of the behavioral categories and…

Arguing that reliable and valid dropout rate estimates are prerequisite to establishment of causal factors and intervention programs, this article examines differences in definitions of dropouts, computational methods, and the complexities in defining cohorts, as well as the importance of sample attrition. Several sources of error are discussed.…

The effects of certain characteristics (e.g., sample design) of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data on statistical analysis techniques are considered. Ignoring special features of NAEP data and proceeding with a standard analysis can produce inferences that underestimate the true variability and overestimate the true degrees of…

Describes the teacher-developed California Assessment Program (CAP) writing measure, designed to support California's reform curriculum and based on matrix sampling techniques. This program will be supplemented by literature and mathematics assessments. The greatest challenge is designing an assessment to match the state's new history and social…

Reviews time-saving approaches that can help academic librarians (or small libraries lacking collection development librarians) to maintain collections. A sidebar provides information on locating subject publication lists and appendices offer guidelines for collection weeding and sampling. (JMV)

Several issues related to the design and reporting of results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are discussed in the context of current expectations for the NAEP and its origins. These issues include: (1) content coverage and format; (2) estimation procedures; and (3) reporting problems. (SLD)

A test theory using only ordinal assumptions is presented, based on the idea that the test items are a sample from a universe of items. The sum across items of the ordinal relations for a pair of persons on the universe items is analogous to a true score. (SLD)

Describes the of attribute sampling to estimate characteristics of library collections and operations. The nature of statistical sampling and making a statistical inference are covered, and examples from library situations are given. Tables of determination of sample size and evaluation of results are included. (Contains six references.) (EAM)

A method is presented to use school-level attributes in sample description and random assignment of schools to conditions in drug prevention programs. Utility of archival data was examined using multivariate canonical techniques, and it was found that a small set of data could predict observed variations in drug use. (SLD)

A survey of 239 school-based speech-language pathologists revealed that respondents routinely supplement quantitative assessment procedures with language sample analyses, are sensitive to the effects of some contextual variables on sample representativeness, and use language sampling information to assist in planning intervention services.…

A modified time sampling procedure that measured behavioral rate and duration was used to record stereotypic and on-task responding in 11 students (ages 11-17) with severe emotional and behavioral disturbances. For both types of behavior, response duration exhibited less variability than response rate, and noncorrespondence between the two…

Analyzes the findings of J. Greene and data from Florida and suggests that the strong effects (significant improvement on test scores in schools threatened by vouchers) noted by Greene may actually be due in large part to sample selection, regression to the mean, and problems related to the aggregation of test score results. (Author/SLD)

Presentation of quantitative research on the family often suffers from a tendency to interpret findings on a statistical rather than substantive basis. Advocates the use of data analysis that lends itself to an intuitive understanding of the nature of the findings, the strength of the association, and the import of the result. (JPS)

Documents the methodology of the second follow-up interview of the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study, describing sample design, instruction development and data collection, response rates, efficacy of the survey instrument, and weights and design effects. (Author/SLD)