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This report addresses two key questions about postsecondary student unit record data systems (PSURSs): (1) What data are collected by various parties; and (2) how do these entities use the data to inform policy decisions? This 2016 report is both a follow-up and a redesign of two previous "Strong Foundations" reports by SHEEO (2010 and 2012). While many questions regarding the collection of particular data elements and reporting capacity were retained from the original 2010 survey instrument and the 2012 follow-up, others were revised to further address issues of data utilization. For a list of survey questions, see Appendix A. Like the previous studies, the unit of analysis in this report is the state entity with responsibility for collecting and using student unit record (SUR) data. In most states, a single agency--the coordinating or governing board of higher education--is charged with responsibility for the postsecondary student unit record system (PSURS). In others, multiple agencies (e.g., university or community college systems) collect postsecondary unit record data. In a few states, there is no statewide or systemwide agency charged with housing student unit record data. Thus, while individual states may be highlighted for particular uses of data, and maps are presented for ease of analysis, readers should use caution when attempting to generalize results of this survey for state comparisons. It is more appropriate to compare the characteristics of the unit record systems themselves, rather than the states. For a list of 2016 survey respondents, see Appendix B. Beyond describing the content of PSURSs, this report emphasizes effective use of postsecondary data and the increasing prevalence and importance of linkages between postsecondary, K-12, and workforce data. "Strong Foundations 2016" addresses themes of particular importance in the current postsecondary education environment: performance funding, employment outcomes, remediation, and completions. The report highlights use cases in which PSURSs are used to promote student success. The report also explores necessary conditions for effective use of PSURSs: ensuring data privacy and security, addressing perceived barriers, and promoting sustainability of these systems. The "Strong Foundations 2016" conclusion offers recommendations for further promotion of effective use. The following are appended: (1) 2016 Survey Questions; (2) Respondents; (3) List of Data Elements Collected, by Agency; (4) Metrics Capacity; and (5) Financial Aid Data. [For the 2012 report, "Strong Foundations: The State of State Postsecondary Data Systems--2012 Update on Data Sharing with K-12 and Labor," see ED540260.]

For more than four decades the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tracked the achievement of U.S. students in major academic subjects. This national resource is the only assessment that states and now many urban districts can look to as an objective yardstick of their performance over time, relative to national benchmarks, and compared with other jurisdictions. Less known, but complementing the NAEP assessments, is a rich collection of student, teacher and school responses to background questions that can help in understanding the context for NAEP achievement results and give insights into how to improve them. Currently, the NAEP background questions are a potentially important but largely underused national resource. The background questionnaires have been cut back over the past decade. They now cover only a small fraction of important student, teacher, and school issues and have been little used in recent NAEP reports, in contrast to the first state-level NAEP Report Cards in the early 1990s. The panel proposes building a strategy to make the NAEP background questions an important national resource for educators, policymakers, and the public. The panel sees the need to expand the scope and quality of the existing questions, move into important new areas directed by research and policy, make better use of the questions though regular publications, and improve the capacity for analysis by users around the world. Recommendations are offered in four areas: (1) Ask Important Questions; (2) Improve the Accuracy of Measures; (3) Strengthen Sampling Efficiency; and (4) Reinstitute Meaningful Analysis and Reporting. (Contains 12 exhibits and 7 footnotes.)

This report proposes a detailed plan that positions digital and media literacy as an essential life skill and outlines steps that policymakers, educators, and community advocates can take to help Americans thrive in the digital age. It offers a plan of action for how to bring digital and media literacy education into formal and informal settings through a community education movement. The plan of action includes 10 recommendations for local, regional, state and national initiatives aligned with the themes of community action, teacher education, research and assessment, parent outreach, national visibility and stakeholder engagement. These action steps do more than bring digital and media literacy into the public eye. Each step provides specific concrete programs and services to meet the diverse needs of our nation's citizens, young and old, and build the capacity for digital and media literacy to thrive as a community education movement. Appended are: (1) Portraits of Success; (2) About the Author; and (3) About the Communications and Society Program. (Contains 4 figures, references and a bibliography.)

A report of findings from 2,318 respondents to a survey carried out among college students on six campuses distributed across the U.S. in the spring of 2009, as part of Project Information Literacy. Respondents, while curious in the beginning stages of research, employed a consistent and predictable research strategy for finding information, whether they were conducting course-related or everyday life research. Almost all of the respondents turned to the same set of tried and true information resources in the initial stages of research, regardless of their information goals. Almost all students used course readings and Google first for course-related research and Google and Wikipedia for everyday life research. Most students used library resources, especially scholarly databases for course-related research and far fewer, in comparison, used library services that required interacting with librarians. The findings suggest that students conceptualize research, especially tasks associated with seeking information, as a competency learned by rote, rather than as an opportunity to learn, develop, or expand upon an information-gathering strategy which leverages the wide range of resources available to them in the digital age. Research Methods and Sampling are appended. (Contains 15 figures and 30 footnotes.) [Funding for this paper was provided by ProQuest.]

Data from the Schools and Staffing Survey, and from New York and Texas, were analyzed in 1999 to identify prevailing trends in the vocational education (VE) teacher labor market. The data, all secondary sources, were analyzed by using a set of indicators for detecting shortage or surplus conditions, and a set of guidelines for developing behavioral models to explain labor supply choices on the part of individuals, and labor demand choices on the part of educational agencies. Among the main findings of the analysis were the following: (1) both the absolute size of the VE teaching force, and its size relative to the total teaching force, appear to have declined since the early 1980s; (2) although VE teachers tended to be evenly split between men and women, a great deal of occupational segregation existed across subfields; (3) compared with nonvocational teachers, VE teachers tended to be significantly older and have lower levels of educational attainment; and (5) existing data fail to capture the information needed to determine whether shortages exist in teacher labor markets. (Contains 169 references and 71 tables/figures. Appended are a description of the primary data sources and 32 supplementary tables/graphs from the National New York and Texas Teacher Databases.) (MN)

Selected papers from the 1980 World Congress of Rehabilitation International Meeting on the participation of disabled people are presented. The papers address the rights of the disabled, the organization and functions of consumer groups, the impact of consumer involvement on rehabilitation and related services, social implications of the consumer participation movement, and the coming together of the disabled throughout the world. Titles and authors include the following: "Self-Determination of Handicapped People" (M. Fritsch); "The Right to All Types of Information" (K. Karlsson); "The Right to Work: A Political Issue" (B. Lindqvist); "Consumer Groups: Their Organization and Function" (A. Simpson); "Organizing an Action Group" (J. Simkins); "Trade Union Participation" (L. Maguire); "Handicap Councils: A Swedish Experiment" (L. Gardestrom); "Participation of Handicapped People in the Planning, Implementation and Management of Rehabilitation Services" (P. Blommestijn); "Policy Issues in Independent Living Rehabilitation" (D. Galvin); "Higher Education Opportunities" (K. Konkkola); "The Disabled Consumer Movement: Policy Implications for Rehabilitation Service Provision" (J. Derksen); "Towards Full Political Participation" (B. Carlsson); and "Disability Rights Issues: The Role of Advocacy in Government (E. Fiorito). (SW)

This final report describes a project conducted to design a comprehensive information system (termed SYSTEM) for identifying, selecting, and disseminating relevant military curriculum materials to civilian vocational and technical education programs. Chapter I discusses the need for a centralized SYSTEM and gives project objectives. Chapter II contains overviews of the project's five major components: Review of existing information systems and linkages, development of strategies and procedures for selecting military materials, selection and acquisition of relevant materials, survey of civilian secondary and postsecondary schools which have experience using military curriculum materials, and the actual design of the SYSTEM which would include acquisition and selection, materials preparation and referencing, duplication and distribution, and user services. (The five project components are presented in more detail in five separately abstracted appendixes which are available separately.) Chapter III discusses general project management activities and concerns, and Chapter IV contains recommendations for implementation of the SYSTEM. A brochure about the project and a bibliography are included. (LMS)

This volume reviews measures and programs recently undertaken by governments in several different countries to address youth unemployment and school-to-work transition. Focus is on studies of assessment methods and data needs (Part 1) and recurrent education (Part 2). The first three studies emphasize the development of assessment methods. One suggests a general methodology for assessing cooperative education programs in the U.S. and offers specific guidelines; another gives information about the Work Experience Program in Britain and assessment criteria; a third uses economic and sociological inquiry to suggest expected outcomes of apprenticeship policies in France. Other studies report findings from recent surveys of programs: In one, the authors outline the goals and operation of part-time compulsory education in Holland; another examines off-the-job skill training for young school leavers as a link between schooling and life; several new Italian programs to improve school-to-work transition and reduce unemployment are described in a third; two Swedish programs, covered by the fourth study, offer employment subsidies for the hiring of young people to replace older employees during the latter's training periods. The first study in Part II asks why, in the light of fiscal, demographic, and labor force trends, there is so little recurrent education; the second presents data on "further education" in France and Germany and how this relates to the school-to-work transition.

A project regarding the interpretability of data on vocational education outcome data was done (1) to determine how different definitions of the vocational student and relatedness of training to employment might affect the interpretability of vocational education impact data; (2) to synthesize the current literature and approaches measuring job satisfaction and job performance; (3) to prepare a handbook on vocational education measures; (4) to prepare position papers on the sociopolitical issues underlying the interpretability issue; and (5) to hold a national conference to share the results of the aforementioned activities. The project conclusions include the following: vocational education program outcomes need to be closely linked to the values of individuals and groups concerned with vocational education; the originators of data concerning the outcomes of vocational education--the local education agencies--must be the users of the data in order for ultimate improvements in vocational education to result; in general, placement data are not collected systematically with an emphasis on precision and accuracy; and quality of instruction, relevance of program, impact of program, and individual transition and growth represent four categories of possible criteria for which vocational education might be held accountable. (This report includes a case study of differences in job placement rates reported by states, and the presentations and reactions at the national conference, including three commissioned project papers.) (EM)

Project EDNEED II (Empirical Determination of Nationally Essential Educational Data), conducted from July 1975 to September 1976, was designed to document the extent to which data currently collected by State vocational education agencies could be used to answer prioritized Project EDNEED I questions. (Project EDNEED I identified and prioritized vocational education informational needs of users at the national, State, local levels.) The first phase of EDNEED II focused on the gathering and cataloging of all State vocational education agency data collection forms. Each item of information on a data collection form was classified in relation to the most appropriate Project EDNEED question(s). In the second phase, field visits were made to 10 States to gather more information on alternative approaches to answering the top priority EDNEED I questions. The field visits provided information on the problems that would be encountered in collecting the necessary data and aggregating them to the appropriate levels. In this first of a four-volume final report of Project EDNEED II, the informational needs identified in EDNEED I are discussed in relation to the data currently available at the State level as indicated by State agency data collection forms. The procedures used to derive and organize the vocational education data base are described, and an exemplary core of questions and data elements is presented which represents information that is both highly needed and widely collected. A procedure for empirically selecting alternative sets of questions is also described in detail. (SH)

The conceptions of information needs of seven American and seven Swedish mechanics employed by a Swedish multinational machine industry are compared by using perspective text analysis to analyze their verbal responses to three open-ended questions concerning their need for work-related information. The structures embedded in the texts are visualized in three-dimensional cubic spaces, and the results are discussed with respect to their dimensionality, as well as to the phase spaces of the cognitive processes. Results indicate that the Swedish mechanics seem to subordinate themselves to the company and are unconcerned about obtaining information of a technical nature. The American workers, however, feel that their worth is insufficiently recognized and express a need for instruction to be provided by the company to facilitate their understanding of technical information. It is concluded that this divergence in information needs between the American and Swedish mechanics ought to have considerable effects on the information policy of the industry. (KM)

This report provides an overview of the changes in the development of academic exchange activity between the United States, the Soviet Union, and East Central Europe in the context of far-reaching reforms throughout the region. It also explores the factors which may facilitate or inhibit further growth in academic exchanges. The report begins with a discussion of the importance of a small number of national exchanges, particularly the Fulbright and International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) programs, which have been active since the 1960s. Next, several factors are mentioned which may tend to inhibit reciprocal activities in the short term, including difficulties in international travel and communication, the growing financial burden for East European institutions seeking to bear a portion of the cost of exchange activity, lack of proficiency in the host country language, and the fear of a "braindrain." The report then addresses the need for expanded information and financial resources to facilitate the development of productive academic links between the United States and partners in the region. Appendices include the Strategy of the Study, the Exchange Agreement Between the University of Lowell and Tbilisi State University, the U.S.S.R.-U.S. Exchange Agreements, and the East Central European-U.S. Exchange Agreements. (GLR)

This is the fourth volume of a four-volume report of Project EDNEED II (Empirical Determination of Nationally Essential Educational Data), conducted from July 1975 to September 1976 to document the extent to which data currently collected by State vocational education agencies could be used to answer vocational education informational needs of users at the national, State, and local levels. This volume focuses on the results of the project's field visits (phase two of the project) to 10 States that were considered to be exemplary in the availability of data on vocational education which corresponded to the informational needs of the various user groups. The field visit results are organized around the 50 highest priority questions identified in the earlier phases of Project EDNEED I and II. (Phase one of EDNEED II involved analyses of all 50 States' vocational education data collection forms, which served as the basis for selecting the States for visitation. Project EDNEED I identified and prioritized vocational education informational needs of users at the national, State, and local levels.) The 50 questions are classified into the following nine topics, with each question including a discussion of different States' alternative approaches to answering the question: Vocational curriculum and instructional characteristics, vocational curriculum expenditures by activities, vocational curriculum expenditures by object, vocational student characteristics, characteristics of the vocational completer/early leaver, local education agency vocational staff member characteristics, local school characteristics, local education agency characteristics, and vocational education characteristics of the State education agency. Problems relating to data aggregation, format, and data element definition are also briefly discussed in this volume. (SH)

This is the second of a four-volume report of Project EDNEED II (Empirical Determination of Nationally Essential Educational Data). (Project EDNEED II, conducted from July 1975 to September 1976, was designed to document the extent to which data currently collected by State vocational education agencies could be used to answer prioritized vocational education informational needs for all 50 States and five U.S. territories.) This volume presents the data base that was constructed as a result of the comparison between needed and collected vocational education data from all 50 States and five of the U.S. territories. The data base consists of 209 questions and 1,065 information elements, with accompanying indexes that demonstrate for each information unit how "needed" and how"collected" it is, or the relative need and current availability of the information elements. The index of need reflects the combined ratings of Federal, State, and local user groups, with each level receiving equal importance weightings in the analyses. This volume also includes the project summary, an index to the files and questions, a foreward on the utility and organization of the data base, and a list of references. (HD)

Severe methodological problems were encountered in an attempt to investigate the impact of Education Division programs on girls and women--and, in particular, to learn whether these programs have a differential impact by sex or by race/ethnicity. (The "Education Division" comprises the Office of Education, the National Institute of Education, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary.) The division remains in June 1977 unable to report fully and accurately what types of data are available by sex or by-sex-by-race/ethnicity. Gathering and reporting more kinds of data disaggregated by sex and by-sex-by-race/ethnicity is only the first step. Effective procedures also do not exist within the division for (1) analyzing the data and reporting them in a way that is meaningful to decision makers, (2) bringing the data to the attention of the appropriate decision makers, and (3) acting upon the data. Funding shortages and cutbacks have affected much related high-priority research. (In response to the problems identified, specific recommendations are addressed to specific groups within the Education Division for the generation and utilization of information necessary to the improvement of equity for women.) (JT)