Simulations were conducted to establish best practice in hyperparameter optimization and accounting for clustering in Generalized Linear Mixed-Effects Model Trees (GLMM trees). Using data-driven best practices, the relationship between a 9th Grade On-Track to Graduate (9G-OTG) indicator and observed high school graduation within four years was…

In this study, the variables that affect the International Outlook of Universities are examined. The international outlook was treated as a dependent variable. Teaching, research, citation and industry income, GCI, critical thinking in teaching, freedom of the press, judicial independence, HDI, GNI, Gini coefficient, gender inequality index,…

Research has shown that mathematical proficiency gaps are related to students' and schools' indicators of poverty, with fewer studies on neighborhood effects on achievement gaps. Although this literature has accounted for students' nesting within schools, so far, methodological constraints have not allowed researchers to formally account for…

The authors examined the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) on academic self-concept (ASC) using different indicators of academic ability (i.e., achievement test, cognitive ability test, grades corrected for grading-on-a-curve effects, uncorrected grades). They investigated under what circumstances grades are suitable indicators of academic…

This brief examined the patterns of reading achievement using statewide data from all students (Grades 3-10) in multiple years to examine gaps based on student, school, and district characteristics. Results indicate reading achievement varied most between students within schools and that students' prior achievement was the strongest predictor of…

In most countries, publicly funded schools are held accountable to one inspectorate and are judged against agreed national standards. Many inspectorates of education have recently moved towards more proportional risk-based inspection models, targeting high-risk schools for visits, while schools with satisfactory student attainment levels are…

This study is a secondary analysis of reading data collected from over 165,000 fourth graders as part of the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress. Using hierarchical linear modelling, the authors investigated factors associated with students' informational text comprehension, including out-of-school reading engagement, and in-school…

Oklahoma is one of 16 states electing to use an A-F letter grade as an indicator of school quality. On the surface, letter grades are an attractive policy instrument for school improvement; they are seemingly clear, simple, and easy to interpret. Evidence, however, on the use of letter grades as an instrument to rank and improve schools is scant…

Decades of evidence demonstrates that high-quality, well-implemented early education can positively impact the learning trajectories of vulnerable, high-needs young children. Yet, the majority of publicly-funded programs nationwide struggle to implement to quality standards with fidelity and fail to significantly advance children's early…