Automated assessment using Natural Language Processing (NLP) has the potential to make English speaking assessments more reliable, authentic, and accessible. Yet without careful examination, NLP may exacerbate social prejudices based on gender or native language (L1). Current NLP-based assessments are prone to such biases, yet research and…

This three-article dissertation aims to address three methodological challenges to ensure comparability in educational research, including scale linking, test equating, and propensity score (PS) weighting. The first study intends to improve test scale comparability by evaluating the effect of six missing data handling approaches, including…

At the intersection of digital identities and new language and social practice online is the concept of searchable talk (ST). ST describes the process of tagging discourse in a social networking service (SNS) with a hashtag (#), allowing it to be searchable by others. Although originating in Twitter, ST has expanded into other SNS, and is used…

Weight discrimination, the maltreatment of individuals perceived to have larger sized bodies driven by both implicit and explicit biases about weight, is a growing issue in society with deleterious effects for individuals of size (Andreyeva et al., 2008; Hatzenbuehler et al., 2009; Puhl & King, 2013; Swift et al., 2013; Tomiyama, 2014).…

This study explored the best testing practices for the NC Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) to determine preparedness for entry-level law enforcement officers. The researcher implemented a mixed-methods approach to answer five research questions based on collected historical data from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, the North Carolina…

The purpose of conducting this qualitative research was to investigate Middle Eastern international students? perceptions of individual mental health counseling services at their colleges/universities in the U.S. An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach (IPA) developed by Smith et al. (2009) was used to analyze the data. Six participants (three…

Within polytomous items, differential item functioning (DIF) can take on various forms due to the number of response categories. The lack of invariance at this level is referred to as differential step functioning (DSF). The most common DSF methods in the literature are the adjacent category log odds ratio (AC-LOR) estimator and cumulative…

Productive hiring practices can increase the opportunity that every student will be taught by an effective teacher. Integrity of hiring practices is sacrificed when decision-making models, methods, and protocols fall short due to improper implementation. To compensate for the lack of information generated from poor hiring resources and protocols,…

Social labeling of people with behavioral health disorders falls under the umbrella of "stigma" and plays a key role in limiting the access to behavioral healthcare. Currently, the U.S. spends an estimated $201B on behavioral health disorders every year, making it the number one most expensive medical condition. In any given year, 43.8M…

College campuses in America have become increasingly diverse in recent years. The increase in diversity has not resulted in an increase in intergroup dialogue and/or interactions. Many college campuses have employed a variety of diversity and inclusion programs to foster intergroup relations and improve campus climate. One type of program that has…

The dominant discourse on midwifery has been characterized by myths that have been constructed and perpetuated through oral and written discourse. The purpose of this research is to engage in a critical analysis of that discourse, with special focus on Hispanophone, Anglophone, and Francophone contexts in the Caribbean from colonial times to the…

This study examined the extent to which the iPad app, Spatial Temporal Mathematics (ST Math), diminished college remedial mathematics students' natural number bias and deepened their fraction conceptual understanding. In this quasi-experimental study one class played the ST Math fraction games for 8 weeks, and they were compared to a control class…

Increasing numbers of ethnic minority students are attending college (Department of Education, 2015). Many students of Color entering undergraduate institutions may be a statistical minority in an educational setting for the first time. Therefore, they may become especially aware of the stereotypes and prejudices that others may hold about their…

Over the past two decades First Generation African American (FGAA) males have been underrepresented in America's colleges and universities. Nearly 67% of those enrolled, specifically at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), have failed to obtain a 4-year degree. Therefore, I utilized a phenomenological design with Astin, Spady,…

Previous research has demonstrated that DIF methods that do not account for multilevel data structure could result in too frequent rejection of the null hypothesis (i.e., no DIF) when the intraclass correlation coefficient (?) of the studied item was the same as ? of the total score. The current study extended previous research by comparing the…