The purpose of this disquisition is to increase knowledge about the factors and outcomes of success in doctoral education. Enhanced understanding about the factors and outcomes of success could help optimize effectiveness of the complex systems that educate doctoral students. To achieve the purpose of this disquisition, three manuscripts were…

Students must be sufficiently motivated in order to achieve the intended learning outcomes of their college courses. Research in education and psychology has found motivation to be context-dependent. Therefore, students' motivation is likely to differ from one semester to the next according to which courses students are taking. However, there are…

This study examined models of homework interest at the secondary school level to assess whether homework interest varies across race and school location and whether the influence of race on homework interest depends on characteristics of the context (e.g., school location and teacher feedback). Student- and class-level predictors of homework…

This study examined student achievement in Michigan public school districts to determine if rural school districts are demonstrating greater financial efficiency by producing higher levels of student achievement than school districts in other geographic locations with similar socioeconomics. Three models were developed using multiple regression…

This study developed and tested a model to identify the predictors of retirement planning based on an extension of the theory of planned behavior ([TPB], Ajzen, 1991) that included individual differences in proactivity and time discounting. The results showed that personal attitudes, sense of control, social influence, and stable traits have a…

Researchers in career and technical education often ignore more effective ways of reporting and treating missing data and instead implement traditional, but ineffective, missing data methods (Gemici, Rojewski, & Lee, 2012). The recent methodological, and even the non-methodological, literature has increasingly emphasized the importance of…

This study applies the theory of planned behavior (TPB), a theory that is commonly used in commercial settings, to the educational context to explain pre-service teachers' technology acceptance. It is also interested in examining its validity when used for this purpose. It has found evidence that the TPB is a valid model to explain pre-service…

The "will, skill, tool" model is a well-established theoretical framework that elucidates the conditions under which teachers are most likely to employ information and communication technologies (ICT) in the classroom. Past studies have shown that these three factors explain a very high degree of variance in the frequency of classroom…

Learners need to have good reasons to engage and accept e-learning. They need to understand that unless they do, the outcomes will be less favourable. The technology acceptance model (TAM) is the most widely recognized model addressing why users accept or reject technology. This study describes the development and evaluation of a virtual…

In a multiple regression analysis with three or more predictors, every set of alternate weights belongs to an infinite class of "fungible weights" (Waller, Psychometrica, "in press") that yields identical "SSE" (sum of squared errors) and R[superscript 2] values. When the R[superscript 2] using the alternate weights is a fixed value, fungible…

In this paper, we investigate the effects of teacher characteristics and school context on the timing of teachers' decisions to exit schools where they teach. The two-level discrete time survival analysis framework allows for simultaneous examinations of who exits, when, and under what conditions. Our results for a large sample of teachers in the…

In this study, a comprehensive educational effectiveness model is tested in relation to student's civic knowledge. Multilevel analysis was applied on the dataset of the IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED; Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald, & Schulz, 2001), which was conducted among junior secondary-school students (age 14), their schools, and their…

We report two sets of experiments showing that the large individual variability in language learning success in adults can be attributed to neurophysiological, neuroanatomical, cognitive, and perceptual factors. In the first set of experiments, native English-speaking adults learned to incorporate lexically meaningfully pitch patterns in words. We…

Frontline youth workers' ability to form strong, positive relationships with program youth is a key element in maximizing the benefits of program participation. A recent National Collaboration of Youth (2006) report identified six elements associated with youth workers' competency to complete their professional roles: compensation, training…

The primary aim of this research is to identify cultural determinants of organizational learning and knowledge creation practices, which could be the driving factors for the innovation process in school settings (Mulford, 1998; Silins et al., 2002). A conceptual process model for school innovation was developed. In contrast to previous approaches,…