Simulations were conducted to establish best practice in hyperparameter optimization and accounting for clustering in Generalized Linear Mixed-Effects Model Trees (GLMM trees). Using data-driven best practices, the relationship between a 9th Grade On-Track to Graduate (9G-OTG) indicator and observed high school graduation within four years was…

The issue of model uncertainty has been gaining interest in education and the social sciences community over the years, and the dominant methods for handling model uncertainty are based on Bayesian inference, particularly, Bayesian model averaging. However, Bayesian model averaging assumes that the true data-generating model is within the…

While the family is a critical determinant of educational achievement, methodological difficulties and the availability of data limit estimation of the family contribution in school effectiveness models. This study uses multilevel modeling to estimate the proportion of variation in student educational achievement between families, family-level…

Intensive longitudinal data is increasingly used to study state-like processes such as changes in daily stress. Measures aimed at collecting such data require the same level of scrutiny regarding scale reliability as traditional questionnaires. The most prevalent methods used to assess reliability of intensive longitudinal measures are based on…

The present study investigated multilevel models posited to predict student approaches to homework. Participants were 1,072 middle school students in China. Results revealed that deep and surface approaches were positively associated with performance-approach. Furthermore, deep approach to homework was associated negatively with homework cost, yet…

For assessment scales applied to different groups (e.g., students from different states; patients in different countries), multigroup differential item functioning (MG-DIF) needs to be evaluated in order to ensure that respondents with the same trait level but from different groups have equal response probabilities on a particular item. The…

The use of new technologies is one of the themes at the centre of the educational debate, especially following Distance Education. The Avant-garde Educative Movement gathers schools from all over the country that share experiments based on a model in which the student is at the centre of his or her own educational path, a model capable of…

Sometimes a treatment, such as receiving a high school diploma, is assigned to students if their scores on two inputs (e.g., math and English test scores) are above established cutoffs. This forms a multidimensional regression discontinuity design (RDD) to analyze the effect of the educational treatment where there are two running variables…

The paper investigates the potential of using international large-scale assessment studies for conducting follow-up studies testing models of educational effectiveness. The impact of teacher factors coming from the "dynamic model of educational effectiveness" and the "dialogic education theory" on student literacy achievement…

When analyzing large-scale assessments (LSAs) that use complex sampling designs, it is important to account for probability sampling using weights. However, the use of these weights in multilevel models has been widely debated, particularly regarding their application at different levels of the model. Yet, no consensus has been reached on the best…

Educators commonly use school climate survey scores to inform and evaluate interventions for equitably improving learning and reducing educational disparities. Unfortunately, validity evidence to support these (and other) score uses often falls short. In response, Whitehouse et al. proposed a collaborative, two-part validity testing framework for…

Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) is often used to estimate the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on academic achievement at different levels of an educational system. However, if a prior academic achievement measure is missing in a HLM model, biased estimates may occur on the effects of student SES and school SES. Phantom effects describe…

Estimates show that, in 2019, only 41 per cent of students completed lower secondary and 28 per cent upper secondary education in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region (UNESCO, 2021). One of the reasons for the low completion rates is the poor transition across secondary education due to the significant impact of factors at individual, household,…

Coping Power (CP) is a preventive intervention that focuses on reducing child externalizing problems. Although it is typically delivered in a group format (GCP), individually-delivered CP (ICP) has produced greater mean reductions in externalizing problems. However, standard analysis of randomized trials loses individual-level information…

Many research problems in social science involve multilevel phenomena. However, discussions about multilevel research designs are limited in the mixed methods (MM) literature. Building on early writings in the field, this methodological discussion advances a refined definition of a multilevel MM research design. The refinement emerges from a…