The concept of Matthew effects in reading development refers to a longitudinally widening gap between high achievers and low achievers. Various statistical approaches have been proposed to examine this idea. However, little attention has been paid to psychometric issues of scaling. Specifically, interval-level data are required to compare…

The development of proficient communication skills in infants and toddlers is an important component to child development. A popular trend gaining national media attention is teaching sign language to babies with normal hearing whose parents also have normal hearing. Thirty-three websites were identified that advocate sign language for hearing…

The purpose of the current project is to explore the use of propensity scores to estimate the effects of interventions within randomized control trials, accounting for varying levels of implementation or fidelity. This work extends that of Jo and Stuart (2009) to settings with multiple or continuous measures of implementation. Rather than focus…

There has been significant interest in examining the developmental factors that predispose individuals to chronic criminal offending. This body of research has identified some social-environmental risk factors as potentially important. At the same time, the research producing these results has generally failed to employ genetically sensitive…

Rigorous research provides information that will allow ECE (Early Childhood Educator) programs to select interventions that have a scientifically based track record of effectiveness in increasing teachers' skills and teaching quality. This paper shares implementation and impact results as well as the lessons learned in conducting an evaluation of…

In an attempt to restore the symmetry and balance between the study of person and item variation, this paper presents a novel methodology construct specification equations, which allows one to ascertain from the lawful behavior of items what an instrument is measuring. (Author/PN)

An analytical procedure that uses fall kindergarten assessment data to retroactively create equivalent comparison groups for longitudinal research and evaluation studies was designed and tested, and then analytically and empirically compared with random assignment to treatment. Students entering kindergarten in Hawaii are administered the Peabody…

This study examines item bias on Forms L and M of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) for 132 Anglo-American and Mexican-American children in grades one through four. Analyses of variance were employed to assess item bias as defined by items x ethnicity interactions. Follow-up analyses were performed using a Bonferroni-type…

Approximately 6,500 children are enrolled per year in the New York State Experimental Prekindergarten Program (PreK). In 1975-76 a longitudinal study was begun to determine the program's impact on the development of children while enrolled in the program and in the primary grades. Samples from a population of 5,245 four-year-old prekindergarten…