There is a growing national recognition that teachers and teaching are at the heart of successful educational reform. However, few tools exist for measuring classroom instruction. The primary purpose of this article is to describe methods we developed to measure and study teaching, specifically while teachers were using a multimedia intervention…

The goal of college preparation programs is to help students, particularly underrepresented students of color, to enroll and succeed in college. While many programs focus on strengthening students' math and reading skills, familiarizing them with college entrance exams, and demystifying the college admissions process, there are few guidelines for…

Mixed methods research has increased in popularity over the past 20 years. Literature reveals that exploratory qualitative analysis followed by confirmatory survey research is common and concurrent studies outnumber longitudinal design. Longitudinal studies using quantitative and qualitative methods in sequence for exploratory purposes are rare,…

This population study of eight California birth cohorts (1987-1994) examined the degree to which improvements in detection and changes in diagnosis contribute to the observed increase in autism prevalence from 5.8 to 14.9 per 10,000. A decreasing prevalence of mental retardation without autism suggests that improvements in detection and changes in…

The California State Department of Education collects racial and ethnic data on public school staff and students in California in October of each year through the California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS). This report presents a summary of the data for the State and for each county. The following characteristics are noted: (1) of the 4.5…

This study investigated associations between selected infant and maternal characteristics and autism risk in 4381 California children with autism. Increased risk factors were observed for males, multiple births, and children born to black mothers. Risk increased as maternal age and maternal education increased. Children of immigrant mothers had…

This packet is designed to guide users through the steps that ultimately lead to the assignment of collection responsibilities for individual member libraries of the North Bay Cooperative Library System, Santa Rosa, California. An initial profile of the member libraries examined the subject distribution of books owned, availability of books owned,…

Before there can be an understanding of politics, policy, and action in education, there must be an understanding of the value systems of policymakers. Policymakers, in their talk, in their choices of symbols and metaphors, in their choices of strategies for dealing with conflict, reveal their own needs, their role orientations, their group…