This dissertation used synthetic datasets, semi-synthetic datasets, and a real-world dataset from an educational intervention to compare the performance of 15 machine learning and multiple imputation methods to estimate the individual treatment effect (ITE). In addition, it examined the performance of five evaluation metrics that can be used to…

Although graduate-educated engineers are essential for the professoriate, technological advancement, and the growth of the U.S. economy, there is concern about the shortage of future PhD-holding engineers pursuing careers in academia and industry. This shortage relates, in part, to high levels of attrition among engineering graduate students. It…

The purpose of this study was to explore how evaluators justify using story-based methodologies when examining causality. The two primary research questions of the study included: 1) what arguments are made by evaluators to justify the credibility of story-based causal methodologies to evaluation stakeholders; and 2) from the perspective of…

The study examines the perspectives of using the Desmos calculator of Algebra I students' conceptual understanding and procedural fluency to write, graph, and solve linear equations in Algebra I STAAR. While the students have continuously used technology for mathematics assessment, emergent bilingual students in South Texas still need help passing…

Self-regulated learning (SRL), which involves the regulation of cognitive, affective, metacognitive, and motivational processes, is an important construct for analyzing effective student learning in open-ended learning environments (OELEs). Novice K-12 students working on complex learning tasks in OELEs often engage in sub-optimal use of SRL…

One of the core dimensions of historical and social science inquiry is "[d]eveloping questions and planning inquiries" according to the National Council for the Social Studies' College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework. Yet existing education research, instructional resources, and assessment have ignored how students frame problems…

I use rich administrative data and several quasi-experiments in Texas to study which students benefit most from college grant aid and why. For "extensive-margin" students, grant aid causes enrollment in college, and therefore has potentially large benefits relative to these students' no-college counterfactual. In contrast,…

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental, causal-comparative study is to determine if there is a difference in the writing motivation of students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and students without ADHD in online college composition I courses. The study of writing motivation in relation to ADHD in online college…

Transformative learning pedagogy in higher education leads to increased student engagement. The problem with transformative learning in higher education is deficiencies in research on increased student engagement obtained with transformative learning pedagogy. This research study addressed unanswered questions in the literature by exploring…

Since the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act required classifications of students' performance levels, test scores have been used to measure students' achievement; in particular, test scores are used to determine whether students reach a proficiency level in the state assessment. Accordingly, school districts have started using benchmark assessments…

Calling on Ryan & Deci's (2000) Self-Determination Theory framework, the author sought to explore the relations among writing program faculty collegiality in their work (i.e., teaching, research/scholarship, and service), their job satisfaction in teaching writing courses in postsecondary settings, and their sense of self-efficacy for that…

In educational contexts, students often self-select into specific interventions (e.g., courses, majors, extracurricular programming). When students self-select into an intervention, systematic group differences may impact the validity of inferences made regarding the effect of the intervention. Propensity score methods are commonly used to reduce…

The proposed study aims to explore the relationship of multicultural distress with general stress symptoms and academic achievement of college students who attend a Minority-Serving Institution (MSI). Research suggests that students who identify as being from a racial or ethnic minority background are likely to experience multicultural distress.…

A historic period of state divestment in public higher education, exacerbated by the "Great Recession" and attendant financial repercussions, has significantly altered public higher education financing. The most significant impact has been cost shift from the state to students via increasing tuition rates. These changes threaten student…

This quantitative causal-comparative study investigated the growth performance scores of English learners in grades three through five in reading, mathematics, and science in four English language educational programs: English as Second Language (ESL), Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE), Dual-Language Immersion (DLI), and No Services. I used…