This paper develops models to measure growth in student achievement with a focus on the possibility of differential growth in achievement for low and high-achieving students. We consider a gap-closing model that evaluates the degree to which students in a target group -- students in the bottom quartile of measured achievement -- perform better…

Much research in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has focused on the development of efficacious interventions to address the core deficits of ASD. However, the heterogeneous nature of ASD complicates the development of such interventions. With great heterogeneity in the expression of ASD's core deficits, it is unlikely that there is a one size fits…

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) is an intervention program recommended for pre-schoolers with autism ages 12-48 months. The rationale for this recommendation is the potential for intervention to affect developmental trajectories during early sensitive periods. We investigated outcomes of 32 children aged 18-48 months and 28 children aged…

This article analyses student-learning outcomes from the redesign of Introduction to Physical Geography 101. Among the purposes of the redesigned course were to enhance student learning by providing rich interactive online content, provide more meaningful instructor-student and peer-peer exchanges, and to promote attitudes that facilitate student…

This article focuses on the use of a value-added approach for promoting school improvement. It presents yearly value-added estimates, analyses their stability over time, and discusses the contribution of this methodological approach for promoting school improvement programmes in the Portuguese system of evaluation. The value-added model is applied…

Student models for adaptive systems may not model collaborative learning optimally. Past research has either focused on modeling individual learning or for collaboration, has focused on group dynamics or group processes without predicting learning. In the current paper, we adjust the Additive Factors Model (AFM), a standard logistic regression…

Student models for adaptive systems may not model collaborative learning optimally. Past research has either focused on modeling individual learning or for collaboration, has focused on group dynamics or group processes without predicting learning. In the current paper, we adjust the Additive Factors Model (AFM), a standard logistic regression…

In the United States, but not only here, the movement to evaluate teachers based on student test scores has received powerful political and parental support. The logic is simple. From one testing occasion to another students should show growth in their knowledge and skill. Similar types of students should show similar patterns of growth. Those…

Educational experts have criticized status models of school accountability, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), describing them as ineffectual in measuring achievement because their one-time assessment of student knowledge ignores student growth. Research on student achievement has instead identified growth models as superior…

This study investigated the relationship among critical motivational variables and mathematics achievement as middle grades students engaged in a reform-oriented curriculum, "Mathematics in Context." We tested 327 students in fifth, sixth, and seventh grade before and after two years of implementation. We performed a path analysis with…

In a provocative and influential paper, Jesse Rothstein (2010) finds that standard value added models (VAMs) suggest implausible future teacher effects on past student achievement, a finding that obviously cannot be viewed as causal. This is the basis of a falsification test (the Rothstein falsification test) that appears to indicate bias in VAM…

Despite questions about validity and reliability, the use of value-added estimation methods has moved beyond academic research into state accountability systems for teachers, schools, and teacher preparation programs (TPPs). Prior studies of value-added measurement for TPPs test the validity of researcher-designed models and find that measuring…

The paper uses the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data system (IPEDS) data to simulate the 2020 American Graduation Initiative (AGI) goal introduced by President Obama in the summer of 2009. We estimate community college graduation rates and completion numbers under different scenarios that include the following sets of variables: (a) internal…

This dissertation examines the relationship between an instructional style called Interactive-Engagement (IE) and gains on a measure of conceptual knowledge called the Calculus Concept Inventory (CCI). The data comes from two semesters of introductory calculus courses (Fall 2010 and Spring 2011), consisting of a total of 482 students from the…

In studies of change in education and numerous other fields, interest often centers on how differences in the status of individuals at the start of a period of substantive interest relate to differences in subsequent change. In this article, the authors present a fully Bayesian approach to estimating three-level Hierarchical Models in which latent…