The Hearts and Flowers (H&F) task is a computerized executive functioning (EF) assessment that has been used to measure EF from early childhood to adulthood. It provides data on accuracy and reaction time (RT) across three different task blocks (hearts, flowers, and mixed). However, there is a lack of consensus in the field on how to score the…

Reliable and valid assessment of parenting and child behaviors is critical for clinicians and researchers alike, and observational measures of parenting behaviors are often considered the gold standard for assessing parenting and parent-child interaction quality. The current study sought to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Coder…

Introduction: Research suggests that one of the most pervasive consequences of traumatic events is the resulting dysregulation of emotions. Educators, including teachers, administrators, and student services staff, are instrumental in supporting students as they navigate overwhelming emotions by modeling and teaching skills to regulate emotional…

A critical issue in using fine-grained gameplay data to measure learning processes is the development of indicators and the algorithms used to derive such indicators. Successful development--that is, developing traceable, interpretable, and sensitive-to-learning indicators--requires understanding the underlying theory, how the theory is…

Universal screening to predict students' risk for reading problems is a foundational component of the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support framework and is required by law in many US states. School or district administrators are tasked with selecting screening assessments that are both technically adequate and feasible given the resources of their…

A Q-matrix is a binary matrix that defines the relationship between items and latent variables and is widely used in diagnostic classification models (DCMs), and can also be adopted in multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) models. The construction process of the Q-matrix is typically carried out by experts in the subject area of the items…

We review common situations in Bayesian latent variable models where the prior distribution that a researcher specifies differs from the prior distribution used during estimation. These situations can arise from the positive definite requirement on correlation matrices, from sign indeterminacy of factor loadings, and from order constraints on…

To identify the most effective strategies for implementing and sustaining Tier 2 and 3 behavior support systems, a measure of general and tier-specific factors hypothesized to predict sustained implementation is needed. To address this need, we conducted two studies examining the construct validity of the "Advanced Level Tier Interventions…

Much of the research that has examined the writing knowledge of school-age students has relied on interviews to ascertain this information, which is problematic because interviews may underestimate breadth and depth of writing knowledge, require lengthy interactions with participants, and do not permit a direct evaluation of a prescribed array of…

Drawing from the developmental and cognitive mathematics literature, the purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability, validity, and diagnostic utility of a widely-researched number line task in kindergarten. Specifically, the Number Line Assessment 0-100 (NLA 0-100) as compared to an established kindergarten screening measure was…

Alternative poverty measures have been proposed in response to the emerging insufficiencies of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility data. The analysis presented here involves seven poverty measures. Using outcome measures as a yardstick, we can assess how poverty measures explain these outcomes and note variations between…

Teacher rating scales (TRS) often play a part in service eligibility decisions for gifted services. Although schools regularly use TRS to identify gifted students either as part of an informal nomination process or through behavioral rating scales, there is little research documenting the between-teacher variance in teacher ratings and the…

The p-factor is a construct that is thought to explain and maybe even cause variation in all forms of psychopathology. Since its 'discovery' in 2012, hundreds of studies have been dedicated to the extraction and validation of statistical instantiations of the p-factor, called general factors of psychopathology. In this Perspective, we outline five…

It is of critical importance to be aware of the historical discrimination embedded in the data and to consider a fairness measure to reduce bias throughout the predictive modeling pipeline. Given various notions of fairness defined in the literature, investigating the correlation and interaction among metrics is vital for addressing unfairness.…

Recent research seeks to develop more comprehensive learner models for adaptive learning software. For example, models of reading comprehension built using data from students' use of adaptive instructional software for mathematics have recently been developed. These models aim to deliver experiences that consider factors related to learning beyond…