Artificial neural networks (NN) can help researchers estimate propensity scores for quasi-experimental estimation of treatment effects because they can automatically detect complex interactions involving many covariates. However, NN is difficult to implement due to the complexity of choosing an algorithm for various treatment levels and monitoring…

This article will address predictors of success for online students. A survey questionnaire was used to gather data concerning online students' social and educational readiness levels at a four-year private university in the Midwestern United States. Of the 4,050 potential participants, 250 (6.23%) responded to the survey. Stepwise regression…

Maintaining and cultivating student engagement is critical for learning. Understanding factors affecting student engagement can help in designing better courses and improving student retention. The large number of participants in massive open online courses (MOOCs) and data collected from their interactions on the MOOC open up avenues for studying…

Postsecondary student performance has been studied in great detail by higher education systems and their stakeholders in attempts to identify what may contribute to increased rates of retention and degree completion. Research on predictors of postsecondary performance has focused significantly on the relationship between performance and…

The preceding chapters of this monograph have served to situate the study of physical education teacher education recruitment and retention within relevant literature and theory. This chapter outlines the sequential explanatory design methods, whereby participants in an online survey were selected using stratified random sampling to participate in…

In this study, the relationship between primary school teachers' perceptions of job embeddedness and vocational belonging was analyzed using the correlational research model. The study group consisted of 258 primary school teachers working at primary schools located in Bolu city center in the 2017-2018 academic year. The research data were…

Many students enter higher education with poor preparation for college mathematics courses. These students are often placed through high-stakes placement testing into developmental coursework that bear no credit towards graduation, but many students who begin in developmental coursework never succeed in a college-level mathematics course. Recent…

There are several factors that contribute to the shrinking supply of teachers. Fewer individuals are pursuing teaching as a career; in the United States, for example, teacher education enrollments plunged 35% between 2009 and 2014 (Berry & Shields, 2017). In direct relation to the decrease in students entering preservice teaching, fewer…

These are the appendices for the report "Study of College Transition Messaging in GEAR UP: Impacts on Enrolling and Staying in College." Five appendices are included in the document: (1) Additional Details about College Transition Messaging; (2) Additional Information about How the Study Was Designed and Implemented; (3) Supplemental…

The success of education depends on highly competent teachers committed to stay in the teaching profession. In agricultural education, the need for teachers committed to teaching agriculture is heightened by the identified shortage of teachers. Previous research has linked teacher competence, most commonly operationalized as self-efficacy, and…

Many of the numbers used to assess students are statistical in nature. The theoretical context underlying the production of a typical number or statistic used in student assessment is presented. The author urges readers to recognize objective data as subjective information and to carefully consider the numbers that often determine admission,…

Teacher retention has been studied for decades, yet it has recently assumed renewed significance due to current teacher shortages. This study was designed to determine whether teachers' job embeddedness (JE) is related to turnover. JE is found in organizational literature (Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, & Erez, 2001) and has been a robust…

First-generation students, who represent more than 40% of entering college freshmen, have lower academic achievement and struggle to persist compared to their continuing-generation peers. Although previous studies have repeatedly shown a deficit model for first-generation students, there is still a lack of clear understanding about the…

Many recent studies in the field of mathematics and science education have been studying the effect of non-cognitive factors in students' achievement such as emotions, attitudes, values, beliefs, motivation, anxiety and grit. For example, attitude has been an important area in science education, and there have been many attempts to measure…

Applying a structural equations modelling methodology, the study analyses the relationships and effects of self-regulated learning (social interaction learning strategies and motivation) and first-year university experiences on permanence in the sophomore year. The participants are 239 first-year students in different Engineering degrees at a…