Author: Tom

Increasing Inaccuracy of State Revenue Estimates

Every year, every state projects upcoming state tax revenues. It matters a lot. These estimates are used by legislators, technocrats, and the governor to determine spending for schools, health care, and agency or program in government. Sometimes, when states are on a biannual budget, spending must determine spending for two years. Imagine trying to estimate […]

Statistics: Final

This final is due Sunday, March 6 by 11:00pm. Finals must be submitted via email to the instructor. Submissions must include Excel workbooks, SPSS output files, and a seperate Word document which provides the answers. See below the “more…” link for the full exam.

Majoring in “Universe”

…in today’s xkcd–amusing as always. Since I originate from both backgrounds (computers, economics & comparative politics) I should know a little more. Problem is, the Europeans don’t name failed summits. Maastricht Treaty gets a name because it was very successful. Nevertheless, my best try: Every other EU summit on establishing a European Union constitution in […]

Visualizing Tuition & Fees

The Chronicle of Higher Education has put together an interactive chart showing tuition and fees at Iowa community colleges. Play through the timeline and you can see tuition and fees becoming a larger share of revenue for the 15 colleges, while state funding declined. There are a couple of notes along the way to highlight […]

Updated Chapter

My chapter for the Handbook for Institutional Research, “Workforce and Technical Skill Education and Its Assessment” has been substantially updated. The new draft is available here. The book is expected to be published this summer.

Statistics Class Update

Class- Those who attended Tuesday, 1/25, may have recalled that I ended class because I was not feeling well. That illness ultimately required hospitalization that led to the cancellation of Thursday’s, 1/27, class. Over the weekend I’ve undergone an operation which will require me to cancel this Tuesday’s, 2/1, class. I am continuing to recover […]