This article presents findings on the consequences of matrix sampling of context questionnaires for the generation of plausible values in large-scale assessments. Three studies are conducted. Study 1 uses data from PISA 2012 to examine several different forms of missing data imputation within the chained equations framework: predictive mean…

Educational Data Mining is an emerging discipline which seeks to develop methods to explore large amounts of data from educational settings, in order to understand students' behavior, interests and results in a better way. In recent years there have been various works related to this specialty and multiple data mining techniques derived from this…

Cross-level invariance in a multilevel item response model can be investigated by testing whether the within-level item discriminations are equal to the between-level item discriminations. Testing the cross-level invariance assumption is important to understand constructs in multilevel data. However, in most multilevel item response model…

When engaging with a textbook, students are inclined to highlight key content. Although students believe that highlighting and subsequent review of the highlights will further their educational goals, the psychological literature provides no evidence of benefits. Nonetheless, a student's choice of text for highlighting may serve as a window into…

Lord's Wald test for differential item functioning (DIF) has not been studied extensively in the context of the multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) framework. In this article, Lord's Wald test was implemented using two estimation approaches, marginal maximum likelihood estimation and Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo estimation, to detect…

Examining factors that influence implementation of key program components that underlie an intervention's success provides important information to inform the development of effective dissemination strategies. We examined direct and indirect effects of preschool capacity, quality of prevention support system and teacher characteristics on…

The purpose of the present study is to apply the item response theory (IRT) and testlet response theory (TRT) models to a reading comprehension test. This study applied the TRT models and the traditional IRT model to a seventh-grade reading comprehension test (n = 8,815) with eight testlets. These three models were compared to determine the best…

Objective: This study examined the inconsistent relationship found between personal growth initiative (PGI) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) by exploring potential subgroups. In addition, after identifying the subgroups, potential predictors of these subgroups were examined. Participants: Participants were 534 undergraduate students who…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of metacompetencies in entrepreneurship education through students' expressions of metacompetencies in their learning processes, aiming to provide assistance embedding metacompetencies in entrepreneurship education. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical study is based on qualitative…

Students in a junior- and senior-level Anatomy and Physiology course have the opportunity to correct missed exam questions ("regrade") and earn up to half of the original points missed. The three objectives of this study were to determine if: (a) performance on the regrade assignment was correlated with scores on subsequent exams, (b)…

Calibration of new items online has been an important topic in item replenishment for multidimensional computerized adaptive testing (MCAT). Several online calibration methods have been proposed for MCAT, such as multidimensional "one expectation-maximization (EM) cycle" (M-OEM) and multidimensional "multiple EM cycles"…

In this dissertation I investigate postsecondary online education with three research questions: 1. What is the connection between broadband access and the number of students who attempt online coursework? 2. What is the effect of online course delivery on course persistence and, conditional on completion, the likelihood of passing the course? 3.…

We develop a Bayesian multinomial network meta-analysis model for unordered (nominal) categorical outcomes that allows for partially observed data in which exact event counts may not be known for each category. This model properly accounts for correlations of counts in mutually exclusive categories and enables proper comparison and ranking of…

When combining results across related studies, a multivariate meta-analysis allows the joint synthesis of correlated effect estimates from multiple outcomes. Joint synthesis can improve efficiency over separate univariate syntheses, may reduce selective outcome reporting biases, and enables joint inferences across the outcomes. A common issue is…

Mathematics is the foundation of all sciences, but most students have problems learning math. Although students' success in life related to their success in learning, many would not take a math course unless it is their university's core requirements. Multiple reasons exist for students' poor performance in mathematics, but one prevalent variable…