Compared classification procedures of peer rating and peer positive, negative, and behavioral nomination. Two large samples of children were followed from grades three to five. Each sociometric system was found to maximize different psychometric properties. Two-dimensional systems yielded better behavioral discriminability than did unidimensional…

Unlike traditional school management, Toyota of America recognizes thinking employees and emphasizes problems and measurable approaches to improvement. Instead of meeting to discuss short-term goals, specific problems, and concrete successes, school leaders often alienate staff by leading year-end discussions of standardized test score data.…

Provides a conceptual and empirical analysis of the associations between the fundamental sociometric dimensions of acceptance, rejection, and social preference. Examines whether nomination and rating scale measures index the same constructs. Notes that sociometric ratings measure social preference, but can also yield indicators of acceptance and…

Study used a random sample of 199 students from the national sample of 4,408 students from different types of colleges and universities stratified by institutional race, type, control, and selectivity. Student responses on the College Student Survey were analyzed to show the construction of a fundamental measure as the first step toward creating a…

One way to manage marking error, in a large-scale educational testing context, is to establish a mechanism through which appeals can be lodged. While, at one level, this seems to offer a straightforward technical solution to the problem of marking error, it can also result in unintended consequences, with political, social or educational…

This article discusses the theoretical underpinnings of different types of income poverty measures--absolute, relative, and a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) "quasi-relative" one--and empirically assesses them by tracking their performance over time and across demographic groups. Part of the assessment involves comparing these measures to…

Bibliometrics has come of age and is generally accepted, together with peer review, as one way to describe the activity of players in science. Appealing issues in bibliometrics include the characterization of a growth regime of research systems including the trade-offs of production-visibility; the measure of science-technology linkage and…

Little is known about the payoffs to apprenticeship training in the German speaking countries for the participants. OLS estimates suggest that the returns are similar to those of other types of schooling. However, there is a lot of heterogeneity in the types of apprenticeships offered, and institutional descriptions suggest that there might be an…

Adult sensitivity toward young children has long been considered an important component of quality caregiving. Because most studies of child caregiver sensitivity have measured behavior toward a group of children, knowledge of important differences in behavior toward individual children, as well as a way to compare mother and "other"…

Hearings on the 1990 Decennial Census were held on May 1, 1986, and May 15, 1986. The May 1 session focused on data processing procedures. Speakers included John G. Keane, Daniel G. Horvitz, William Eddy, Judith S. Rowe, Benjamin F. King, and Stephen E. Fienberg. Topics included automation of address files and questionnaire check-in; dissemination…

An ideal system of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), from the local school district perspective, must follow several principles based on the 1985 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing: (1) Testing must be viewed by teachers and students as worthwhile. (2) Test results must be presented in a timely and useful…

The thesis of this paper is that the decision to use one of three approaches to unit-of-analysis in educational research should be based on substantive considerations, not statistical factors. In addition to the commonly used "total analysis" (regression analysis across individuals), the within and between analyses are inherent in the…

These four papers focus on a consideration of the costs of evaluation, as examined in the Evaluation Use Project. "A Framework for Estimating Evaluation Costs," by Marvin Alkin and Brian Stecher, considers overall theory and draws on previous research in determing evaluation costs. The concepts are extended to develop informal quidelines…

When establishing statewide and nationally comparable educational evaluation and assessment systems, state education agencies (SEAs) must consider factors affecting policy in at least four areas. First, the full range of purposes for establishing such a system should be clarified. It must be decided whether the system exists to provide data for…

Curriculum behavioral objectives for metric programs in grades K-8 are listed in this document. The objectives are organized according to topic and coded for grade level. The topics covered are: (1) language development; (2) comparison and ordering; (3) measurement/length; (4) measurement/volume; (5) measurement/man; (6) measurement/temperature;…