Propensity score estimation plays a fundamental role in propensity score matching for reducing group selection bias in observational data. To increase the accuracy of propensity score estimation, the author developed a bootstrap propensity score. The commonly used propensity score matching methods: nearest neighbor matching, caliper matching, and…

In the United States, an estimated 1.5 million people are diagnosed annually with some type of cancer (American Cancer Society, 2011). Work is an important stabilizing factor for cancer survivors (Arnold, 1999). De Boer and colleagues (2009) identified a rate of 33.8% unemployment among cancer survivors beyond the age of 18 compared to 15.2% among…

In this paper, we examine the validity and precision of two nonexperimental study designs (NXDs) that can be used in educational evaluation: the comparative interrupted time series (CITS) design and the difference-in-difference (DD) design. In a CITS design, program impacts are evaluated by looking at whether the treatment group deviates from its…

In the Cognitively Based Assessment of, for, and as Learning ("CBAL"™) research initiative, innovative K-12 prototype tests based on cognitive competency models are developed. This report presents the statistical results of the 2 CBAL Grade 8 writing tests and 2 Grade 7 reading tests administered to students in 20 states in spring 2011.…

This revenue study is based on Fiscal Year 2010-11 (FY11) data for each of 30 selected states plus the District of Columbia (D.C.). Traditional school districts and public charter schools were analyzed and aggregated "statewide." For each state, one to three "focus areas" were selected based on larger concentrations of charter…

Unlike in elementary school, high-school teacher effects may be confounded with both selection to tracks and unobserved track-level treatments. I document sizable confounding track effects, and show that traditional tests for the existence of teacher effects are likely biased. After accounting for these biases, high-school algebra and English…

One of the important arguments by critics of affirmative action is that it actually hurts the students it is supposed to help by subjecting them to the "stigma" of being admitted under policies explicitly seeking campus diversity. Such students, this theory argues, must feel embarrassed and uncomfortable as a result and would prefer to…

Rater behavior in essay grading can be viewed as a signal-detection task, in that raters attempt to discriminate between latent classes of essays, with the latent classes being defined by a scoring rubric. The present report examines basic aspects of an approach to constructed-response (CR) scoring via a latent-class signal-detection model. The…

This study explored whether the addition of the items with more advanced math content to the SAT Reasoning Test™ (SAT®) would impact test-taker performance. Two sets of SAT math equating sections were modified to form four subforms each. Different numbers of items with advanced content, taken from the SAT II: Mathematics Level IC Test (Math IC),…

Lord's bias function and the weighted likelihood estimation method are effective in reducing the bias of the maximum likelihood estimate of an examinee's ability under the assumption that the true item parameters are known. This paper presents simulation studies to determine the effectiveness of these two methods in reducing the bias when the item…

The purposes of this study were to introduce the iterative purification procedure and to compare this with the two-step purification procedure, to compare false positive error rates and the power of five observed score approaches and to identify factors affecting power and false positive rates in each method. This study used 2,400 data sets that…

Since the writing section of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) computer based test (CBT) is a single-prompt essay test, it is very important to ensure that each prompt is as fair as possible to any subgroups of examinees, such as those with different native language backgrounds. A particular topic of interest in this study is the…

This report examines the poverty status of persons in 1984 and 1985 using the complete panel file of the 1984 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and compares those findings to poverty estimates based on the Current Population Survey (CPS). Although the CPS is used to obtain official estimates of persons in poverty, SIPP captures the…

In an effort to determine differences between students who respond to surveys and those who do not, New Mexico State University at Alamogordo (NMSU-A) undertook a study of students in fall 1992. Students were asked to complete an 18-item questionnaire while waiting in lines during registration. The 1,618 out of 2,114 (76.5%) students who completed…

The catalogs of 19 large urban public lending library systems (10 American and 9 Canadian) were examined to determine the extent of their holdings of 222 gay-related titles. The populations of the libraries' service areas ranged from about 100,000 to three million. The title lists comprised classic and contemporary works taken from standard lists…