This dissertation was prepared to determine if a correlation existed between a student's poverty level and an educational diagnosis of serious emotional disturbance. I hypothesize that students at or under the United States' definition of poverty are more likely to exhibit signs and symptoms of a serious emotional disturbance and therefore be…

In Single-Case Designs (SCD), the outcome variable most commonly involves some form of count data. However, statistical analyses and associated effect size (ES) calculations for count outcomes have only recently been proposed. Three recently proposed ES methods for count data are: Nonlinear Bayesian effect size (Rindskopf, 2014), Log Response…

While some engineering students develop proper critical thinking skills, most engineering students do not. Engineers must critically think to tackle various problems on the job, but many schools do not properly instill critical thinking in engineering students. With engineers working on multiple tasks in little time, a knowledge of critical…

Hierarchical data is often observed in education data. Analyzing such data with Multilevel Modeling becomes crucial to understanding the relationship at the individual and group levels. However, one of the most significant problems with this kind of data is small sample sizes and very low Intraclass Correlations. The multivariate Latent Covariate…

Higher education institutions in the United States are under intense scrutiny to engage in data-driven decision-making to address systemic deficiencies. An innovative strategy to increase the use of data in higher education is through interactive data visualization whereby users are more involved in the creation of knowledge. The problem that was…

The focus of this study was derived from staggering attrition rates that it calls centers year over year. At times call centers post-COVID-19 pandemic saw attrition rates fluctuating between 30%-50%. With any job there are challenges that are faced. These attrition rates stand 28%-40% higher than the United States 2023 national attrition rates of…

The field of Data Science has seen rapid growth over the past two decades, with a high demand for people with skills in data analytics, programming, statistics, and ability to visualize, predict from, and otherwise make sense of data. Alongside the rise of various artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications, we have also…

Retention, persistence, and academic achievement for first-generation students have become increasingly prevalent with increasing access to higher education. Beyond access, the most discernible challenge relates to their identity as a first-generation college student and the lack of mentorship from their parents in navigating the college…

This study sought to determine whether there was a statistically significant correlation between school board behaviors and characteristics, and a superintendent's use of a transformational leadership model. The study was grounded in four research questions: Is there a statistically significant correlation between board behaviors and…

The development in information science has enabled an explosive growth of data, which attracts more and more researchers to engage in the field of big data analytics. Noticeably, in many real-world applications, large amounts of data are imbalanced data since the events of interests occur infrequently. Classification of imbalanced data is an…

Sociologists of education have a longstanding interest in studying the relationship between schooling and inequality in society. While we know education matters for who gets ahead, we still know relatively less about the processes and mechanisms behind this relationship. In my dissertation, I focus on higher education as a key site where…

In real-world situations, multidimensional data may appear on large-scale tests or attitudinal surveys. A simple structure, multidimensional model may be used to evaluate the items, ignoring the cross-loading of some items on the secondary dimension. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of structure complexity magnitude of…

This study sought to better understand present-day relationships between institutional and programmatic characteristics and their impact on student outcomes at postsecondary career and technical schools. This is critical given: (a) the existence of a significant middle-skills gap impacting the U.S. economy; (b) a lack of research and guidance for…

Retaining students through degree completion is a challenge for community colleges, with nontraditional, adult students being retained at a lower rate than their traditional counterparts. Though student engagement is recognized as an effective strategy for retaining students, there is a gap in research on how effective these strategies are for…

The ubiquity of data in various forms has fueled the need for advanced data-mining techniques within organizations. The advent of data mining methods used to uncover hidden nuggets of information buried within large data sets has also fueled the need for determining how these unique projects can be successful. There are many challenges associated…