Group-based teaching and learning is ubiquitous across undergraduate and graduate business curricula, and with any type of group work, free-riding--a form of social loafing in which free-riding group members reap the rewards of nonloafing members without exerting comparable effort--is a concern. This research examines a group assignment method,…

In most primary science classes, students are taught science inquiry skills by way of learning by doing. Research shows that explicit instruction may be more effective. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of explicit instruction on the acquisition of inquiry skills. Participants included 705 Dutch fifth and sixth graders. Students…

This study investigates the influence of structural transitions to high school on adolescents' friendship networks and academic grades from 6th through 12th grade, in a direct comparison of students who do and do not transition. We utilize data from 14,462 youth in 51 networks from 26 districts (Promoting School-Community Partnerships to Enhance…

This study examines the interplay between individual characteristics (social status, provictim attitudes, and family messages about conflict resolution) and classroom descriptive and injunctive norms (peer victimization behaviors and bullying-related beliefs, respectively) in explaining defending behavior. For this purpose, we used a…

Doctoral student enrollment and study require significant resources such as faculty time, student time, and funding. However, doctoral student attrition is a serious problem nationwide, especially at the dissertation level. When doctoral students do not complete their dissertations, their potential contributions to society are substantially…

Over the past decades, many schools have adapted towards social constructivism with the aim of enhancing students' motivation. There are a variety of perspectives in educational theory, with social constructivist views standing in contrast to traditional views. Hence, we compared students' motivation (levels and developments) in social…

Given that the Big-Fish-Little-Pond-Effect, the negative effect of school-average achievement on academic self-concept, is one of the most robust findings in educational psychology (Marsh, Seaton et al., 2007), this research extends the theoretical model, based on social comparison theory, to study relative year in school effects (e.g., being 1…

Advances in multilevel modeling techniques now make it possible to investigate the psychometric properties of instruments using clustered data. Factor models that overlook the clustering effect can lead to underestimated standard errors, incorrect parameter estimates, and model fit indices. In addition, factor structures may differ depending on…

Hierarchical linear models have become a familiar method for accounting for a hierarchical data structure in studies of science and mathematics achievement. This paper illustrates the use of cross-classified random effects models (CCREMs), which are likely less familiar. The defining characteristic of CCREMs is a hierarchical data structure…

Treatment dose is an understudied aspect of treatment effectiveness. This study compared the frequency with which a small-group mathematics intervention was delivered weekly (i.e., four times, twice, once) with a control condition while controlling for total duration. 101 at-risk students in grades 2-4 were randomly assigned to a condition…

We use data from a large-scale, school-level randomized experiment conducted in 2010-2011 in public schools in Indiana. Our sample includes more than 30,000 students in 70 schools. We examine the impact of two interim assessment programs (i.e., mCLASS in Grades K-2 and Acuity in Grades 3--8) on mathematics and reading achievement. Two-level models…

Providing undocumented immigrants access to public education remains a pertinent issue facing both institutions of higher education and state governments. While instate resident tuition (ISRT) has remained a contentious policy, little is known about how such policies, as well as other state contexts, influence college students' attitudes toward…

Background: Adolescence is a developmental period when dating behavior is first initiated and when the risk of abuse by or against a dating partner begins to emerge. It is also one in which experimentation with alcohol and illicit substances typically begins. The current study examined the association between recent alcohol use and recent…

The multilevel latent class model (MLCM) is a multilevel extension of a latent class model (LCM) that is used to analyze nested structure data structure. The nonparametric version of an MLCM assumes a discrete latent variable at a higher-level nesting structure to account for the dependency among observations nested within a higher-level unit. In…

"Simulation-based inference" (e.g., bootstrapping and randomization tests) has been advocated recently with the goal of improving student understanding of statistical inference, as well as the statistical investigative process as a whole. Preliminary assessment data have been largely positive. This article describes the analysis of the…