Maximum likelihood (ML) estimation of generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) is technically challenging because of the intractable likelihoods that involve high dimensional integrations over random effects. The problem is magnified when the random effects have a crossed design and thus the data cannot be reduced to small independent clusters. A…

The use of value-added modeling (VAM) in school accountability is expanding, but deciding how to embrace VAM is difficult. Various experts say it's too unreliable, causes more harm than good, and has a big margin for error. Others assert VAM is imperfect but useful, and provides valuable feedback. A closer look at the models, and their use,…

Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods enable a fully Bayesian approach to parameter estimation of item response models. In this simulation study, the authors compared the recovery of graded response model parameters using marginal maximum likelihood (MML) and Gibbs sampling (MCMC) under various latent trait distributions, test lengths, and…

The need of after-school programs has become urgent for school-age children in many industrialized countries due to social structure changes. This research develops a hierarchical framework to evaluate after-school programs from two distinct aspects--service quality from parents' perspectives and marketing strategy from operators'…

Research on teaching high school mathematics shows that the topic of percentages often causes learning difficulties. This article describes a method of teaching percentages that the authors used in university bridging courses. In this method, the information from a word problem about percentages is presented in a two-way table. Such a table gives…

Audit studies testing for discrimination have been criticized because applicants from different groups may not appear identical to employers. Correspondence studies address this criticism by using fictitious paper applicants whose qualifications can be made identical across groups. However, Heckman and Siegelman (1993) show that group differences…

The financial calculator is incorporated in finance education. In class, the instructor shows students how to use the financial calculator's function keys to solve time value of money (TVM) related problems efficiently. The fundamental finance course is required for all majors in the business school. Some students, especially…

Attrition occurs when study participants who were assigned to the treatment and control conditions do not provide outcome data and thus do not contribute to the estimation of the treatment effects. It is very common in experimental studies in education as illustrated, for instance, in a meta-analysis studying "the effects of attrition on baseline…

In this study the authors test whether matching using intact local groups improves causal estimates over those produced using propensity score matching at the student level. Like the recent analysis of Wilde and Hollister (2007), they draw on data from Project STAR to estimate the effect of small class sizes on student achievement. They propose a…

We report on results of a classroom teaching experiment in a mathematics content course for prospective elementary teachers. A local instruction theory for the development of number sense, which was previously applied to whole-number mental computation, was extended to inform instruction concerning reasoning about fraction magnitude. We found that…

Students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) demonstrate significant academic deficits across content areas (Coutinho, 1986; Lane, Barton-Arwood, Nelson, & Wehby, 2008; Nelson, Benner, Lane, & Smith, 2004; Reid, Gonzalez, Nordness, Trout, & Epstein, 2004; Ruhl & Berlinghoff, 1992). Mathematics, however, appears to be especially…

Multiplication facts are difficult to teach. Therefore many researchers have put a great deal of effort into finding multiplication strategies. Sherin and Fuson (2005) provided a good survey paper on the multiplication strategies research area. Kolpas (2002), Rendtorff (1908), Dabell (2001), Musser (1966) and Markarian (2009) proposed the finger…

Depending on task combination, dual-tasking can either be performed successfully or can lead to performance decrements in one or both tasks. Interference is believed to be caused by limitations in central processing, i.e. structural interference between the neural activation patterns associated with each task. In the present study, single- and…

An essential component of skill acquisition is learning the environmental conditions in which that skill is relevant. This article proposes and tests a neurobiologically detailed theory of how such learning is mediated. The theory assumes that a key component of this learning is provided by the cholinergic interneurons in the striatum known as…

Research literature is reviewed, identifying a need to design instruction to support multi-digit mental computation and critiquing conventional place value instruction. A distinctive instructional domain is proposed, called conceptual place value (CPV)--incrementing and decrementing numbers by units of ones, tens and hundreds. A design research…