Drawing on their extensive research, Nichols and Berliner document and categorize the ways that high-stakes testing threatens the purposes and ideals of the American education system. For more than a decade, the debate over high-stakes testing has dominated the field of education. This passionate and provocative book provides a fresh perspective…

Due in part to conflicting opinions and research results, the practice of sustained silent reading (SSR) in schools has been questioned. After a frustrating experience with SSR, the author of this article began a data-driven decision-making process to gain new insights on how to structure silent reading in a classroom, including a comparison…

Academic leaders and governing boards are increasingly aware of the importance and difficulty in managing physical plants as finite resources. In addition, the finances needed to renovate or build facilities have become severely constrained. The National Science Foundation (2000), in its survey of research facilities, suggests that research space…

The public is deeply concerned that students in urban settings are not achieving at high levels. Over the past twenty years, large urban districts have attempted to restructure massive school systems using educational policymaking processes that have focused on school structures, standards-driven curriculum, and test-based accountability measures.…

The first national toll free suicide crisis line for South Africa was launched in October 2003 with the aim of providing a service dedicated to the prevention of suicide in this country. The intervention was motivated by South Africa's suicide rate which had risen higher than the global suicide rate, with the majority of attempted suicides…

A statewide system of reporting faculty workload for the 18 Maryland state community colleges is described, and study findings on faculty workload are presented. Data are collected for full-time teaching faculty who are tenured or on continuous contract. Major findings include: 89 percent of faculty workload is spent in formal classroom…

The University of Massachusetts system launched a legislative "Report Card" project in an effort to pre-empt accountability mandates and improve institutional performance. In the process, the University developed legislative survey and focus group tools, empowered a system-wide University Institutional Research Group; and developed peer…

This document, which highlights the efforts of the National Institute for Literacy to pilot the development of state literacy accountability systems in four states, outlines the components, operation, and importance of state accountability systems and discusses considerations in developing a systems approach to planning and implementing a quality…

This report presents recommendations for performance indicators for Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), with emphasis on indicators reflecting the needs of the Education Department. Themes of the indicators include more attention given to "context variables" such as low birth-weight infants and drug abuse…

Most libraries involved to any extent with total quality management (TQM) realize that successfully gathering information from their customers is the key to improving services. To do this libraries must employ a variety of methodologies, both quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitative primary data is usually collected in libraries by…

This is the fourth in a series of reports evaluating the Public Library Statistics (PLS) program, an annual census of public libraries in the United States. The census includes, in addition to a full count of public libraries and their outlets, a variety of statistics about the services provided by and, the financial condition and the staffing…

The multimethod approach used to collect a assessment data at the local and state levels for the Louisiana Teacher Assessment Program is described. This program develops information about a new teacher's competence that can be used to suggest instructional improvement activities and to decide on qualifications for certification. The first…

In order to help formulate the research questions for a future study on the long-term outcomes of students with disabilities, this study collected information from eight states concerning their priorities for longitudinal research on students who received special education services under the age of 5 years. State directors of special education in…

This paper focuses on the void in the literature on the methodology of institutional research and examines the complex process of interaction that occurs when an institution engages a faculty member or academic unit to assume primary responsibility for conducting a research project on behalf of the institution. A case study of a study conducted by…

The National Household Education Survey (NHES) is a data collection system of the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) that is designed to address a wide range of education-related issues through telephone surveys. It provides descriptive data on the educational activities of the U.S. population and offers a variety of educational…