One ethnoracial reporting category perplexes higher education researchers: "race and ethnicity unknown." Using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), we constructed a 28-year panel of 4,401 institutions. We find that the for-profit sector ranges from 5% to 18% "race unknown" students. In addition, almost…

This concluding essay offers a reflection on the set of the papers contained in this special issue of the Educational Assessment journal. In it the author situates formative assessment squarely in the realm of teachers' continuous professional learning and considers the essential nature of formative assessment as centering on three questions that…

While much has been written about the personal, social, and democratic benefits of networked communities and participatory learning, critics have begun to draw attention to the ubiquitous data collection and computational processes behind mass user platforms. Personal and behavioral data have become valuable material for statistical and machine…

The UK census authorities have proposed guidance for the 2021 census indicating that the sex question may be answered according to subjective gender identity. This raises issues about the measurement of sex and gender identity which other data collection exercises are also contending with. This paper addresses the questions that have arisen…

This article discusses issues concerning the spread of data-driven educational technologies in Brazil. Here, as elsewhere, educational technology continues to be promoted optimistically as the bearer of a panacea for historically-rooted social problems. Whilst some of these technologies have indeed contributed to important widening-participation…

This article discusses how each of the papers in this special issue explored some combination of subject, audience, and data scientist perspectives with an eye toward helping students situate their relationship to data. Specifically, within the data scientist perspective, the papers examined a variety of ways in which students can relate to data…

Connecting teachers' perspectives with their practice is an enduring challenge shaping what and how we understand teaching. Researchers tend to bifurcate teachers' work between their private and their public lives. These "worlds" bring particular meanings that are rendered through the analyses of visual documentations of teaching and…

The field of learning analytics is progressing at a rapid rate. New tools, with ever-increasing number of features and a plethora of datasets that are increasingly utilized demonstrate the evolution and multifaceted nature of the field. In particular, the depth and scope of insight that can be gleaned from analysing related datasets can have a…

While home visiting services are an important component of the early childhood (EC) landscape, few states include home visiting data in their early childhood integrated data systems (ECIDS). An ECIDS links together data from different early care and education programs to generate data used to support program and policy decisions. One reason for…

Examining students' attitudes towards STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields starting from middle school level is important in their career choices and future planning. However, there is a need to investigate which variables affect students' attitudes towards STEM. Here, we aimed to estimate middle school students'…

There is a growing body of literature around digital research, specifically regarding data collection and how to pivot research designs to be more conducive to online and virtual research, but little in the way of how to analyze data remotely. In this article, we share firsthand experiences from a qualitative study utilizing Google apps, Zoom, and…

COVID-19 and the public health policies emerging in response have laid bare a multiplicity of issues related to educational access and knowledge equity on a global scale. Among these, the quick shift to online and hybrid education models led teachers to adapt a plethora of digital platforms to deliver content and sponsor interactions). Such…

Language sample analysis (LSA) is valuable clinical tool and an important component of comprehensive language assessment. However, LSA is underutilized in real-world practice. SLPs have identified time constraints, insufficient training, and lack of confidence in LSA skills as barriers to regular LSA implementation. Communication science and…

Researchers are combining self-reports from mobile surveys with passive data collection using sensors and apps on smartphones increasingly more often. While smartphones are commonly used in some groups of individuals, smartphone penetration is significantly lower in other groups. In addition, different operating systems (OSs) limit how mobile data…

Across disciplines there is a large and increasing number of research projects that rely on data collection activities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, these are accompanied by an extensive range of ethical challenges. While the safeguarding of study participants is the primary aim of existing ethics guidelines, this paper…