If we wish to embed assessment for accountability within instruction, we need to better understand the relative contribution of different types of learner data to statistical models that predict scores and discrete achievement levels on assessments used for accountability purposes. The present work scales up and extends predictive models of math…

Research shows that assuming a test scale is equal-interval can be problematic, especially when the assessment is being used to achieve a policy aim like evaluating growth over time. However, little research considers whether teacher value added is sensitive to the underlying test scale, and in particular whether treating an ordinal scale as…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an instructional package, Self-Regulated Strategy Development, a cognitive strategy instructional model (POW + TREE), in combination with video self-modeling (VSM) on the improvement on the written expression of three third-grade students with learning disabilities (LD). This…

In this paper I use a rich longitudinal database from Florida to compare the characteristics of alternatively certified teachers with their traditionally prepared colleagues. I analyze the relative effectiveness of teachers who enter the profession through different pathways by estimating value-added models of student achievement. In general,…

Expansion of the use of student test score data to measure teacher performance has fueled recent policy interest in using those data to measure the effects of school administrators as well. However, little research has considered the capacity of student performance data to uncover principal effects. Filling this gap, this article identifies…

A fairly recent definition of reading disability (RD) is that in the form of a hybrid model. The model views RD as a latent construct that is manifested through various observable unexpected impairments in reading-related skills and through inadequate response to intervention. The current report evaluated this new conceptualization of RD from an…

Evidence that teachers' short-term instructional effects persist over time and predict substantial long-run impacts on students' lives provides much of the impetus for a wide range of educational reforms focused on identifying and responding to differences in teachers' value-added to student learning. However, relatively little research has…

This teaching experiment provided students with continuous engagement in a problem-solving based instructional approach during one mathematics unit. Three sections of sixth-grade mathematics were sampled from a school in Florida, U.S.A. and one section was randomly assigned to experience teaching through problem solving. Students' problem-solving…

Relations between reading and writing have been studied extensively, but the less is known about the developmental nature of their interrelations. This study applied latent change score modeling to investigate longitudinal relations between reading and writing skills at the word, sentence, and text levels. Latent change score models were used to…

The authors used a large data set (N = 1,011,549) to examine literacy growth over a single school year comparing general education (GenEd) students to three high-risk subgroups: English language learners (ELL), those with a specific learning disability (LD), and those identified as both LD and ELL (LD-ELL) in students in Grades 3-10. The authors…

This study explored the relationship between the reading ability and science achievement of students in grades 5, 8, and 9. Reading ability was assessed with four measures: word recognition, vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, and comprehension (23% of all passages were on science topics). Science achievement was assessed with state…

The present study seeks to evaluate a hybrid model of identification that incorporates response to instruction and intervention (RTI) as one of the key symptoms of reading disability. The 1-year stability of alternative operational definitions of reading disability was examined in a large-scale sample of students who were followed longitudinally…

Through comparative case study, we seek to understand the ways in which actors in high schools use and think about performance data. In particular, we compare data use in higher and lower value-added schools. Data use is conceptualized here as having access to a host of available performance data on students, using them to guide instructional…

This study examines model selection indices for use with dichotomous mixture item response theory (IRT) models. Five indices are considered: Akaike's information coefficient (AIC), Bayesian information coefficient (BIC), deviance information coefficient (DIC), pseudo-Bayes factor (PsBF), and posterior predictive model checks (PPMC). The five…

Improving student performance for high-need student populations by improving the use of data in decision-making for early reading intervention programs in northwest Florida is the focus of this research to practice effort. The study is conceptually based on using a relational-feedback intervention (RFI) database model in early learning…