This booklet is designed to help Professional Development School (PDS) planners and implementers who seek guidance in designing and carrying out impact documentation. It can also help students, researchers, and policymakers interested in investigating PDS effectiveness. The booklet offers a conceptual framework for conducting impact documentation,…

This book aims to provide counselors with the theoretical and technical basis needed for designing interventions that enhance relationships between children and teachers. It draws on research in social development and relationships-systems theory to describe the role of child-adult relationships in the development of social and academic…

There is no right way to forecast college enrollments; in many instances, it will be prudent to use both qualitative and quantitative methods. Methods chosen must be relevant to questions addressed, policies and decisions at stake, and time and talent required. While it is tempting to start quickly, enrollment forecasting is an area in which…

Revenue forecasting is the critical first step in most college and university budget-planning processes. While it seems a straightforward exercise, effective forecasting requires consideration of a number of interacting internal and external variables, including demographic trends, economic conditions, and broad social priorities. The challenge…

It is suggested that well-designed and executed institutional research on the effects of student financial aid can help resolve ambiguities about policy and provide useful information for institutional financial planning. Models and methodologies for conducting such research using existing data sources are outlined. (Author/MSE)

Successful college enrollment management requires information about the institution's image, effectiveness of recruiting activities, role of financial aid, student persistence, and alumni success. Enrollment managers must review the literature, develop a performance monitoring system, construct longitudinal cohort tracking files, identify student…

Efforts to assess quality of academic life at Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) resulted in a plan to merge qualitative and quantitative measures and uncovered political, logistical, and fiscal issues in collection and use of the two kinds of data. Although qualitative databases are costly, they are also very useful in different ways. (Author/MSE)

A study of job satisfaction at a college registrar's office investigated overall job satisfaction, physical working environment, motivational culture, and worker needs. Findings included significant differences in satisfaction between registration and admissions units. Recommendations for improved sampling, choice of variables, and research design…

A discussion of college alumni surveys considers the kinds of information that are most helpful to the institution in fund raising, including names and preferred forms of address, significant others, demographics, Social Security numbers, occupational information, and income and net worth. (MSE)

Asserts that qualitative research methodology represents a fundamental reconceptualization about knowledge, validity, and education. Reviews the history and trends of educational research and argues that it is increasingly legitimate to use qualitative methods. (CFR)

Results from a project of linked alumni and employer surveys at North Carolina State University were analyzed to explore the comparability of the ratings. A survey of administrators was subsequently undertaken to explore the impact of survey-based assessment information on planning, assessment, curriculum revision, and customer satisfaction at the…

Use of student focus groups to help shape college and university student recruitment efforts is examined, illustrated with the experiences of a variety of institutions. Benefits and limitations of the approach are noted, specific techniques for maximizing the groups' effectiveness are suggested, and uses of the resulting information are discussed.…

Six technology-based strategies for colleges and universities to use to address market pressures are described: behavioral research to help the institution build relationships; blind consumer surveys concerning perceptions of the institution; secret shopper research, in which unknown "shoppers" go through the enrollment process, keeping…

Recent debates regarding the crisis in American education have led to two essentially contradictory positions: one calling for a movement away from a unified concept of education toward a concept which recognizes and incorporates diversity; and the other calling for increased accountability on all levels of education. The purpose of this paper is…

This fifth volume of a six-volume study of a school district code-named "Milford" sketches life histories and careers of the school's original faculty some 15 years after the school was founded. Section I outlines the study's problems and procedures; describes the faculty as a group of true believers initially characterized by humor, inexperience,…