A brief overview is provided of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) program of the National Center for Education Statistics, and areas of research or survey evaluation in which work is ongoing or planned are described. The SASS is an integrated system of surveys of public and private schools, school districts, school principals and…

Performance assessment procedures and a portfolio assessment framework are presented for monitoring the language development of language minority students in the upper elementary and middle grades. Unlike standardized achievement tests, performance-based assessment can effectively monitor the progress of language minority students because it can…

This state-mandated report reviews the status of health professions education programs in Florida. Part 1 provides an overview of health professions education policy by describing special considerations for policymakers and program planning, reviewing outcomes of previous Florida Postsecondary Education Planning Commission recommendations, and…

The development, administration, and evaluation of a national survey to determine college students' understanding of world affairs are described in 12 articles that focus on survey measures, procedures, and results. Stephen F. Klein and Sheila M. Ager describe the issues examined by an assessment committee, their choice of an issues framework for…

A consortium program of eight private colleges in Southern California that focuses on student retention efforts is described. Each college has a retention task force consisting of faculty, administrators, student affairs staff, and students. A steering committee with one representative from each college, generally the dean of students, coordinates…

Pursuant to developing an interactive system for planning and managing vocational education programs, the project focused on methods of obtaining student supply and manpower demand information. The goal was to operationalize a student data base that would facilitate planning and regulatory requirements of the Illinois Department of Adult,…

This report details the process of the Illinois Standards Project to develop, adopt, and implement standards of quality for agricultural occupation programs at both the secondary and postsecondary levels throughout Illinois. Part I, standards for quality programs in area vocational centers excluding metropolitan areas, is divided into three…

The 1998 High School Transcript Study provides the U.S. Department of Education and other educational policymakers with information regarding current course offerings and students' course-taking patterns in U.S. secondary schools. Similar studies were conducted in 1982, 1987, 1990, and 1994. This guide documents the procedures used to collect and…

The Mt. Hood Community College National Tech Prep Demonstration Center program is described in this performance report. The report details the following activities through which the center contributed significantly to educational reform: (1) information dissemination (including distributing information packets to more than 2,770 sites, hosting 63…

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care is an ongoing, prospective, 3-year longitudinal study of over 1,300 full-term healthy infants and families from 10 sites across the United States. While the sample is not nationally representative, the subjects come from major regions of the country: the…

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care is an ongoing, prospective, 3-year longitudinal study of over 1,300 full-term healthy infants and families from 10 sites across the United States. While the sample is not nationally representative, the subjects come from major regions of the country: the…

The Transfer Assembly is a research effort of the Los Angeles-based Center for the Study of Community Colleges. The Assembly defines transfer students as "all students entering a two-year college in a given year who have no prior college experience, who complete at least 12 credit units at the college, and who subsequently enroll at a senior…

Recent mandates from state and accrediting agencies are requiring community colleges to provide evidence of their success in such areas as basic skills and remediation, general education, major-field content, student development, transfer effectiveness, job training, job placement, and fiscal accountability. This volume, in addition to describing…

Since 1988, Vermont has been developing a state assessment program, the centerpiece of which is the student portfolio and "best pieces" drawn from it. The state's use of portfolio results will be limited to reporting aggregates, but within schools, teachers and principals may use the portfolios as they choose. The assessment program,…

This paper examines issues in gathering data for purposes of making accountability decisions for students with disabilities. The first section describes five alternative methods being used: (1) administration of norm-referenced tests; (2) focus on results or outcomes; (3) Individualized Education Program aggregation; (4) secondary analysis of…