Long-term collection of soil temperature with depth is important when studying climate change. The international program GLOBE[R] provides an excellent opportunity to collect such data, although currently endorsed temperature collection protocols need to be refined. To enhance data quality, protocol-based methodology and automated data logging,…

Direct observation of behaviors is a data collection method customarily used in clinical and educational settings. Repeated measures and small samples are inherent characteristics of observational studies that pose challenges to the numerical estimation of reliability for observational data. In this article, we review some debates about the use of…

This worksheet from the National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD) is an optional tool to help schools organize multiple years of student and program data for the purpose of identifying school-completion needs that can be addressed through the implementation of research-based interventions. It is designed for use…

This brief is a companion to the policy brief entitled, "Discipline Policies, Successful Schools and Racial Justice," which reviewed the research on disciplinary exclusion from school and made several recommendations, including the following three for seeking policy change through legislation: (1) Federal and state policy should require…

What does it mean to be a graduate student and to "do" graduate school? What happens when we shift our focus away from learning as a process of gaining expertise in a field or being socialized into the literacy conventions of a discipline and instead consider the ontological component of learning--the idea that learning entails becoming a certain…

Compared to other races, the college achievement gap is largest between Black men and women where females earn twice as many degrees as their male counterparts (National Center for Education Statistics, 2010, Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic minorities). Many Black men attempt college and eventually drop out forfeiting their…

This book highlights the experience of Liberia in both assessing and improving reading in primary schools. As a result of an Early Grade Reading Assessment, the Ministry of Education and partners, including the United States Agency for International Development, came together to identify and develop strategies for improving reading in schools.…

The current study analyzed existing data, collected under a previous U.S. Department of Education Reading First grant, to investigate the strength of the relationship between scores on the first- through third-grade Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills-Oral Reading Fluency (DIBELS-ORF) test and scores on a reading comprehension test…

Educational paradigm shifts call for 21st century learners to possess the knowledge, skills, abilities, values, and experiences associated with multiple forms of literacy in a participatory learning culture. Contemporary educational systems are slow to adapt. Outside of school, people have to be self-motivated and have access to resources in order…

America can no longer afford an education system that fails to use data effectively to guide decisionmaking. The education sector is facing ever-increasing demands to improve student outcomes, reduce burden, increase efficiency, and improve transparency. These demands cannot be met without the strategic and effective use of data. Due to the…

A comprehensive, integrated, three-tiered model (CI3T) of prevention is a framework for proactively meeting students' academic, behavioral, and social skills. At the tertiary (Tier 3) level of prevention, functional-assessment based interventions (FABIs) may be used to identify, develop, and implement supports based on the function, or purpose, of…

This study tests a process model of learning in which trainer and trainee traits are simultaneously considered as endogenous variables of learning outcomes. The article builds on a social view of training and similarity-attraction paradigms. In this context, the authors hypothesize that trainer-trainee similarity in personality (agreeableness)…

We review the history and current trends in the field of Educational Data Mining (EDM). We consider the methodological profile of research in the early years of EDM, compared to in 2008 and 2009, and discuss trends and shifts in the research conducted by this community. In particular, we discuss the increased emphasis on prediction, the emergence…

Through this qualitative study I attempt to take the reader into the lives of three adult female first-generation community college students in order to gain an understanding of how these students chose to attend a community college and the barriers they overcame to achieve a measure of success. Data collected through interviews with study…

Scope and method of study: Using the framework of Rogers's (1995) Diffusion of Innovation Theory, the purpose of the study is to examine the use of web-based instruction and faculty perceptions of web-based instruction in a Thai university. In this study, interviews with seven participants were used as the primary method to collect data.…