ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Evaluating the Structure of Early English Literacy Skills in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children
Author: Webb, Mi-young L.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Deafness,Hearing Impairments,Emergent Literacy,English,English Instruction,Literacy Education,Children,Reading Instruction,Phonological Awareness,Alphabets,Vocabulary Development,Reading Tests,Standardized Tests,Factor Analysis,Correlation,Reading Skills

Better understanding the mechanisms underlying developing literacy has promoted the development of more effecting reading interventions for typically developing children. Such knowledge may facilitate effective instruction of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children. Hence, the current study examined the multivariate associations among phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, word reading, and vocabulary skills, in DHH children who have auditory access to speech. One hundred and sixty-seven DHH children (M[subscript age] = 60.43 months) were assessed with a battery of early literacy measures. Forty-six percent used at least one cochlear implant; 54% were fitted with hearing aids. About a fourth of the sample was acquiring both spoken English and sign. Scores on standardized tests of phonological awareness and vocabulary averaged at least one standard deviation below the mean of the hearing norming sample. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that DHH children's early literacy skills were best characterized by a complex three-factor model in which phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and vocabulary formed three separate, but highly correlated constructs, with letter-sound knowledge and word reading skills relating to both phonological awareness and alphabetic knowledge. This supports the hypothesis that early reading of DHH children with functional hearing is qualitatively similar to that of hearing children. [This paper was published in &quot;Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education&quot; v20 n2 p343-355 2015 (EJ1077584).]
Teachers Can Do It: Scalable Identity-Based Motivation Intervention in the Classroom
Author: Horowitz, Eric
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Motivation,Identification (Psychology),Learning Activities,Intervention,Program Implementation,Fidelity,Grade 8,Middle School Teachers,Middle School Students,Faculty Development,Grades (Scholastic),Student Attitudes,Teacher Characteristics,Classroom Environment,Student Participation,Academic Failure,Grade 7,Student Characteristics,Training

Classroom activities aimed at changing students' identity-based motivation (IBM) improve student outcomes by helping students experience school as the path to their adult future identities and their difficulties along the way as signals of the importance of schoolwork. One way to scale these effects would be to have teachers deliver IBM activities. Hence, we asked if, after brief two-day training, teacher-delivered IBM intervention could meet fidelity standards and if attaining more fidelity matters. We trained all eighth-grade teachers in two middle schools (N?=?211 students). We used Dane and Schneider's (1988) five-component fidelity model and Durlak and DuPre's (2008) empirically derived threshold and practical maximum standards for fidelity. We found that most classrooms (88%) and students (89%) received IBM intervention at-or-above threshold standard, implying that teacher-based IBM delivery is viable. Moreover, investing in improving fidelity is worthwhile; above-threshold fidelity improved core grade-point-average and reduced risk of course failure.
Bayesian Model Selection Methods for Multilevel IRT Models: A Comparison of Five DIC-Based Indices
Author: Zhang, Xue
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Bayesian Statistics,Item Response Theory,Measurement,Models,Computer Software,Simulation,Comparative Analysis

Model selection is important in any statistical analysis, and the primary goal is to find the preferred (or most parsimonious) model, based on certain criteria, from a set of candidate models given data. Several recent publications have employed the deviance information criterion (DIC) to do model selection among different forms of multilevel item response theory models (MLIRT). The majority of the practitioners use WinBUGS for implementing MCMC algorithms for MLIRT models, and the default version of DIC provided by WinBUGS focused on the measurement-level parameters only. The results herein show that this version of DIC is inappropriate. This study introduces five variants of DIC as a model selection index for MLIRT models with dichotomous outcomes. Considering a multilevel IRT model with three levels, five forms of DIC are formed: first-level conditional DIC computed from the measurement model only, which is the index given by many software packages such as WinBUGS; second-level marginalized DIC and second-level joint DIC computed from the second-level model; and top-level marginalized DIC and top-level joint DIC computed from the entire model. We evaluate the performance of the five model selection indices via simulation studies. The manipulated factors include the number of groups, the number of second-level covariates, the number of top-level covariates, and the types of measurement models (one-parameter vs. two-parameter). Considering the computational viability and interpretability, the second-level joint DIC is recommended for MLIRT models under our simulated conditions. [This article was published in &quot;Journal of Educational Measurement&quot; (EJ1208645).]
Assessing Item-Level Fit for Higher Order Item Response Theory Models
Author: Zhang, Xue
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Item Response Theory,Models,Test Items,Goodness of Fit,Error of Measurement,Bayesian Statistics

Testing item-level fit is important in scale development to guide item revision/deletion. Many item-level fit indices have been proposed in literature, yet none of them were directly applicable to an important family of models, namely, the higher order item response theory (HO-IRT) models. In this study, chi-square-based fit indices (i.e., Yen's Q[subscript 1], McKinley and Mill's G[superscript 2], Orlando and Thissen's S-X[superscript 2], and S-G[superscript 2]) were extended to HO-IRT models. Their performances are evaluated via simulation studies in terms of false positive rates and correct detection rates. The manipulated factors include test structure (i.e., test length and number of dimensions), sample size, level of correlations among dimensions, and the proportion of misfitting items. For misfitting items, the sources of misfit, including the misfitting item response functions, and misspecifying factor structures were also manipulated. The results from simulation studies demonstrate that the S-G[superscript 2] is promising for higher order items.
Modality and Interrelations among Language, Reading, Spoken Phonological Awareness, and Fingerspelling
Author: Lederberg, Amy R.
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Reading Skills,Finger Spelling,Kindergarten,Grade 1,Grade 2,Elementary School Students,Deafness,Hearing Impairments,Factor Analysis,Correlation,Oral Language,Phonological Awareness,Sign Language,Language Acquisition,English,Reading Processes,Language Processing,Auditory Perception,Comparative Analysis,Measures (Individuals),Articulation (Speech),Achievement Tests,Language Tests,American Sign Language

Better understanding of the mechanisms underlying early reading skills can lead to improved interventions. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine multivariate associations among reading, language, spoken phonological awareness, and fingerspelling abilities for three groups of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) beginning readers: those who were acquiring only spoken English (n=101), those who were visual learners and acquiring sign (n=131), and those who were acquiring both (n=104). Children were enrolled in kindergarten, first, or second grade. Within-group and between-group confirmatory factor analysis showed that there were both similarities and differences in the abilities that underlie reading in these three groups. For all groups, reading abilities related to both language and the ability to manipulate the sublexical features of words. However, the groups differed on whether these constructs were based on visual or spoken language. Our results suggest that there are alternative means to learning to read. Whereas all DHH children learning to read rely on the same fundamental abilities of language and phonological processing, the modality, levels, and relations among these abilities differ. [This paper was published in &quot;Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education&quot; v24 n4 p408-423 2019.]
Adoption of PBIS within School Districts
Author: Kittelman, Angus
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Positive Behavior Supports,School Districts,Adoption (Ideas),Evidence Based Practice,Public Schools,School District Size,School Location,Student Characteristics,Predictor Variables,Elementary Secondary Education

Recent research in implementation science has focused on identifying factors that predict adoption of evidence-based practices in schools. Less attention has focused on examining the adoption of practices within districts. This study included a sequential cohort of 552 districts in 25 U.S. states adopting an evidence-based framework, school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS). We examined schools within districts reporting on PBIS fidelity during their first five years of PBIS initiatives. Latent change score and multi-level growth modeling were used to examine and predict the percent of district adoption of PBIS over time. Results showed a significant increase in the rate of district adoption over the first 4 years of the initiative, with a decrease in growth between years 4 and 5. District size, proportion of students receiving free or reduced lunch, and districts located in cities and towns were found to be significant predictors of the percent of schools adopting PBIS. Implications for future implementation research and strategies for increasing the adoption of PBIS are discussed. [This paper was published in &quot;Journal of School Psychology&quot; v76 p159-167 2019.]
Do You Need a Roadmap or Can Someone Give You Directions: When School-Focused Possible Identities Change so Do Academic Trajectories
Author: Horowitz, Eric
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Grade 8,Educational Environment,Context Effect,Identification (Psychology),Self Concept,Student Motivation,Student Behavior,Poverty,Minority Group Students,Public Schools,Evaluation Methods,Student Attitudes,Grade Point Average,Predictor Variables,Student Characteristics

Introduction: Despite the assumed importance of school-focused possible identities for academic motivation and outcomes, interventions rarely assess the effect of the intervention on possible identities. This may be due to difficulty coding open-ended text at scale but leaves open a number of questions: 1) how do school-focused possible identities change over the course of the school year, 2) whether these changes are associated with changes in school outcomes, and 3) whether a machine coding approach is viable. Methods: In Study 1 (n = 247 Chicago 8th-graders) we assess fall-to-spring change in school-focused possible identities. We test whether a change in school-focused possible identities predicts 8th-grade academic outcomes. We include robustness checks. Then we examine school context effects. In Study 2 (n = 1006 Chicago 8th-graders) we address the problem of coding at scale, using a separate data set to train a machine-learning algorithm. Results: On average, school-focused possible identities decline over the school year. But nearly a third of students have increasing school-focused possible identity scores. This increase is associated with improved grades. School context influences whether linked strategies matter. Our machine-learning algorithm accurately classifies school-focused possible identities in our original sample and this school-focused classification reliably predicts academic trajectories. Conclusions: Change in school-focused possible identities is normative over the course of the school year, interventions should take this into account. On average, students have fewer school-focused possible identities by spring. This decline is associated with declining academic trajectories. However, when school-focused possible identities increase, so do grades. Whether strategies matter is context-dependent.
Identifying Factors Associated with Patterns of Student Attendance and Participation in a Group Tier 2 Preventive Intervention: Implications for Adaptation
Author: Pas, Elise T.
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Prevention,Intervention,Middle School Students,Comparative Analysis,Gender Differences,Racial Differences,Risk,Student Behavior,Group Dynamics,Coping,Student Attitudes,Psychological Patterns,Grade 7,Groups,Student Characteristics,Attendance Patterns

The extent to which youth attend Tier 2 evidence-based intervention is an important dimension of implementation. This study examined attendance patterns of 369 middle schoolers involved in a randomized trial testing the impact of Coping Power, an evidence-based Tier 2 preventive intervention. We conducted latent profile analysis to examine student attendance at the 25 Coping Power sessions and found three attendance patterns: 69.9% had &quot;high and stable&quot; attendance, 19.5% of youth had &quot;moderate and modestly&quot; declining attendance, and 10.6% had &quot;poor and sharply declining&quot; attendance. We then examined whether students of a particular gender and race or in single-gender/race intervention groups were more likely to demonstrate certain attendance patterns and whether there were mean differences across attendance patterns on student behavioral risk, affect, and group engagement; group characteristics (e.g., group behavioral norms); and individual contacts with the group leader. Analyses indicated students with the &quot;poor and sharply declining&quot; attendance pattern had higher early-session negative affect than students with the other two attendance patterns and were less likely to be in gender-balanced groups than students with &quot;moderate and modestly declining&quot; attendance. Students with &quot;moderate and modestly declining&quot; attendance spent more time in contacts with group leaders than students with &quot;high and stable&quot; attendance. Students with high attendance were in groups with the highest early-session group attendance rates. Implications of these findings for adaptation and tailoring of the Tier 2 Coping Power program are discussed. [This paper will be published in &quot;Journal of Applied School Psychology.&quot;]
Elementary Mathematics Student Assessment: Measuring the Performance of Grade 3, 4, and 5 Students in Number (Whole Numbers and Fractions), Operations, and Algebraic Thinking in Fall 2015. Research Report No. 2018-24
Author: Schoen, Robert C.
Date: 2018-05-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Elementary School Students,Elementary School Mathematics,Grade 3,Grade 4,Grade 5,Number Concepts,Fractions,Algebra,Mathematics Tests,Test Construction,Psychometrics,Field Tests,Public Schools,Mathematics Achievement,Scoring,Test Items,Item Response Theory,Test Reliability,Predictive Validity,Scaling

This report provides a description of the development process, field testing, and psychometric properties of the fall 2015 grades 3-5 Elementary Mathematics Student Assessment (EMSA), a student mathematics test designed to be administered in a whole-group setting to students in grades 3, 4, and 5. The test was administered to 2,614 participating grade 3, 4, and 5 students in 266 classrooms located in 10 public school districts in Florida during fall 2015. Focused on number (including whole number and fractions), operations, and algebraic thinking, the student assessment was designed to serve as a baseline measure of student achievement for use as a covariate in a randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of a teacher professional development program on student learning. [This report was prepared by the Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (FCR-STEM) within the Learning Systems Institute.]
A NASA/University Faculty Development Partnership: Equipping Educators to Promote Equity in STEM Education
Author: Huling, Leslie
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: STEM Education,Institutional Cooperation,Space Exploration,Space Sciences,Higher Education,Faculty Development,College Faculty,Teacher Competencies,Preservice Teachers,Preservice Teacher Education,Professional Personnel,Minority Groups

As the call for reform in STEM education has continued to increase over the past twenty- five years, new challenges arise for colleges and universities to seek high-quality professional development strategies and opportunities for faculty to upgrade and enhance their STEM teaching methodologies. Against this backdrop, the authors discuss what constitutes high- quality professional development and examine a large-scale three-year case study, involving a collaborative effort among NASA MUREP Educator Institutes for preservice-teachers and STEM education faculty from minority serving institutions. The authors analyze the resulting impacts of this professional development on various aspects of the professional practices of participating university faculty. [This article was published in &quot;SRATE Journal&quot; (EJ1243647).]
Investigation of the Effectiveness of a Stand-Alone Graduate-Level Multicultural Education Course in a Public University in Turkey
Author: Erbas, Yahya Han
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Graduate Study,Multicultural Education,Preservice Teacher Education,Course Evaluation,Program Effectiveness,Schools of Education,Expectation,Instructional Materials,Educational Quality,Course Objectives

The contents of multicultural teacher education courses are essential as well as an examination of which philosophies, theories, and approaches are taught in multicultural courses, in order to support teachers' awareness regarding pluralism. This qualitative case study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a course that designed to teach theoretical and practical foundations of multicultural education. For this study, the researcher gathered data and investigated a stand-alone graduate course referred to as MULT-500 Multicultural Education in a school of education at a Turkish university. For this study, a focus group interview, fieldnotes, the course syllabus, and transcriptions of the final interviews serve as the sources for the findings. The results of the study indicated that some of the participants' expectations of this course were satisfactorily met, but it is worth noting that not all of their expectations were met. Although some participants thought that the course materials (books, articles, etc.) that was used for the course have the high quality, some of them believed that the course materials and the assignments should be more related to Turkish schools and curricula concepts. Additionally, participants believed that course provided the new terms with regard to multiculturalism; however, the lack of multicultural experiences in the classrooms, which was not supported throughout the course, was one the major concerns of participants.
Supervisory Relationship, Organizational Climate and Satisfaction of Employees in a Local Community College
Author: Riego de Dios, Erin E.
Date: 2020-02-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Community Colleges,Supervision,Supervisor Supervisee Relationship,Organizational Climate,Job Satisfaction,School Personnel,College Faculty

This study aimed to analyze the supervisory relationship, organizational climate and satisfaction of employees in a local community college. The researcher used a descriptive-correlational design with the survey as the instrument and considered 60 respondents using a convenience sampling technique. An adopted and modified instrument was used to gather data. For the statistical treatment, the study used SPSS 22 to analyze the gathered data with the use of the following tools: frequency, percentage, weighted mean, t-test, ANOVA and Pearson-r. The study generated the following results: the respondents answered, &quot;Agree&quot; that they have a good and suitable supervisory relationship, organizational climate and overall satisfaction. In addition, there are significant findings observed in supervisory relationships and organizational climate when grouped according to demographic profiles. Furthermore, relationship exist between some of the demographic profiles of the respondents, supervisory relationship, organizational climate and overall satisfaction. With the forgoing results, the researcher recommended important suggestions for this study.
Gamified Learning Activities in a Teacher Education Course
Author: Karatas, Erinç
Date: 2018-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Game Based Learning,Learning Activities,Student Motivation,Student Satisfaction,Instructional Effectiveness,Educational Technology,Foreign Countries,College Seniors,Preservice Teachers,Preservice Teacher Education,Elective Courses

This is an action research study which attempts to solve some issues using gamification in learning environments. This study focuses on motivations of prospective teachers regarding courses rather the course content itself. During 2012-2013 academic year, gamification in education was practiced in the elective course &quot;Innovative Technologies&quot; offered by CEIT (Computer Education and Instructional Technology) program. The researcher e-mailed a questionnaire with 7 open-ended questions to identify prospective teachers' opinions about the gamified learning implemented. The responses from 15 participants regarding these four themes were analyzed individually. Four themes emerged in relation to the research problem: the general level of satisfaction, benefits, challenges and suggestions. According to the findings, the general level of course satisfaction is quite high. These prospective students stated that the use of gamified learning activities had increased their motivation both individually and as group. However, for several reasons, a small number of them were observed to be demotivated.