Discussion of adoption models for learning technologies focuses on how the use of models tends to channel and constrain thinking. Topics include the importance of practice over theory; needs assessment; committees or consultants; developing a framework; data collection, analysis, and interpretation; implementation; and evaluation and revision.…

Reports on a decline in fraternity membership, which is ascribed to changing demographics, bad publicity about alcohol abuse and hazing incidents, and changing student values. Graphs illustrate fraternity membership trends at six universities, including 10-year comparisons in membership, academic performance, and pledges; and average number of men…

Analyzes data from a survey of full-time non-tenure-track faculty at 88 colleges, as well as federal surveys of college faculty. Finds an increase in new staffing patterns that use full-time faculty on term contracts at both two- and four-year institutions. Identifies forces stimulating these changes, but notes worrisome evidence of a two-class…

Investigates the advantages of graphical mapping of national research publication and citation profiles from scientific fields in order to provide additional information with respect to research performance. By means of a multi-dimensional scaling techniques national social science profiles from 17 countries and two periods, 1989-1993 and…

Describes the timely and useful information about education in the United States found in "The Condition of Education" and points out some key pieces of information that are missing. The most glaring omission is information about instructional practices, and a second omission is in the area of teacher knowledge. (SLD)

Discusses the need to prepare teacher education students for integrating technology applications in K-12 schools and describes a student technology committee that was formed in two undergraduate teacher education courses to facilitate a more effective integration. Results from data analysis indicate that this was an effective strategy. (Author/LRW)

Explores the history of the federal Adoption Incentive Program, the first federal child welfare outcome-based incentive program to rely solely on administrative data; discusses the program in the context of other federal child welfare incentive programs. Considers the use of data to project program utilization and costs, set baselines for the…

Examined placement stability among a cohort of children in out-of-home care. Found that children in kinship care, regardless of age, had fewer placement moves than those in nonkinship care. Children who had more than one placement move during their first year were more likely to experience placement instability in long-term out-of-home care. (JPB)

The Education Commission of the States conducted interviews in six school districts in five different states (California, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, and Texas) to understand how districts can use data most effectively. These districts had used data to dramatically improve student achievement. Districts that make wise use of data have strong…

The effect of different combinations of item response theory (IRT) item parameters (item difficulty, item discrimination, and the guessing probability) on the reliability and construct validity (correlation with the latent trait being measured) of pretest, posttest, and gain scores was analytically examined using the 3-parameter logistic (3PL)…

This study examined ethnic differences in substance use and sexual behavior and whether drinking and drug use constitute risk factors for unsafe sexual practices among Native Hawaiian (NH), Caucasian, and Asian/Pacific Islander (API) high school students in Hawaii. A secondary data analysis of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (1997 and 1999) using a…

The literature in the field of music teacher education describes a tension between the music making and the music teaching in the professional lives of music educators. Yet how do music educators themselves think about their work? This study is an investigation of how six elementary general music teachers who are also performers speak about their…

During workshops held in March and April of 2005, Michigan educators got a lesson in how to benchmark their work against promising practices in higher-performing schools with similar socioeconomic profiles. Teams of teachers, educational supervisors, and principals from 13 elementary and middle schools that had been struggling to make adequate…

This study explored the understandings of data and measurement that school students draw upon, and the ways that they reason from data, when carrying out a practical science inquiry task. The two practical tasks used in the study each involved investigations of the relationships between two independent variables (IVs) and a dependent variable…

Data-driven decision-making (D3M) appears to be the new buzz phrase for this century, the information age. On the education front, teachers and administrators are engaging in data-centered dialog in grade-level meetings, lounges, hallways, and classrooms as they brainstorm toward closing the gap in student achievement. Clearly, such discussion…