This position paper examines the phenomenon of the McNamara Fallacy to analyse flawed conceptions of "success" in mathematics learning, normalised assessment structures and their implications for mathematics education. The established presence of the McNamara Fallacy and the ramifications of this statistical fallacy provide a foundation…

In this paper is proposed a straightforward model selection approach that indicates the most suitable count regression model based on relevant data characteristics. The proposed selection approach includes four of the most popular count regression models (i.e. Poisson, negative binomial, and respective zero-inflated frameworks). Moreover, it…

Our purpose is to proffer QuantCrit methodological approaches to interrogate notions of statistical practice by convention. We present two approaches to meta-analysis and mean effect size calculations for student achievement. The first approach is the conventional approach which applies between-group differences to calculate effect sizes…

The "2nd Annual WPI-UMASS-UPENN EDM Data Mining Challenge" required contestants to predict efficient testtaking based on log data. In this paper, we describe our theory-driven and psychometric modeling approach. For feature engineering, we employed the Log-Normal Response Time Model for estimating latent person speed, and the Generalized…

The finite population correction (FPC) factor is often used to adjust variance estimators for survey data sampled from a finite population without replacement. As a replicated resampling approach, the jackknife approach is usually implemented without the FPC factor incorporated in its variance estimates. A paradigm is proposed to compare the…

The design and psychometric methodology of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is constantly evolving to meet the changing interests and demands stemming from a rapidly shifting educational landscape. NAEP has been built on strong research foundations that include conducting extensive evaluations and comparisons before new…

Test score distributions of schools or demographic groups are often summarized by frequencies of students scoring in a small number of ordered proficiency categories. We show that heteroskedastic ordered probit (HETOP) models can be used to estimate means and standard deviations of multiple groups' test score distributions from such data. Because…

Asbury and Wai ("Journal of School Choice," 2019) perform a valuable service by summarizing much available behavior--genetic research on academic achievement. However they consider that no specific policies stem from the research body at this time. Here we do propose a policy based on some of our research using twins, namely that…

The authors examined the short- and long-term effects of high school exit exams (HSEEs) on graduation rates and achievement using an interrupted time series approach. There is a positive overall effect of HSEE introduction for graduation rate trends, which is heterogeneous over time. HSEEs have a negative impact on graduation rates in the year of…

The social studies data of the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) highlighted some alarming results. These results highlight a trend in the learning of social studies related content within today's secondary schools. Students are mastering and retaining less social studies knowledge while other content areas are slowly…

The purpose of this study was to proffer the idea to "gaze" past gender and racial achievement gaps by providing a growth-based assessment of the achievement of Black girls. The study aims to elucidate how alternatives to traditional achievement gap analyses can yield information relevant to addressing classroom challenges. This…

School socio-economic compositional (SEC) effects have been influential in educational research predicting a range of outcomes and influencing public policy. However, some recent studies have challenged the veracity of SEC effects when applying residualised-change and fixed effects models and simulating potential measurement errors in hierarchical…

Missing data is a common problem in datasets that are obtained by administration of educational and psychological tests. It is widely known that existence of missing observations in data can lead to serious problems such as biased parameter estimates and inflation of standard errors. Most of the missing data imputation methods are focused on…

The purpose of this study was to examine eighth grade students' algebra achievement scores across various states, over years, and by students' demographics (including ethnicity/race, language spoken at home, SES factors, and academic resources). The questions guiding the study were, (a) What are the differences in eighth grade students' algebra…

Reading comprehension tests are often assumed to measure the same, or at least similar, constructs. Yet, reading is not a single but a multidimensional form of processing, which means that variations in terms of reading material and item design may emphasize one aspect of the construct at the cost of another. The educational systems in Denmark,…