What do we do when we read in another language? How do we make sense of the lexical and syntactic structures on the page? This study's development and use of the Miscue Coding for Metacognitive Strategies (MCMS), a foreign language assessment tool, offers language students and instructors a holistic approach to considering these questions. In this…

The nation's 4-year not-for-profit colleges and universities collectively held more than $400 billion in endowments in 2008. Some institutions' large endowments coupled with the high and growing cost of college have led to questions about institutions' use of endowments. This mandated report describes: (1) the size and change in value of…

The following analysis was done to investigate the findings of the Correlational Relationship (R) between the Bar Passing Rates and GPAs of the Years 2005-2009. This report of findings was done to see if there are any significant relationships between the three variables (Bar Pass/Fail/Unknown, Overall GPA, and Bar GPA). The following procedures…

The following report gives descriptive and correlational statistical findings of the Grade Point Averages (GPAs) of the February 2010 and July 2009 TMSL First Time Texas Bar Test Takers to their TMSL Final GPA. Data was pre-existing and was given to the Evaluator by email from the Dean and Registrar. Statistical analyses were run using SPSS 17 to…

This paper critically examines traditional means of assessing college students' need for remediation and suggests as a replacement an expanded definition of college readiness, where readiness is more complex than rudimentary content knowledge and more multifaceted than a single cut point. The paper presents and explains four dimensions of…

The ?goals ?of ?this ?research? study ?were ?to ?collect ?data ?from ?previous? surveys to ?frame ?and ?define ?the ?concept ?of "parent ?engagement," ?to ?gather ?information ?about the ?barriers ?that ?parents ?face ?in ?engaging ?with ?their ?children's ?education, ?and ?to? determine ?ways ?to ?increase ?parent ?engagement.??This…

Structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews are often used in mixed method studies to generate confirmatory results despite differences in methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation. A review of 19 questionnaire-interview comparison studies found that consensus and consistency statistics were generally weak between…

Many under-prepared university students do not know how to study (Martin and Arendale 1993) because they have not yet developed the abstract reasoning skills that allow them to learn new ideas simply by reading a text or listening to a lecture. This article draws from selected findings from a PhD study currently being undertaken at a university in…

The aim of this study is to better understand the role of researchers and school leaders in supporting school improvement through data feedback in the context of more responsive forms of accountability in the Netherlands. A process evaluation was conducted concerning the first three years of a collaborative project of a multi-management group of…

Purpose/Objectives: Schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) receive a portion of their annual federal funding as commodity entitlement foods--now called USDA Foods--rather than cash payments. Due to rising food prices in recent years, it has been recommended that schools compare the costs and benefits of commodity and…

This case study examines the impacts on student learning, achievement and satisfaction when year 13 (final year) students at a large UK sixth-form college take a GCE A level in one year instead of the usual two years. Data relating to the entry qualifications and final A level grades achieved by 879 students on both accelerated and non-accelerated…

In the past year, there was an overall decrease in dropouts at all grade levels in Maryland, with the largest decrease occurring among students in grade 12. Not surprisingly, principals across the state discovered that alternative assessment strategies that were designed to help students from special populations actually worked for all students.…

This paper describes the lessons learned from a five-year project to develop urban literacy coaches in a large, diverse, metropolitan school system. The narrative begins by reporting on the progress of the schools in the project, which documents gains exceeding both the state and the district gains. It further describes survey data from principals…

School districts across the country have adopted interim and benchmark assessments in response to NCLB pressures to raise student achievement, despite the lack of a research base. Thus, it is especially important that well-conceived, empirical studies of the effects of such programs be carried out. Various theoretical frames can help understand…

A three-month study examined how interactive iconography impacts social studies and promotes critical writing skills. Groups of three middle-school immigrant students constructed museum labels using "Scope Out", an experimental online revision tool that makes iconography interactive. This study included three comparison groups and one…