During fall 1994, Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) surveyed employers of the college's recent graduates to evaluate the occupational success of PVCC graduates and the effectiveness of the college's academic programs in preparing graduates for work. Surveys were sent to the employers of 41 graduates from the class of 1992-93 who had…

Higher education administrators often wonder if the information they receive from the low response rates to surveys of non-matriculating applicants accurately reflects the entire population of these non-matriculants. These questions are exacerbated by evidence that response bias does exist. This paper describes how St. Mary's College in Notre…

This study, conducted by a group of teachers, examined various aspects of multigrade classrooms in Virginia through a mail survey of the state's multigrade teachers whose names and addresses were available (87 responded). A 21-item Grade Combination Teacher Experience and Perceptions Survey developed by the study group was used to collect…

The effectiveness of five methods used to estimate the population parameters of a variable of interest from a random sample in the presence of non-response to mail surveys was tested in conditions that vary the return rate and the relationship of the variable of interest to the likelihood of response. Data from 125,092 adult Alabama residents in…

The role played by written tests in Swedish schools was studied through a survey of 1,817 eighth-grade teachers (the senior level of compulsory school in Sweden) and 589 teachers of the second year of upper secondary school in three counties in Sweden (the response rate was 75%). The survey was supplemented with 51 interviews of teachers at four…

This study investigates prevention and treatment programs that deal with rural child sexual abuse in the State of Washington. A survey of 61 rural service providers examined agencies, services provided, problems faced in service delivery, and innovative solutions to those problems. The study compares responses from three types of agencies (mental…

This paper reports on a 1989 survey administered to superintendents of the 24 South Carolina school districts considered to be 100% rural. The purpose of the survey was to identify the most critical problems or concerns facing rural school districts in the 1990s. The superintendents were asked to rate 28 different items as being a critical problem…

In the United Kingdom in 1977 a national questionnaire survey was conducted by the University of Sheffield (England) under the direction of Frank Whitehead with children ages 10-14 years old to discover the kind and extent of children's voluntary reading. In 1994/95, Whitehead's study was replicated in the context of the 1990s. This report…

Instructors of statistics who teach non-statistics majors possess varied academic backgrounds, and hence it is reasonable to expect variability in their content knowledge, and pedagogical approach. The aim of this study was to determine the specific course(s) that contributed mostly to instructors' understanding of statistics. Courses reported…

This report synthesizes information from public record documents and comments from Early/Head Start program directors and activities from the Illinois Head Start Collaboration Office. Data were obtained from more than 101 mail survey responses from early childhood providers, 38 phone narrative/anecdotal surveys, more than 50 telephone surveys, and…

This report tells the story of the inception and growth of the Gender Project of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension (UMCE) (Sanford, Maine) and shares the results of an evaluation study of program impacts on the lives of individuals, families, and communities over the past six years. Information in the report can guide the growth and…

This 8-page booklet is a survey instrument that was sent to randomly selected college and university senior administrators nationwide by the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. The 29-item questionnaire is designed to learn more about alcohol and other drug prevention efforts taking place on college campuses. Information…

Discusses current constraints on Chicano Studies programs: limited Chicano enrollment, poor retention and graduation rates, scarce Chicano faculty, and weak faculty support for Affirmative Action. Reports on operations of 38 Chicano Studies programs and their responses to these problems. Contains 20 references and 13 tables. (SV)

Among 462 principals of small rural secondary schools in South Dakota, North Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska, most perceived themselves as instructional leaders but spent the most time on general managerial duties. The tendency toward a task-oriented leadership style did not vary by gender or experience. Contains 20 references. (SV)

A pilot study involving 90 percent of the parents of 200 seventh graders attending two junior high schools evaluated the effectiveness of active versus passive methods of obtaining parental consent. Passive consent can provide a viable alternative to active consent when supplemented by appropriate backup and privacy safeguards. (TJH)