This report explores the effects of teacher professionalization on elementary and secondary teachers in the United States. The analysis examines the relationships between a set of characteristics traditionally associated with professions and professionals and teachers' commitment to their teaching careers. The report focuses on the following…

This book offers guidelines for action research, a process in which teachers experiment with various strategies at the classroom level. Action research is the process of systematically evaluating the consequences of educational decisions and adjusting practices to maximize effectiveness. Essentially the examination of one's own practice, it…

This booklet addresses the difficulties of comparing and drawing meaning from dropout data prepared by different agencies, and examines the characteristics of students--and of schools--that place students at risk for leaving school prematurely. The booklet describes prevention programs and presents evidence on their effectiveness. It reviews…

A model of graph comprehension is proposed including perceptual and memory processes. Multidimensional scaling (MDS), cluster analysis, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to determine how college students with different mathematical experience read different types of bar graphs. Data were collected at the University of Oklahoma (Norman)…

Too few researchers understand what statistical significance testing does and does not do, and consequently their results are misinterpreted. This Digest explains the concept of statistical significance testing and discusses the meaning of probabilities, the concept of statistical significance, arguments against significance testing,…

Most administrators agree that school improvement and change are needed. Disagreement among administrators arises over how the improvements should be made. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a powerful tool in bringing about change and should be considered as an effective alternative in improvement efforts. The TQM approach is designed to address…

A study was conducted at Macomb Community College (MCC), in Warren, Michigan, to determine whether respondents to studies would be as likely to include their return addresses on business reply envelopes if there were no lines designating the return address's proper placement. From October 25 through November 18, 1993, 23 mailings were conducted…

This article describes a qualitative research approach (in-depth phenomenological interviewing) and illustrates, through the example of an actual study, its potential for helping institutions of higher education understand their students. It argues that progress in understanding college student outcomes, such as persistence, has been retarded by…

This consumer's guide provides descriptive information about currently available surveys of student alcohol and other drug (AOD) use. Its purposes are to inform schools and communities about the instruments available to survey student AOD use, and to delineate the issues faced by educators while selecting or developing a survey instrument to…

The efficiency and appropriateness of the cassette tape as a data collection medium was considered in this survey. A 19-item questionnaire was mailed to 117 agricultural teacher educators who had served at foreign locations. Most of the questions solicited qualitative data about their experiences, problems, and accomplishments. Respondents were…

Philosophical analysis was used to interpret a large-scale attitudinal survey that dealt with, among other factors, teachers' attitudes toward computers in the classroom. This analysis of the study considers the role of philosophical analysis in the context of empirical inquiry. To measure the impact of computers in the classroom on teachers in an…

This document is divided into two parts: the first presents a taxonomy of questions designed for a hypothetical computer database; the second describes the rationale for a question oriented approach to data. This taxonomy is described as a list of questions an educator might use to find out more about the achievement, attendance, and…

This handbook is intended to help government, university, private sector, and other users become better acquainted with the concepts and data underlying the Department of Agriculture's statistical series. The introduction reviews what various pieces of federal legislation say about the computation of agricultural production costs by the U.S.…

This paper presents a study of the contrast of social and clinical perspectives on the selection and use of information by school staff, including: (1) an outline of the context and activities of the study; (2) a definition and discussion of the basic distinction between social and clinical perspectives; (3) an examination of case material…

Discusses how to examine and evaluate claims of improved academic performance in advertisements for computer-assisted instruction. Highlights include the proper use of comparison groups; types of statistical analyses; the Hawthorne effect; the interpretation of scores; interpreting graphic presentations; tests of significance; and cost…