This article introduces researchers in the science concerned with developing and studying research methods, measurement, and evaluation (RMME) to the educational data mining (EDM) community. It assumes that the audience is familiar with traditional priorities of statistical analyses, such as accurately estimating model parameters and inferences…

The purpose of this paper is to analyze various dimensions for measurement of human behavior. Human behaviour is complex. Behaviors, emotions, cognitions, and attitudes can rarely be described in terms of one or two variables. It is multimodal in nature. Furthermore, the traits, modalities and dimensions cannot be measured directly, but must be…

School climate has received considerable attention in the literature and educational policy as a potential target for school improvement and school safety efforts. This paper provides a critical review and synthesis of the literature on school climate, with a particular focus on topics related to measurement, data collection, analysis, as well as…

School climate has received considerable attention in the literature and educational policy as a potential target for school improvement and school safety efforts. This paper provides a critical review and synthesis of the literature on school climate, with a particular focus on topics related to measurement, data collection, analysis, as well as…

Rural communities often have distinct contextual factors that impact residents' substance abuse behavior. However, most studies to date have focused either exclusively on urban populations or neglected to analyze data in a way that allows any rural/urban comparison. This is especially true for research examining nonmedical prescription drug use…

This article, by Sheila Riddell and Elisabet Weedon of the Centre for Research in Education Inclusion and Diversity, University of Edinburgh, analyses recent policy developments and outcomes in the field of additional support needs in Scotland in the context of devolution and austerity, drawing on a critical analysis of policy and administrative…

At a time when more and more of what people learn both in formal courses and in everyday life is mediated by technology, "Learning Online" provides a much-needed guide to different forms and applications of online learning. This book describes how online learning is being used in both K-12 and higher education settings as well as in…

Our research addresses the role that context expertise plays when students compare data. We report findings from a study conducted in 3 countries: Australia, United States, and Thailand. In each country, six middle school students analyzed authentic data relating to selected students' areas of interest. We examined the data analysis processes and…

This special section was inspired by the recent increased interest and methodological advances in the assessment of context-specificity in child and adolescent social development. While the effects of groups, situations, and social relationships on cognitive, affective and behavioral development have long been acknowledged in theoretical…

Education and earnings interact in complex and often unexpected ways--but there are rules to the game. "The College Payoff," a new paper from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, uses in-depth data analysis to identify, illuminate and elucidate those rules. This executive summary provides a glimpse of the education and…

Context is identified as an important factor when considering the learning of informal statistical inferential reasoning, but research in this area is very limited. This small exploratory study in one grade 10 (14 year olds) classroom seeks to learn more about the role context plays in learners' inferential reasoning, where both teacher and…

For more than four decades the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tracked the achievement of U.S. students in major academic subjects. This national resource is the only assessment that states and now many urban districts can look to as an objective yardstick of their performance over time, relative to national benchmarks, and…

This paper considers how policy-led processes of education reform have reshaped the space in which to think about gender and literacy, both in England and elsewhere. In many jurisdictions, the discourse on quality in education now focuses almost exclusively on numerical outcomes, whether they derive from the school, and/or at local or national…

What occurs when an African American woman professor and a European American woman professor review narrative data and interpret what the students write differently? This research illustrates how race and the experience of two ethnically different female researchers impact data analysis of teachers' interactions with narratives of personal past…

It is no secret that global markets and innovations in technology are driving rapid change in the U.S. economy. While much has been said over the years about the employment shift from goods-producing to service-providing industries, new research suggests that the shift is not due to sectoral employment change but rather a shift in the mix of jobs…