The demand that today's schools shall produce better educational outcomes of their pupils is stronger than ever before, especially in front of the background of our globalized, competitive world. Past and current research has supported the hypothesis that the teacher is the most important ingredient in the educational process. As the Detroit…

The purpose of this study will be to determine if there is a relationship between Hispanic student achievement and the percentage of Hispanic teachers per district in the state of Texas. Specifically, this study will investigate the relationship between the percentage of Hispanic students per district who pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and…

Issues of equity and fairness across subgroups of the population (e.g., gender or ethnicity) must be seriously considered in any standardized testing program. For this reason, many testing programs require some means for assessing test characteristics, such as reliability, for subgroups of the population. However, often only small sample sizes are…

The BC Diploma, Associate Degree, and Certificate Student Outcomes (DACSO) Survey (formerly the BC College and Institute Student Outcomes Survey) collects and disseminates information about former students' post-secondary experiences and their subsequent labour market and further education experiences. The survey is administered annually to former…

This article details the results of a written test designed to reveal how education majors construct and evaluate histograms and frequency polygons. Included is a description of the mistakes made by the students which shows how they tend to confuse histograms with bar diagrams, incorrectly assign data along the Cartesian axes and experience…

Many univariate statistical methods assume that dependent variable data have a univariate distribution. Some statistical methods assume that the error scores are normally distributed. It is clear that the concept of data normality is an important one in statistics. This paper explains that, notwithstanding common misconceptions to the contrary,…

Studied the sample coefficient alpha for each of the five subscales of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSL; L. Derogaitis and others, 1974) in a sample of 419 adults. Findings show that the normal-theory-based distribution has a systematic bias in describing the behavior of the sample coefficient alpha. (SLD)

The value of professional development continues to be emphasized on educational and governmental levels. Even as this study was being conducted, the U.S. Department of Education launched a $4.35 billion dollar grant that includes improving teacher effectiveness as a core component of the grant's purpose…

This study examines the demographics of SACs and the schools they serve, and proposes that demographic similarity with the school principal influences the SAC membership. The findings draw attention to the likelihood that appointment to SAC chair may be contingent on an individual's demographic similarity with the school principal. Principals also…

Although molecular clock theory is a commonly discussed facet of evolutionary biology, undergraduates are rarely presented with the underlying information of how this theory is examined relative to empirical data. Here a simple contextual exercise is presented that not only provides insight into molecular clocks, but is also a useful exercise for…

Previous research has shown that infants match vowel sounds to facial displays of vowel articulation [Kuhl, P. K., & Meltzoff, A. N. (1982). The bimodal perception of speech in infancy. "Science, 218", 1138-1141; Patterson, M. L., & Werker, J. F. (1999). Matching phonetic information in lips and voice is robust in 4.5-month-old infants. "Infant…

Investigated in the current study were gaps between secondary schools and higher education in English curriculum and in general areas, as perceived by South Texas secondary school English teachers. Qualitative analysis yielded seven themes concerning the gaps and six themes concerning suggested initiatives and services. Findings from the study…

In this paper, data from the Baccalaureate & Beyond 93/97/03 survey is used to examine the link between college graduate earnings and the number of years a school has been accredited by AACSB International. We find that there is no monetary benefit to attending an institution of higher learning which has been accredited longer, which suggests…

This study had two primary objectives. First, this study sought to create a classification system to which publicly-controlled Carnegie classified Master's Colleges and Universities could be grouped according to geographical service (rural-serving, suburban-serving, or urban-serving. Second, once the classification system was developed and…

This paper is the fourth in a series of national statistical reports on young people aged 12-24 years produced by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). This report provides the latest available information on how Australia's young people are faring according to national indicators of health and wellbeing. Many young Australians…