The origins of educational research are examined in order to understand its original purposes, assumptions, and effects, both intended and unintended. Changes in research are also noted, as public education has been assigned additional responsibilities to meet the requirements of a new social and economic order. This paper discusses the…

A four-year longitudinal study of concept attainment and uses of concepts, as specified by the Conceptual Learning and Development Model, is described. Data collected during the first two years were based upon the assessment of the concept, equilateral triangle. The assessment battery was administered to 351 children (grades K, 3, 6, and 9) in…

Identifying the effects of the New York State Experimental Prekindergarten Program on the development of children requires that a broad array of data be analyzed. In studying the effects of the program, the evaluation unit is interested in determining whether there is an overall effect, and whether children of different ages and different levels…

The thirteen papers included here were presented at a conference on the importance of systematic research in evaluating the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system and administrative functions. The first paper spells out the roles and responsibilities EMS administrators incur when they make a commitment to participate in a research project. An…

A research strategy that the National Institute of Education (NIE) has adopted to obtain information about what Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is accomplishing toward achievement of two of its objectives is presented. These two objectives are to fund special services to low achieving students in the poorest schools and to…

An evaluation of the New York State Experimental Prekindergarten Program was begun in 1975 to provide longititudinal data on the effects of prekindergarten on children's development over a period of 5 years. Data were collected on a variety of items, including children's test performance at various times, family background, ratings by teachers,…

The development of two instruments useful in evaluating supervisory behavior is described in this paper. Form 1 of the Supervisory Behavior Description Questionnaire (SBDQ) is an ordinal-type scale originally composed of eight sub-scales and 132 triads of items. Each item is composed of a very directive statement, a collaborative statement, and a…

A one-week VTAE (Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education) Researcher Workshop was designed to increase the research competencies of Wisconsin VTAE staff members working with research and evaluation projects through a hands-on approach. Based on a needs assessment conducted with the participants, the agenda included sessions on various aspects…

Objectives of a study of the impact of participatory-democratic work experience on adolescent development are (1) to explore the possibilities for facilitating adolescent development by promoting participatory-democratic work structure in Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) programs and to augment past research on YCC by monitoring the structure of…

Technical notes concerning the Survey of Income and Education (SIE), April-July 1976, which was conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, are presented. Information is presented on the source of the data, sample design, estimation procedure, reliability of the estimates, nonsampling variability,…

A traffic safety program consisting of a workshop for parents and the use of special storybooks with their children was effective in reducing 13 preschool children's entries into the street to a rate approximately 10% of that previously observed. The program also increased parents' use of praise and reward for safe play and children's correct…

Follow-up studies are necessary for investigating the long-term, enduring, anticipated effects of bilingual education. Investigations need to be based on a recognition of their value to educational audiences, the relative merits of research issues, attention to the problem of attrition, proper selection of dependent measures, and the merits of…

This five-part report provides background for a research design for the study of student attrition and retention in the community college. After Part I introduces the larger study of high risk students for which this paper was prepared, Part II defines the concepts of retention and attrition with respect to the attainment of student objectives…

Under a grant from the Ford Foundation, the Higher Education Research Institute is focusing a major research project on American Indians, Blacks, Chicanos, and Puerto Ricans, the four groups most underrepresented in American higher education, in an effort to determine each group's current status and progress since 1970 toward equitable educational…

Although the primary purpose of this report is to present prototypical procedures for conducting two-year college vocational follow-up studies, it also describes the implementation and results of using these procedures in the evaluation of the electronics, computer science, and tool and manufacturing programs at Los Angeles Pierce College. After…