Facilities that self-police under the Environmental Protection Agency's Audit Policy are eligible for reduced penalties on disclosed violations. This paper investigates whether self-policing has additional consequences; in particular, whether self-policing reduces future enforcement activity. Using data on U.S. hazardous waste enforcement and…

Governmental and accrediting entities are demanding increased accountability and efficiency from colleges and universities. This chapter discusses strategies for developing institutional data sets that create a "culture of evidence." (Contains 5 figures.)

The NEAIR (North East Association for Institutional Research) 2011 Conference Proceedings is a compilation of papers presented at the Boston, Massachusetts conference. Papers in this document include: (1) Are Students Dropping Out or Dragging Out the College Experience? The Roles of Socioeconomic Status and Academic Background (Leslie S. Stratton…

The "No Child Left Behind" Act requires that states align K-12 assessments with their academic standards for what students should know and be able to do. Alignment is at the core of standards-based education. The theory is that student achievement will improve if all parts of the system pull in the same direction. Under such a system,…

A study provides an organized list of core English language arts standards and benchmarks that are recognized by most or all of the states in the Central Region (Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming) and that are found in standards documents that have been rated as exemplary by national organizations. In…

The study of the social sciences includes: history, civics, geography, and economics to prepare students for responsible citizenship. The Oregon state standards for social sciences sets out common curriculum goals, content standards, information for Benchmark 1 (grade three), Benchmark 2 (grade five), Benchmark 3 (grade eight), and Certificate of…

A progress map describes the nature of development in an area of learning and thus serves as a frame of reference for monitoring individual growth. An essential feature of a progress map, which is an integral component of Developmental Assessment, is that it describes and illustrates developing competence. The first step in constructing a progress…

The chapters in this collection explore the concept of benchmarking as it is being used and developed in higher education (HE). Case studies and reviews show how universities in the United Kingdom are using benchmarking to aid in self-regulation and self-improvement. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction to Benchmarking" (Norman Jackson…

This document is designed to establish consistency in the definition and format to be used in developing early literacy standards and benchmarks. It articulates a set of standards and benchmarks that is based on current national and state standards documents and that reflects the foundational knowledge and developmental differences representative…

The focus of this brief is on the value of using the construct of ?Ready to Learn? as an Oregon benchmark and as an agency key performance measure. Oregon takes a high-level look at its young children every 2 years using the Kindergarten Readiness Survey. Kindergarten teachers use a variety of measures to collect information to rate their…

Benchmarking is a widespread practice in all industries today. Higher education is no exception. One need only look at annual rankings in "U.S. News and World Report" to appreciate power of benchmarking in a market-driven society that is seeking the best value in education. To the public, and even to leaders in higher education, measures…

Proposes a method for finding the appropriate level of teacher salaries in different states, based on states' and regions' average fiscal capacities and efforts for instructional salary costs. Applies the method to salary data from all states and compares it to methods based on actual salary levels. (RW)

Developed school versus benchmark comparison reports based on groups of easily comparable school types for Queensland, Australia schools. The state benchmark for each set of comparable schools estimated how easy it was, on average, for members of the benchmark group (parents or students) to endorse each of the School Opinion Survey Likert-scale…

Describes the electronic portfolio project at the University of Florida that uses Florida Accomplished Practices, benchmarks for teacher competency, to promote preservice students' reflections about their teaching and learning by promoting authentic tasks in authentic contexts. Explains the portfolio model that requires students to use technology…

Discussion of electronic commerce focuses on Web site evaluation criteria and applies them to different industry groups in Korea. Defines six categories of Web site evaluation criteria: business function, corporate credibility, contents reliability, Web site attractiveness, systematic structure, and navigation; and discusses differences between…