Today’s blog post highlights some of the resources and articles that have crossed my desk.

Research Issues – Sampling

Sampling was a popular topic this week. Rather than simply cite chapter and verse from my collection of statistics textbooks, I thought I would explore the sampling resources that are available online. A Google search for the keywords research sample methodology returned over 27,300,000 results.

There are a variety of resources available on Canadian sites:

• Statistics Canada has a section on their website called “Statistics: Power from Data!” and explores sample selection, probability and non-probability sampling as well as estimation.
• The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) has a pdf of chapter 10 in W.J. Popham’s “Educational Evaluation” (pp. 281-233) which reviews Sampling Strategies.
• The University of Alberta’s Statistics Centre has a nice summary of Stratified Random Sampling.

On the International stage, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has made their modules available for Quantitative Research Methods in Educational Planning.  Sampling is explored in the third module which is entitled “Sample design for educational survey research” and was written by K.N. Ross.

Article: The Equity of Teacher Access and Socio-Economics (U.S.)

Do Low-Income Students have Equal Access to the Highest-Performing Teachers? Equity Institute of Education Sciences – National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.  This American study finds that the highest-performing teachers are under-represented in schools with students from lower socio-economics. Teachers were deemed to be high-performing as part of a value-added analysis that measured the extent to which teachers contributed to students’ growth. The socio-economic level was drawn from the percentage of students that were eligible for free or reduced price lunch (FRL). Elementary schools were compared with middle schools.

Article: Legal Obligation of Boards to Identify Student’s Disabilities (U.S.)

Justices Seek U.S. Views on Special Education Case.   Education Week: School Law Blog.  This blog post by Mark Walsh summarizes a legal case from California where a parent has brought

” a negligence claim against a school district that allegedly failed to identify a high school student’s disabilities.”

Although the decline in the student’s work and academic achievement was noticed by the school staff. The question of liability was raised when recommendations from a mental health counselor were not followed to evaluate the possibility of a learning disability. The ruling (in favor of the student) resulting in a judgment for compensatory tutoring.

Research Competition: Data mining, analysis and visualization for Stephen Colbert?

Stephen Colbert To Award Research Competition Prize  Education Week – Inside School Research.  Stephen Colbert has put out a call to everyone interested in data analysis to explore the trends in a DonorsChoose database.  The DonorsChoose organization facilitates the provision of resources to classrooms. For more information on the competition and how to enter, check out the Inside School Research blog.