This report examines the results of the field test for the base year of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). The general purposes of the field test were, in anticipation of the base-year full-scale effort, to test instruments, forms, and procedures; to experiment with different approaches to questionnaire content and survey…

Educators lack the data necessary to pinpoint concerns and successes in schools. A focus on collecting student achievement data in the past ten years has increased the amount of information school districts have, but these data are insufficient. Successful organizations use extensive data analysis to guide decisions, but few K-12 districts have…

Objective: We used ecological momentary assessment to understand the physical activity and sedentary behaviour patterns of university students. Study design: Cross sectional, opportunistic sample from a university in the English midlands. Methods: Ecological momentary assessment diaries were completed every 15 minutes across two days. The sample…

Most educators, especially elementary principals, know from experience and common sense that attending school regularly during the early elementary years is essential. Young children need enough time in the classroom to gain the basic social and academic skills that will equip them to succeed long term in school. What many educators might not…

Over the past several years, educators have been exploring the potential of immersive interactive simulations, or video games for education, finding that games can support the development of disciplinary knowledge, systemic thinking, the production of complex multimodal digital artifacts, and participation in affinity spaces or sites of collective…

The study of adolescent development rests on methodologically appropriate collection and interpretation of longitudinal data. While all longitudinal studies of adolescent development involve missing data, the methods to treat missingness that have been recommended most often focus on missing data from cross-sectional studies. The problems of…

Student teaching evaluations (STEs) are increasingly used in the process of determining promotion and tenure. While most research has focused on career consequences, there has been little inquiry into the remarks students write at the end of the evaluation form. The structure of the collection process, involving emotional arousal and anonymity in…

The purpose of this paper is to introduce ecological momentary assessment (EMA) as an effective approach for capturing teachers' emotional states and behaviours over time. Although the implementation of EMA has a rich and successful history among social science researchers in general, traditional retrospective, self-report methods for collecting…

In the atmosphere or on the ground, snow provides students with unique opportunities to discover winter weather patterns. Traditionally, when students study weather, it is limited to the collection of data one would see on a weather report. However, the interdisciplinary Students Synthesizing Snow data in Natural Objective Ways (SSSNOW) project…

We discuss collecting data simultaneously from many different instruments, including both qualitative and quantitative sources. A list of instruments used is provided, and data collection methods are described. Many practical logistical concerns are discussed, warning of potential pitfalls to be avoided. This article is intended to be a practical…

This paper reports on data collected via an audience response system, where a convenience sample of 300 adults aged 17-50 pressed a button to register their answers for twenty multiple choice questions. The responses were then discussed with the respondents at the time. The original dataset includes physics, biology and chemistry questions. The…

With privacy concerns growing on a daily basis, it is important to understand how college students guard their personally identifiable information. Despite the students' perceived readiness and several studies on the topic, it is not fully understood what personally identifiable information college students are sharing via online social networks…

"The Learning Principal" is an eight-page newsletter published eight times a year. It focuses on the important and unique work of school principals. This issue includes: (1) Data Analysis Is a Courageous Look in the Mirror (Valerie von Frank); (2) Q&A: Opening Doors, Opening Minds (Valerie von Frank); (3) Focus on NSDC's [National Staff…

A considerable amount of time, effort, and other resources go into the development and implementation of education projects. Quite obviously, the goal is to create effective projects that can serve as models of excellence. Whether the project is an hour-long endangered species talk, a family festival, a severe weather awareness workshop, marine…

[Slides] presented at the Annual Meeting of National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in San Diego, CA in April 2009. This presentation describes how the vehicles for gathering student evidence--task models and test specifications--are developed.