Recommends that an upcoming study of the effectiveness of educational technology in improving academic achievement focus on four goals: (1) defining what is meant by "educational technology," (2) deciding how to measure effectiveness, (3) clarifying what kinds of students will be studied, and...

Explores whether propensity score methods produce unbiased estimates of program impacts, by comparing experimental and propensity score impacts of dropout prevention programs. Finds no consistent evidence that they do--even when the data available for matching are extensive. Suggests that...

This final report from Mathematica’s congressionally mandated study of educational technology presents effects for the 2005-2006 school year for 10 computer-based reading and math products. Teacher experience using the software was not systematically related to changes in effects between the...

Since the early 1990s, federal legislation has encouraged secondary vocational education to go beyond its traditional focus of developing narrowly defined workplace skills to a broader goal of providing career preparation. On the basis of a nationally representative sample of students who...

Systematic reviews are a useful tool for decision makers because they identify relevant studies about the effectiveness of a policy or program of interest, assess the quality of the evidence from the relevant studies, and summarize the valid findings. Mathematica's Center for Improving Research...