Most modern research on the effects of feedback during learning has assumed that feedback is an error correction mechanism. Recent studies of feedback-timing effects have suggested that feedback might also strengthen initially correct responses. In an experiment involving cued recall of trivia facts, we directly tested several theories of…

This study was to apply the mixed Rasch model to investigate person heterogeneity of Beck Depression Inventory-II-Chinese version (BDI-II-C) and its effects on dimensionality and construct validity. Person heterogeneity was reflected by two latent classes that differ qualitatively. Additionally, person heterogeneity adversely affected the…

Outliers in assessments are often treated as a nuisance for data analysis; however, they can also assist in quality assurance. Their frequency can suggest problems with form codes, scanning accuracy, ability of examinees to enter responses as they intend, or exposure of items.

This study examines the differential effects on student subgroups of using the ACT® College Readiness Assessment Composite (ACTC) score and high school grade point average (HSGPA) for making admission decisions. The subgroup characteristics investigated include race/ethnicity, gender, and income. For each student subgroup, we examine the effect of…

The Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study examined the relation between experiences in foster care and depression among young adults who spent at least a year in foster care as adolescents. Results indicate that preparation for leaving foster care, nurturing supports from the foster family, school stability, access to tutoring, access to therapeutic…

A well-designed experiment is the best method for establishing efficacy of any intervention, be it medical, behavioral, or educational in nature. This paper reviews the steps necessary in conducting a comparative experiment in an educational setting, and illustrates how these steps might be fulfilled within the context of a large-scale randomized…

This note presents an alternative approach to the reasoning process and derivation of the hypergeometric probability mass function (pmf), and contrasts it with a binomial model. It utilizes the essential concept of sampling without replacement directly in the development of the mass function.

Many studies have shown that listeners can segment words from running speech based on conditional probabilities of syllable transitions, suggesting that this statistical learning could be a foundational component of language learning. However, few studies have shown a direct link between statistical segmentation and word learning. We examined this…

When people speak of "the Law of Gravity" they are generally referring to what is more specifically known as "Newton's Law of Gravitation." This law states that the gravitational force (that is, the mutual attraction) between any two physical bodies is directly proportional to the product of their individual masses and inversely proportional to…

Professional psychologists are often confronted with the task of making binary decisions about individuals, such as predictions about future behavior or employee selection. Test users familiar with linear models and Bayes's theorem are likely to assume that the accuracy of decisions is consistently improved by combination of outcomes across valid…

Statistics teaching should not be carried out in the same way for all kinds of university students. Instead, teaching statistics should take into account the different fields of study that students have chosen. For example, students of sciences or engineering have different interests and backgrounds compared to students of any social or juridical…

Questions about gifted learners and the best way to teach them to face expected challenges is often a source of controversy. This is because old stereotype curriculum and conventional instructional strategies may not be enough to give the needed stimulation. Considering the enormity of what is expected to reinforce the education of the gifted,…

The research design is a quantitative causal comparative method. The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) which measures student scores included assessments in mathematics and reading. The design study called for an examination of how type of small learning community (SLC) or the type non-SLC high school environment affected student…

This case study addresses two major priorities of the Boston Foundation--health and education. Since the 2007 publication of the "Understanding Boston" report "The Boston Paradox: Lots of Health Care, Not Enough Health," the Boston Foundation has worked to draw attention to the epidemic of preventable chronic disease that not…

Student modeling is a widely used approach to make inference about a student's attributes like knowledge, learning, etc. If we wish to use these models to analyze and better understand student learning there are two problems. First, a model's ability to predict student performance is at best weakly related to the accuracy of any one of its…