The 1994 High School Transcript Study (HSTS) provides the Department of Education and other policymakers with information about current course offerings and students' course-taking patterns in the nation's secondary schools. One objective was to determine changes in course offering and selection patterns since the previous studies in 1982, 1987, and 1990. Another research objective was to compare course-taking patterns to results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), an assessment of educational achievement nationwide. In 1994, transcripts were collected for more than 25,000 students who graduated from high school that year. These students were from 340 schools that participated in the NAEP. This technical report documents the procedures used to collect and summarize the data. An accompanying volume provides tables of findings, and another contains the data file user's manual. The following sections are included: (1) "Executive Summary"; (2) "Background: Sample Design"; (3) "Selection of Schools and Students for the 1994 High School Transcript Study"; (4) "Data Collection Procedures"; (5) "Data Processing Procedures"; (6) "Weighting and Estimation of Sampling Variance"; (7) "1994 High School Transcript Study Data Files"; and (8) "References." Five appendixes provide supplementary information about the study methodology. (Contains 30 tables, 2 figures, 23 exhibits, and 18 references.) (SLD)

The 1998 High School Transcript Study provides the U.S. Department of Education and other educational policymakers with information regarding current course offerings and students' course-taking patterns in U.S. secondary schools. Similar studies were conducted in 1982, 1987, 1990, and 1994. This guide documents the procedures used to collect and summarize the data. It also provides information needed to use all publicly released data files produced by the study. In previous years, the information in this technical report was reported in two documents, the Data File User's Manual and the Technical Manual. The report contains these sections: (1) "Introduction to the High School Transcript Study"; (2) "Background: Sample Design"; (3) "Selection of Primary Sampling Units, Schools, and Students for the 1998 High School Transcript Study"; (4) "Data Collection Procedures"; (5) "Data Processing Procedures"; (6) "Weighting and Estimation of Sampling Variance"; and (7) "1998 High School Transcript Study Data Files." Fifteen appendixes provide supplemental information, including the questionnaires and the code books for the study's individual files. (Contains 32 tables, 3 figures, 15 exhibits, and 16 references.) (SLD)