The Common Core of Data (CCD) is an annual collection of public elementary and secondary education data by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. The data presented in this report are selected from the three nonfiscal components of the Common Core of Data…

Functional behavioral assessments are commonly used in school settings to assess and develop interventions for problem behavior. The trial-based functional analysis is an approach that teachers can use in their classrooms to identify the function of problem behavior. The current study evaluates the effectiveness of a modified pyramidal training…

In this project, students use a real-world, complex database and experience firsthand the consequences of inadequate data modeling. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency created the database as part of a multimillion dollar data collection effort undertaken in order to set limits on air pollutants from electric power plants. First, students…

Stephanie Whitney teaches in the department of teacher education at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Her interest is in how students reason and make sense of mathematics, and how teachers can promote this behavior. Students should engage in reasoning and sense making daily in their mathematics classes. It is often through students'…

A promising "underlying bivariate normal" approach was proposed by Jöreskog and Moustaki for use in the factor analysis of ordinal data. This was a limited information approach that involved the maximization of a composite likelihood function. Its advantage over full-information maximum likelihood was that very much less computation was…

This paper examines sources of potential bias in systematic reviews and meta-analyses which can distort their findings, leading to problems with interpretation and application by practitioners and policymakers. It follows from an article that was published in the "Canadian Journal of Communication" in 1990, "Integrating Research…

The authors compared the effects of using the true Multilevel Latent Growth Curve Model (MLGCM) with single-level regular and design-based Latent Growth Curve Models (LGCM) with or without the higher-level predictor on various criterion variables for multilevel longitudinal data. They found that random effect estimates were biased when the…

Data-driven decision making is essential in K-12 education today, but teachers often do not know how to make use of extensive data sets. Research shows that teachers are not taught how to use extensive data (i.e., multiple data sets) to reflect on student progress or to differentiate instruction. This paper presents a process used in an National…

Trust in science and scientists can greatly influence consideration of scientific developments and activities. Yet, trust is a nebulous construct based on emotions, knowledge, beliefs, and relationships. As we explored the literature regarding trust in science and scientists we discovered that no instruments were available to assess the construct,…

In this article I describe how a multiple perspectives framework drawn from the field of social work informed my analysis of interview data obtained from Australian preservice teachers who had gone on an international study trip. One incident recounted differently by three separate interviewees meant that the sometimes-similar and…

Over the past decades, Vincent Tinto, Edmund Thile, Francis Ianni, and others all link mentoring to better academic performance, improved social adjustment, enhanced academic experiences, and greater rates of degree completion. Even more specifically, Jean E. Rhodes, Renée Spencer, Thomas E. Keller, Belle Liang, and Gil Noam describe three…

Philanthropists, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners are increasingly focused on a college completion crisis in the United States. Collectively and independently, they have called for increasing the number of adults with postsecondary certificates and degrees as a national imperative. Using the 2007 administration of the Community College…

Children with visual and motor disabilities constitute a distinct group with a unique set of educational needs. Such children are often grouped with the broader population of children with multiple disabilities and visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision) (Erin, 2000; McLinden, 1997). The chief characteristic of…

Students' satisfaction with their university and course is of fundamental importance to retain students and promote their positive worth-of-mouth. The objective of this research is to analyse the level of efficiency of Portuguese public universities, according to the expectations and satisfaction of their students. To accomplish the objective,…

Knowledge of how to effectively monitor social media is an increasingly valued marketing research skill. This study tests an approach for adding social media content to an undergraduate marketing research class team project. The revised project maintains the expected objectives and parameters of a traditional research project, while integrating…