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This technical assistance paper provides policy and guidance to individuals with test administration responsibilities in adult education programs. The Florida assessment policies and guidelines presented in this technical assistance paper are appropriate for state and federal reporting. Therefore, guidance and procedures regarding the selection and use of appropriate student assessment are included. The following important information for adult education programs is provided: (1) Definition of key terms and acronyms; (2) Selection of appropriate assessments by student and program type; (3) Appropriate student placement into program and instructional level; (4) Verification of student learning gains, EFL, and/or program completion; (5) Accommodation for students with disabilities and other special needs; (6) Assessment procedures for Distance Education; and (7) Training for all staff who administer the standardized assessments.

Internships and other forms of work-based learning are increasingly viewed as essential experiences for college students. Proponents point out that internships help students develop transferable skills, apply academic knowledge to authentic situations, develop professional networks, and facilitate students' socialization and entry into the professions. In recent years, online or virtual internships, which can vary according to duration, structure, and activities, have grown in prominence. The COVID-19 pandemic brought considerable interest in these unique types of internships, as many in-person positions were cancelled or shifted online. Yet little empirical research exists on the prevalence, quality, and commitment to equity and access among online internships in the United States, particularly during the pandemic period of 2020 to early 2021. In this multi-site case study, we collected survey and interview data from college students during the pandemic. Our findings focus on three distinct cases: (1) two independent websites that provide online internship networking platforms (OINP) for students seeking online internships and employers seeking student interns (n=183 surveys, n=45 interviews), (2) 11 colleges and universities (n=9,964 surveys), and (3) a single employer-hosted online internship program at TreeHouse Foods Inc, a multi-national firm engaged in manufacturing and distributing private label food and beverage products. In analyzing and interpreting our data, we used the Internship Scorecard framework (Hora et al., 2020) from the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions. The framework provides a structured approach to studying internships, as well as insights from research on remote work and digital learning. One of our primary conclusions is that while considerable variation exists within the world of internships writ large, an added layer of complexity exists for online positions with respect to information technology, internet access, work-life boundaries, and challenges associated with online or remote work that many occupations experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that these additional concerns and factors make online internships--which are unlikely to disappear post-pandemic--a top priority for improvement, equitable access, and quality control in the field of higher education.

Work-based learning (WBL) has risen rapidly in the policy agenda over recent years in the European Union. Efforts to strengthen WBL, particularly in vocational education and training (VET), are increasingly common throughout European countries. This report analyses the 2016 EU labour force survey (EU-LFS) ad hoc module, which covers the topic of young people on the labour market. The report focuses on WBL in formal initial education and training. It aims to provide EU-wide updated statistical evidence addressing key aspects: how many young graduates experienced work-based learning as part of their highest education attained, particularly in VET and in tertiary education; who they are; and how well they do on the labour market, in comparison with their counterparts who have not participated in WBL.

Compared with four-year colleges, community colleges serve a vastly disproportionate number of undergraduate students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and lower-income backgrounds. Yet the sector remains under-resourced--unable to compete against politically connected state four-year systems and flagship campuses for limited public funds. Worse yet, community colleges have been unfairly stigmatized as they struggle to redress the accumulated disadvantage experienced by much of their student body. What is an under-resourced and stigmatized higher education sector to do? One idea is to reshape words and deeds in ways intended to leverage the benefits of the nation's changing demographics and dispel deficit orientations toward populations community colleges enroll. "Demography as opportunity" is a simple idea grounded in a commitment to affirm the worth of the students who attend community colleges by being responsive to their life circumstances. As the demography of the nation changes--the United States is predicted to be majority minority by 2045--human capital investment in students from racial and ethnic groups, many of whom are first-generation college goers and low-income, is critical to the nation's vitality. "Demography as opportunity" marries the racial and ethnic shifts underway in the country and in higher education with equity perspectives on historically disenfranchised populations. It is a constellation of policy and practice that abides by implementation principles common to well-executed change efforts. It attends to both people and place and aspires to strengthen communities and the nation by investing in the increasingly diverse population of college goers. Community colleges are the ideal venue for demography as opportunity not only because of who they serve but also because of what they do. [This paper is based on a chapter in "13 Ideas That Are Transforming the Community College World," edited by Terry U. O'Banion and published by Rowman & Littlefield and the American Association of Community Colleges in March 2019.]

Although many may be surprised at the growth of homeschooling during the past few decades, the real surprise is probably how that growth happened and that it continues. Home school advocates and practitioners have succeeded despite a lack of funding, recruiting efforts, publicity, and grant money from philanthropic billionaires. They have faced opposition from the National Education Association (NEA), obstacles imposed by individual school districts and various state restrictions, regulations, and requirements. There is also little if any professional development for parent-instructors and virtually no future career path (or pensions) for those parents. Systemically, there is a lack of institutional knowledge with which to keep the homeschooling movement going forward. This paper attempts to elucidate some of these issues by reviewing a brief history of homeschooling, the challenges associated with defining and counting homeschoolers, the predominant reasons for homeschooling, and the critical role parental choice plays in the decision to homeschool. By becoming more knowledgeable about the practices and benefits of homeschooling, traditional educators can begin to offer parents information, support, and encouragement, treating them as educational colleagues who care deeply about children's learning.

This study examines how student pre-college participation in extracurricular activities and volunteer and community services varies by demographic and academic variables, and how their experience participating in these activities affects first-year college engagement and learning outcomes. The analysis focuses on students at the University of California's (UC) nine undergraduate campuses and is based on the self-reported data that compares their high school experience with their first year experience at UC. Students differ significantly in their participation in precollege activities by gender, ethnicity, family income, and college admissions status. URM's and socioeconomically disadvantaged students are less likely to participate in these activities. Those who are admitted to UC are likely to participate in more precollege activities. The study also shows that there is a positive correlation between student precollege participation in these activities and their college experience, academic and civic engagement although the relationship is rather weak. The results also reveal that the participation in extracurricular activities and volunteer and community services is a significant predictor on first-year GPA and persistence. The more activities students participate in, the higher their first-year GPA is and the more likely they persist with their current college programs. These findings will be useful for effective development of admissions policy and enrollment management. It also may help high schools and universities to expand or re-organize their out-of-class activities to encourage greater student engagement for targeted populations.

This paper was presented at the International Symposium on Lifelong Learning for Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development: Developing a Research Agenda for the Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong, 12-13 January 2011. Tom Karmel suggests that there are four implications of an ageing population: the need to improve labour force participation and productivity; the ageing population will provide a "demographic dividend" because there will be fewer young people to school; increasing life expectancy changes the arithmetic of the return to investments in human capital and makes investment in the middle-aged more attractive; and ageing populations in developed countries provide an opportunity for developing countries through the export of labour services. (Contains 4 tables, 6 figures and 2 footnotes.)

In 2001, the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE) was created to "stimulate collaboration between selected liberal arts colleges and to act as a catalyst for the effective integration of emerging and newer digital technologies into teaching, learning, scholarship, and information management." In July 2015, NITLE migrated its operations from Southwestern University to the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). In conjunction with this migration, CLIR initiated a rigorous analysis of NITLE's current condition and the needs of its constituents. CLIR's assessment of NITLE comprises three interrelated activities: (1) composing a history of NITLE and setting it in the larger context of organizations devoted to technology in liberal education; (2) conducting interviews with key stakeholders in NITLE's past, present, and potential future; (3) and designing, administering, and analyzing a survey of current and former NITLE members and interested parties. These activities resulted in a rich, textured picture of the organization and the many ways in which it engaged with its members over the years. Based on the analysis performed for this report, the authors believe that a future organization seeking to serve constituents similar to those served by NITLE should: (1) Maintain a liberal arts college focus; (2) Perform market research to determine how a future organization should support members at the local and/or national level; (3) Clearly articulate the organization's mission, primary audience, and value proposition; (4) Ensure that membership fees are in line with members' perceived return on investment; (5) Develop a culture of ongoing assessment; (6) Regularly communicate with members; and (7) Distinguish the organization from others with similar audience or mission. The following are appended: (1) NITLE Competitors 1997-2015: Audiences, Value Propositions, and Business Models; (2) NITLE Assessment Project: Interview Protocol; (3) Survey Questions; and (4) Organizational Acronyms. (References and Selected Bibliography are included.)

The European labour market is challenged by changes in the demographic composition of the labour force and increasing work complexities and processes. Skills forecasting makes useful contribution to decisions by policy-makers, experts and individuals. In this publication, Cedefop presents the latest results of skills supply and demand forecasts. Alongside the most likely scenario, it shows the impact of alternative labour market activation or migration policies on future labour market imbalances, illustrating the effects of the "highest possible" labour market activity rates based on past and possible future baseline trends. The role of migration in mitigating labour market imbalances is incorporated into the scenario, responding to available job opportunities, income differentials and unemployment levels across Member States. Three annexes are provided: (1) Skills supply: Detailed baseline scenario results; (2) Skills demand: Detailed baseline scenario results; and (3) List of contributing individual country experts.

Student growth measures are increasingly common in K-12 school and teacher accountability policy in the United States. At this time, it is still rare for educator preparation programs (EPPs) to be evaluated by similar measures for either low stakes program improvement or higher stakes accreditation processes. Growth in student achievement reflects the contributions of multiple people and multiple entities, including EPPs, via their roles in selecting educators into the profession and providing candidates with education and training. This paper presents a partial list of technical considerations that researchers, policy makers, and, ultimately, EPPs must address when trying to measure or manage performance. We identify two categories of considerations: those that affect the calculation of teacher value added, and those that affect the aggregation of teacher estimates to the EPP level. Consistent with the current literature, we distinguish the effects of preparation programs on teacher performance from the effects of selection into programs and into districts/schools. One of the most perplexing conclusions of several recent papers is the lack of correlation between teachers' training institution and on-the-job performance. We demonstrate how this result can be generated through a teacher-school matching process under certain labor market conditions. Support for this research was provided by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation.

Value-added data have become an increasingly common evaluation tool for schools and teachers. Many school districts have begun to adopt these methods and have released results publicly. In this paper, we use the unique public release of value-added data in Los Angeles to identify how this measure of school quality is capitalized into housing prices. Via difference-in-differences, we find no evidence of a response to either school or teacher value-added rank, even though school-zone boundary fixed-effects estimates indicate that test score levels are capitalized into home prices. Given ample evidence that this information was new to residents, widely dispersed, and easily available, our results suggest that people did not significantly value it on the margin. This has implications for the effectiveness of providing value-added information as a tool to help parents choose schools. Supplemental tables and a figure are appended.

In 2011, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) founded the Center for Community College Advancement to provide training and resources to help community colleges build and sustain effective fundraising, alumni relations, and communications and marketing programs. A goal for the center is to collect data on best practices at community colleges. This white paper summarizes the results of a survey on foundation operations at community colleges across the United States and Canada. The purpose of the survey was to help community college staff benchmark their foundation experiences and programs with their peers. Participation in the survey was strong, with representatives from 122 foundations in the United States and Canada having contributed data (approximately 10 percent of the universe of institutions). Their responses revealed that foundations have evolved into significant contributors at community colleges through consistent positive results, service to a variety of stakeholders and leveraging of political capital--all while maintaining a low staff count and limited expenditures. Two appendices provide data tables and the survey questions.

This study examined differences in kindergarten children's behavioral functioning across rural and non-rural communities, as well as explored the effect of risk in each setting (i.e., rural, nonrural) on these children's behavior. Data from 116 kindergarten students and their parents and teachers was analyzed. Multileveling modeling was used to explore the main and interaction effects of community setting and cumulative risk on parent and teacher reports of children's behavioral functioning. Findings suggested that community setting or cumulative risk did not predict kindergarten children's behavior; however, risk differentially predicted children's behavior based on rural or non-rural community status. Particularly, cumulative risk predicted poorer student outcomes upon entrance in kindergarten in rural communities than non-rural communities. Limitations of the study and implications for practice are discussed.

Stereotypes prevail: many Europeans still opt for a vocational educational pathway as second choice when deciding about a future career. Despite being high on European and national policy agendas for more than a decade, and despite all efforts made, VET is no more attractive in most countries today than it was some years ago. Building on a system approach, and drawing on quantitative and qualitative analysis, this research paper explores how several drivers affect the attractiveness of IVET. Endogenous drivers having impact on IVET systems and outcomes are relevant, but context also matters. IVET outcomes need to be communicated in the right way to highlight the attractiveness of this educational path to young people. A total of 10 case studies of policy initiatives from six countries are analysed to see what works, and why, in different national contexts. Three annexes are included: (1) Notes on quantitative data; (2) Overview tables on policy initiatives; and (3) Mindspace. [Many individuals contributed to the research described in this report. The Cedefop project supervisor, Maria Hrabinska ensured overall coordination and management of the project. Advice and support were provided by Pascaline Descy, Cedefop Head of Area Research and Policy Analysis. Cedefop is grateful also to Jan Varchola from the European Commission (Directorate General for Education and Culture) for his interest in the study and feedback. Special thanks go to Dmitrijs Kulss, who reviewed the paper. Comments and suggestions provided by Torsten Dunkel in the earlier stages of the project are also acknowledged. The report summarises findings of the analysis conducted under Cedefop's service contract No 2011-0114/AO/RPA/MHRAB-TODUN-FFERR/IVET attractiveness/003/11 by Cathleen Stasz, Susan Guthrie, Craig Holmes, Hubert Ertl, Sophie Castle-Clarke, Samuel Drabble and Lydia Villaba Van-Dijk from RAND Europe and the ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE).]

This paper examines the personal and societal choices that will shape the kind of country Canada will become. It is argued that Canadian policymakers' current approach to work, family, and urban life is based on patterns and associations that were developed in an earlier time and no longer reflect Canadians' experiences in the 2000s. Recent trends in Canadian home and family life, workplaces, and cities are analyzed, and policy challenges resulting from significant social changes in each of these areas are identified. It is argued that policymakers must address the following sets of choices when formulating the policies that will shape education in Canada in years to come: (1) striving for work-life balance or crafting policies based on the belief that life is only at work; (2) sharing responsibilities for intergenerational well-being needs with families or adopting policies based on the belief that families are solely responsible for meeting those needs; (3) accepting the notion that life "without work" matters or basing policies on the principle that everybody must work; and (4) acting as if "space matters" (spending on physical and cultural infrastructures, investing in public services, deciding land use and housing policies, redesigning local, province and federal governance, enabling democracy). The consequences of selected policy decisions based on each of these choices are explored. The bibliography lists 46 references. Five reference tables are appended.(MN)

Although English Learners (ELs) constitute one of the fastest growing subpopulations in U.S. schools, little is known about the postschool outcomes of ELs who are also students with disabilities (ELSWD). This descriptive study examines a nationally representative sample of ELSWD through a secondary analysis of the National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS2). Descriptive statistical analyses were used to identify ELSWDs' sociodemographic characteristics, education and transition program characteristics, and postschool outcomes, as compared to their non-EL peers with disabilities included in the NLTS2. Results confirmed disproportionate identification by race/ethnicity for Latinos and European American as ELSWD. Findings also illustrated alignment between transition planning and courses taken, yet postschool employment was significantly lower for ELSWD. Implications for research include the need to develop methods that address ELSWD disproportionality in high school and transition outcome variables unique to this population. Implications for practice include the need to develop teacher preparation programs that apprise secondary special educators of ELSWD characteristics and their transition-related preferences, strengths, and needs.

Aside from effects on nearby property values, research is sparse on how foreclosures may generate negative externalities. Employing a unique dataset that matches individual student records from Boston Public Schools--including test scores, demographics, home address moves, and school changes--with real estate records indicating whether the student lived at an address involved in foreclosure, we investigate the degree to which the test scores of students attending high-foreclosure schools suffer, even among students not directly experiencing foreclosure. We also explore the impact on individual test scores of school-level (by grade and year) student mobility--that is, inflows of new students to a school during the school year--including mobility induced by residential moves (in some cases caused by foreclosures) and mobility arising for other reasons. We find fairly robust evidence that higher student mobility at a school, induced by residential moves, imposes significant negative effects on test scores of students at the receiving school. Beyond this channel, school-level foreclosure prevalence does not appear to generate externalities. Since we also find that residential-move-induced school changes appear to harm the outcomes of the school-changers themselves, policies that seek to limit such changes within the academic year may uniformly raise test scores, at least in the short run. The following are appended: (1) Math Test Score Regressions, (2) ELA Test Score Regressions; and 14 tables.

One of the lightning rods in the discourse over teacher pay has been the question of "how much" teachers should be paid. What the "how much" debate does not directly address, however, is the question of "how" teachers should be paid. This paper attempts to help lay groundwork for a better understanding of what exactly teachers want in terms of how they should be paid. Nontraditional teacher pay (NTTP), which is considered here to be pay systems that diverge from exclusive reliance on the traditional salary schedule, continues to be a high-profile and controversial issue. Often lost in the debate over NTTP is a thorough assessment of what teachers "actually prefer" in a pay system, which has important implications for teacher recruitment, retention, and motivation. While teachers are sometimes broadly described as resisting NTTP, the truth is much more nuanced. Using data collected in 2005 from over 2,500 unionized teachers in a single state, this paper explores: (1) whether teachers favor or oppose four different bonus-based NTTP systems, and the demographic and attitudinal characteristics associated with these preferences; (2) levels of teacher support for traditional (i.e., education, service) and nontraditional (e.g., standardized test score) criteria for salary increases, as well as teacher characteristics related to this support; and (3) changes over time in NTTP preferences, as additional survey data from six years earlier allow for a unique opportunity to examine possible cohort versus service effects. Some of the main findings are the following: (1) Teachers supported an emphasis on education and service as the basis for salary increases, preferring these criteria to student test scores and performance evaluation; (2) Merit-based bonus plans were the least favored of the four bonus plans presented, as only 28% of teachers favored their adoption; and (3) Evidence indicated that the average teacher becomes less NTTP-friendly over time, growing less likely to favor the adoption of the bonus-based NTTP plans or to support the use of NTTP criteria in salary increases. (Contains 5 figures, 6 tables, and 11 endnotes.)

The universe of postsecondary education is expanding. It is an era of rapid demographic and labor market changes, increased competition and shifts in institutional form (e.g., the rise of for profit degree granters, the hybrid form of nonprofit/for profit partnerships, corporate universities), and new forms of delivery driven by emerging technologies. In nearly all of these cases, the pace of innovation and establishment of new institutional forms outstrips the ability of regulators or policy makers to stay ahead of the curve. To better understand the complex interplay of public policy drivers regulating e-learning, the Center for Studies in Higher Education convened a meeting of experts [hosted by the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) in Boulder, Colorado] in February 2006 for a preliminary examination of existing and emerging public policies that will shape its regulation both domestically and internationally. Three white papers were used as a point of departure for the discussions, which focused on the following areas: The Changing Regulatory Environment: Who, What, Why, and Where?; Finance, Investment, and the Flow of Capital; Student Access and Equity; Social Costs and Benefits from an International Perspective; and Consumer Protection and Cross-border Education. This report summarizes our conversations and recommendations for future research. (Contains 27 notes.) [This paper was originally published in September 2006.]

Two features of the labour market for vocationally qualified workers are explored in this technical paper: the likelihood of self-employment versus wage employment and the determinants of income. The analysis showed that demographic, occupational and local labour market characteristics all influence the likelihood of self-employment. Self-employed people were more likely to be older, married and born in a non-English speaking country. High self-employment was found for managers, males in construction and female hospitality managers. Generally, employees were shown to earn more than self-employed workers, suggesting that the self-employed are willing to sacrifice monetary income for other perceived benefits of self-employment. (Contains 10 tables.)

With California's public higher education system facing massive funding cuts and an increasingly diverse demography, the University of California recently established a commission to discuss policy options to shape the future of the ten campus system. The University of California Commission on the Future is chaired by UC Board of Regent Russell S. Gould and consists of other board members, faculty, a number of campus Chancellors, and representatives of the students, staff, alumni, and the business and labor communities. The commission will use working groups to reach out to the entire UC community and an array of experts inside and outside the system--including California State University and the state's community colleges--to re-examine key questions, including: How can UC best meet the needs of California and at the same time maintain access, quality and affordability in a time of diminishing resources? What educational delivery models will both maintain quality and improve efficiency for the university's future? What is the appropriate size and shape of the university going forward?; How can traditional and alternative revenue streams be maximized in support of UC's mission? This paper is a version of the presentation provided by UC President Emeritus Richard Atkinson to the commission on November 12, 2009. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

As demographics shift and immigration is a hotly contested area of US civic life, the civic preparation and participation of Latin American immigrant youth is becoming increasingly important. The author examines the growing literature on this topic, inquiring into the political and demographic changes that have stimulated this area of inquiry, the challenges of studying this population, and what individuals currently know and what they still need to know about immigrant youth civic engagement and activism. At a time when the struggle for immigrant rights in the US is caught in the crossfire of severe recession and racism, young immigrant activists offer a ray of hope through their modest yet noteworthy successes. Scholarship on their civic engagement sheds light on ways that young people who live on the fault line between nation-states are creatively forging civic identities, claiming political voices, and making an impact. (Contains 144 footnotes.) [Funding for this paper was provided by the University of California All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (UC ACCORD), UC Berkeley's Center for Latino Policy Research, UC MEXUS, and the University of Illinois at Springfield.]

A large virtual university, a participant in a major distance study, is tracking students' enrollment in online or both online and face-to-face classes (i.e., mixed). Although an online students' profile provides data for examining the digital divide, one-time snapshots are inadequate. Time must be included as a dimension of any analysis of demographic groups' participation in online education. Two aspects of time were analyzed: calendar time (3 years of trend data) and time in relationship to degree. The paper provides data on the ethnic, gender, age, and demographic distribution of online and "mixed" students. In all, data were available for 16,092 students in 1999, 18,311 in 2000, and 20,920 in 2001. Trend data on how ethnic groups and other demographic groups are self-selecting classes with different delivery formats speak more directly to understanding the digital divide. The paper provides 3 fiscal years of percentages (FY 1999 to FY 2001) of different demographic groups (ethnic, gender, age, and geographic) enrollment in online, mixed, and face-to-face education at a large, substantially virtual university during a period of rapid expansion in online education. The paper discusses the implications for the digital divide of this enrollment trend data. (Contains 3 figures, 9 tables, and 14 references.) (SLD)

In this working paper, the authors review the literature on college students' political attitudes and behaviors. It is hoped that this review will help to refine research questions and ultimately lead to a larger follow-up research study on college student political engagement. The literature review was based on the following three questions: (1) How do college students understand, define, and view politics, their political engagement, and the work of democracy? (2) Are college students politically engaged? How do college students practice politics? (3) How can institutions of higher education help foster greater political participation among college students? Several emerging and often overlapping trends came out of the review. The narrative of the authors' review might be described in the following way: There have been several general studies on college students as a demographic group with data on some aspects of their political knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, and practices. Much of the research indicates that college students today are cynical about politics and apathetic when it comes to political participation. However, after years of decline, there has been a recent increase in voting, trust in government, and other forms of political participation among college students in the past few years. There has also been a "scissor effect": years of decline in political participation have coincided with a surge in volunteering and involvement in community. There are various interpretations for the rise in community service and its implications for democracy, with many contending that there is no connection between community service and political participation; community service, it seems, may simply be an "alternative to politics." At the same time, there is a strand of literature arguing that there is a need for an alternative politics led by young people, and there seems to be an emergence of this "politics that is not called politics" on college campuses. Finally, there is widespread agreement in the literature about the great political potential of this generation of college students; and that colleges and universities need to do more to educate the next generation for democracy and provide more opportunities for political participation. This review of the literature also makes clear that while much research has been done on college student political engagement in the past decade, there are many interesting and important areas for future inquiry. Ultimately, an updated understanding of the current generation of college students' views on politics requires more than a literature review; thus, the authors believe that updated research with college students could be timely, contributing an important element to the efforts for democratic revitalization: the voices of the youngest generation. [This Working Paper was produced by CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement). For CIRCLE Working Paper 45, see ED491132.]

This paper studies whether examinee characteristics are systematically related to mode effect across paper and computer versions of the same instrument, using data from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) of the Educational Testing Service in its Computer-Based Testing Pilot Study of 1991. The following characteristics of 1,114 examinees were studied as contributors to mode effect: (1) demographic variables (gender, racial/ethnic background, and age); (2) computer use variables (variety and frequency of computer experience, frequency of mouse use, and test mode preference); and (3) test-taking strategy variables (strategy preference, and tendency to omit or review items). The typical method found in comparability literature was used, treating performance across paper and computer versions as a continuous dependent variable. Because a mode effect in a small subset of examinees could be masked, a method that isolated examinees most affected by test mode was used. For this method, mode effect was treated as a three-level, categorical, independent variable. Data demonstrate mode effect and support the conception of a small subset of examinees whose performance was more affected by mode than that of the total sample. The search for examinee characteristics that explain occurrence of mode effect, however, yielded inconsistent results, with only weak relationships to mode effect. Three figures and 21 tables present study findings. (Contains 31 references.) (SLD)

It is estimated that approximately 3 million students are enrolled as international students, and it is possible to project that this number may reach more than 7 million by 2025. As global demand exceeds the supply, competition is building for the best of these students. Some countries (or regions) clearly envisage the opportunity this represents and have been strongly stimulating student mobility. There is a race for "brains", be it for professors at the end of their careers looking for new professional opportunities and/or the opportunity to return to their native countries, or for researchers at the beginning of their careers, looking for a place that might offer them a better future, or even for students, who seek more appealing alternatives. How will Brazil fare in this competition for talent? If it is to internationalize its higher education study programs, Brazil must deal with a number of practical problems, including a lack of specific policies and guidelines. Bureaucracy, for instance, is one major problem. A foreigner who comes to live in Brazil faces many obstacles, mainly due to the bureaucracy involved in everything from getting a Visa through the Federal Police office, to opening up a bank account, renting an apartment, registering at school, amongst many other processes and regulations that make it difficult for anyone to come and live in Brazil. One rarely finds a course offered in English or Spanish in a Brazilian university and the selection of faculty are normally held in Portuguese. Currently, there are no plans or projects at either the federal or state level, to address these obstacles. This should be a major concern to all who hold positions of responsibility in the educational process, as Brazil is not keeping pace with higher education reforms found globally. The internationalization movement is growing, and Brazil must actively seek reforms to keep pace with economic competitors.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of Alberta's Principal Quality Practice Standard as a framework for the roles and responsibilities of school principals. Methodology: Three principals participated in the study, and each principal had more than 25 years of teaching and school administration experience. Each principal was interviewed about preparation for their role as school administrator, and asked about job-embedded supports for each of the dimensions included in the Principal Quality Practice Standard. Participants in the study self-reported in two questionnaires framed on a five-point Likert scale, and each was personally interviewed to preserve their "voice" intact toward reporting. Results: Results indicate that principals regard site-based leadership as practical for engaging leadership candidates toward administrative roles. Site-based leadership programs that offer university credit are also highly regarded to satisfy qualifications for principals to continue their professional educational growth in academics. Master's-level university courses provide a necessary understanding of leadership change, growth and development for principals to be effective instructional leaders. Conclusions: Results show that principals with classroom teaching experience present a "grassroots" approach to school leadership, that transforms their administrative role into a more active role as Instructional/Learning Leader(s). Recommendations: Educators who assume school administrator roles are responsible for developing leadership capacity in their staff members. The Alberta Principal Quality Practice Standard is a benchmark that highlights several dimensions of principalship that elucidate areas of professional responsibility in which leadership candidates must be engaged.

The Decennial Census is the most important data collection activity undertaken by the U.S. federal statistical system. Because census data are used to apportion Congress and draw redistricting lines for thousands of state and local single-member districts to meet the one-person/one-vote guidelines, the census is at the heart of the political system. Also, census data are used to distribute more than $400 billion in federal funds each year, and they are widely used by other government statistical agencies to calculate rates or design surveys. Children are the age group most often missed in the Decennial Census--the reasons range from their living in hard-to-count neighborhoods to the fact that the census form only has space for complete demographic information on six household members. The fact that children are the age group missed most often in the Decennial Census comes as a surprise to many people, even those who have closely followed census issues. Despite the long-standing problem of children being missed in the Decennial Census, little has been done to examine this issue. Missed children might be referred to as the "overlooked undercount" because the undercount of children has been a persistent problem that has been given relatively little attention over time. The high undercount of children challenges the image that the undercount is made up mostly of young adults and people who dodge the census-takers for nefarious reasons. Unlike adults, who may bear some responsibility for making sure they are counted in the census, children are dependent on others to make sure they are included. Yet in 1980, 1990, and 2000, Census Bureau data show children, particularly young children, are one of the groups most likely to be missed in the census. This publication provides some background and information on the undercount of children, describes some theories about why children are missed in the census, and outlines a few ideas for reaching the parents of young children with a message about the importance of being counted in the census. (Contains 2 figures, 1 box, 10 tables and 37 endnotes.)

Conducting institutional research on a complex issue such as retention provides the opportunity to use the method of comparative analysis through which numerous independent comparisons can provide the institution with a more complete picture of an issue. Researchers have done different types of comparative analysis at one university over the last several years, including analyses that were: (1) internal; (2) external; (3) entry/intent comparisons; and (4) demographic comparisons. Each of these comparisons provides a unique perspective on the retention and success of students at the institution, along with unique challenges and problems. The paper discusses these perspectives and challenges as they have limited the effectiveness of the analyses. Such comparative analyses are simple, can be done repeatedly, and can draw on existing groups, but they are limited in that they do not help understand student attrition and are sometimes limited by group size. (Contains 8 figures and 25 references.) (Author/SLD)

Job loss remains a permanent feature of the American economy. Black and white children may experience parental job loss differently, even when they share the same class location. We address this question using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), following those children "born" into the survey between 1968 and 1979 and followed through age 21. We focus on middle-class families (defined here as an income between two and six times the appropriate poverty threshold around the time of the child's birth). We find that parental job loss is associated with a lesser likelihood of obtaining any post-secondary education for all offspring, but that the association for blacks is about four times as strong. Approximately 40% of the differential impact of job loss on black and white middle class youth is explained by race differences in household wealth, long-run measures of family income, and, especially, parental experience of long-term unemployment. We also find suggestive evidence that parental college experience mitigates the adverse associations between parental job loss and children's educational attainment. This work was supported in part by a William T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholars Award to the first author and a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Population Research Center at the University of Chicago to the second author. (Contains 5 tables, 2 figures and 17 footnotes.)

This study investigated how social factors affect college students' use of the online registration service that was recently offered in a private university in northern California. During the first year, about 37% of the students who preregistered their courses used the service. The results for the 951 students who registered online indicate that academic and demographic factors affected students' use of the online service. For example, students from certain disciplines (e.g., Pharmacy and International Studies) and higher income families were more likely to use the online service. It is interesting to note that the results do not show a significant impact of gender on the use of online registration. Implications are presented for institutions considering alternative registration methods or the implementation of technological solutions to administrative processes. (Contains 6 tables and 19 references.) (SLD)

Home schooling has the potential to greatly impact the education system but has received little attention compared to other educational trends. This report draws on the 1994 October Current Population Survey and the 1996 and 1999 National Household Education Surveys (NHES) to determine the extent of home schooling and the social, demographic, and geographic characteristics of households that engage in home schooling. Analyses indicate that home schooling is less prevalent than shown in earlier estimates but has large potential for growth. In 1999, an estimated 790,000 children aged 6-17 were schooled at home, and the number was apparently growing. Home schoolers were likely to be non-Hispanic whites, but racial differences may be fading. Households with home-schooled children tended to include two adults with moderate to high education, with one either not in the labor force or working part-time. Home schoolers were more likely to be located in places that have been destinations for internal migration. Using a division of the country based on migration patterns, home schoolers were most prevalent in rural and suburban areas of the West that have received migration streams from California and other immigration gateway states, and in rural areas of "immigrant melting pot" states. About half of parents felt that they could provide a better education at home, while 30-33 percent were motivated by religious reasons or a poor learning environment at school. (Contains 29 references and 6 tables.) (SV)

The United States has an extensive network of publicly financed and managed schools and provides almost no financial support to private schools. One of the most fundamental justifications for the status quo is the hypothesis that the regulation of private schools cannot adequately ensure that the desired social benefits of schooling will be produced. In particular, there is concern that private schools may focus on producing skills and knowledge with clear individual benefits and place less value on the external social benefits that are derived from instilling a variety of civic values and beliefs. In this study, the author presents new empirical evidence on this issue by evaluating the relative effects of Catholic schooling on civic participation as an adult. This evidence is based on two nationally representative longitudinal surveys conducted by the US Department of Education: High School and Beyond (HS&B) and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS88). He finds that students who attended Catholic school in 10th grade were substantially more likely to vote as adults and that this relationship is generally robust to conditioning on a wide variety of observed demographic, socioeconomic and attitudinal measures. He then attempts to assess whether these results reflect uncorrected selection biases by exploiting three of the instrumental variables that have been employed in recent studies of other youth outcomes. He finds that bivariate-probit and 2SLS estimates based on these instruments suggest that Catholic schooling has even larger effects on voter turnout and possibly negative effects on volunteering. However, he then assesses whether these instruments provide a valid basis for identifying the effects of Catholic schooling using an approach introduced by Altonji, Elder and Taber (2002). The results suggest that system estimates based on these instruments may often be plagued by large, confounding biases. He concludes that, though there is a robust partial correlation between Catholic schooling and adult civic engagement, one cannot completely dismiss the possibility that this reflects selection biases. Nonetheless, the lack of clear evidence that Catholic schools are inferior at promoting adult civic participation does raise questions about the effectiveness of public schools at achieving one of their most fundamental goals. An appendix presenting additional data is included. (Contains 21 footnotes and 8 tables.) [This working paper was produced by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE).]

This document is part of the New Expeditions series, published by the American Association of Community Colleges. Addressed specifically in this paper is the need for collaboration within and between community colleges if they are to fulfill their role as democratic agencies concerned with access and equity issues. The paper notes that community colleges are "peoples colleges," in that they provide access for low-income, first-generation and other nontraditional students, providing all who enter an opportunity to realize higher degree and career aspirations. The paper describes community colleges as both internally and externally collaborative. Internal collaboration refers to the relationships among faculty, students, and administrators that foster validating classrooms. External collaboration refers to viable relationships with the K-12 school system, the local business and industrial community, four-year institutions, and other community-based organizations. Several models of multicultural education are provided within this paper, offering the reader a comparison between a monocultural and multicultural environment. Model programs offered at community colleges around the country are also provided. The paper provides seven recommendations, each designed around internal or external collaboration, with the goal of creating a relevant and enriching environment for all students, ultimately launching students to higher levels of success. (Contains 35 references.) (AF)

The Risk and Promise Profile is a 78-item, self-report, paper and pencil questionnaire that college personnel can use to outline for each student a profile of personal and social influences (e.g., motivations and deterrents) that are related to student success. This study assessed the predictive validity of the profile by examining the relationships among social, personal, and demographic measures and their ability to predict academic success in a sample of 542 older college students at six educational institutions (four two-year and two four-year colleges). As well as demographic items, the scale measures 11 personal and social variables such as: attitudes toward education; college climate; help-seeking behavior; motivation; and self-efficacy. Hierarchical multiple regression and analysis of variance indicated that the profile explains significant portions of the variance associated with academic success. The results also suggest that different sets of variables are related to the success of Caucasian students and African-American students. Further, the study suggests that race per se should not be used to identify students "at risk." Instead, combinations of personal and social measures are more appropriate predictors of academic performance. Overall, the measure demonstrated reasonable internal validity and explained about 20 percent of the variance associated with success. (Contains 46 references.) (DB)

An Australian national task force examined a number of areas related to achieving educational equality for Australia's Indigenous peoples. This paper looks at early childhood education and identifies issues that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Chapters cover: (1) the national policy context, Indigenous educational attainment, and demographic data; (2) provision and access to various types of early childhood education and day care, and the low levels of participation by Indigenous families; (3) developmental and learning needs of children aged 0-8, continuing tension between early childhood practices and the primary school curriculum, and school readiness issues for Indigenous children; (4) cultural differences in Indigenous children's experiences prior to schooling, and the need for culturally inclusive schooling that builds on children's cultural capital and encourages bicultural competence; (5) challenges in meeting national numeracy and literacy standards, especially for students who do not speak Standard Australian English as a first language or who come from an oral tradition; and (6) the poor level of interaction between schools and Indigenous communities, and recommendations for community development and capacity building initiatives. (Contains 30 references.) (SV)

A study focused on researchers' use of the English-Language Background Questionnaire (EBQ) portion of the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), the results of which were released in 1993. Data were gathered by surveying NALS data users about how they have used the EBQ data, their perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the EBQ, and their recommendations for changes to the EBQ. A content analysis was also conducted of published research papers that have involved analyses of the EBQ data to determine how the data were used in these research analyses. The study also drew upon recommendations garnered by a series of focus groups conducted by the American Institutes for Research in 1998. These sources were integrated with the study's own analysis of the NALS data. The following changes to the EBQ for future adult literacy assessments were recommended: expand the questions pertaining to educational experiences; expand the section on social and political participation or move the current items to other areas and delete this section; add an item on voter registration; acquire more detailed information regarding work history, wages, and parents' occupations; expand the section pertaining to literacy practices; and gather information on technological literacy practices. (Appendixes include 34 references; instruments; and studies examined for content review.) (YLB)