This dissertation examines two related questions. "How do mixed membership models work?" and "Can mixed membership be used to model how students use multiple strategies to solve problems?". Mixed membership models have been used in thousands of applications from text and image processing to genetic microarray analysis. Yet…

The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of teacher characteristics on their competence in developing resilience in vulnerable primary school children. A descriptive survey research design was used. This study was based on resiliency theory as proposed by Krovetz (1998). Simple random sampling was used to select a sample size of 108…

The authors argue that insufficient attention has been given to foundational concepts in special education. Two classes of foundational concepts are discussed: human constructions and logico-mathematical facts. Four human constructions are examined: (1) making teaching most important, (2) discriminating among ideas, (3) choosing conceptual models,…

In recent years educational organizations have begun to be administered by more sharing, participation and democratic principles. The school-based management approach accelerated during the decentralization period in education is also seen as a cause for spread of leadership throughout the school. This trend is reflected in the educational…

Research Findings: The main goals of this study were to examine the factor validity of the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE-30) scale using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis and to test factor invariance across gender in a sample of Italian preschool-age children (241 boys, 252 girls). The concurrent…

Most of the tests and inventories used by counseling psychologists have been developed using CTT; IRT derives from what is called latent trait theory. A number of important differences exist between CTT- versus IRT-based approaches to both test development and evaluation, as well as the process of scoring the response profiles of individual…

As part of a retention and academic support program, data was collected to develop a predictive model of student performances in core classes in a Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS) program. The research goal was to identify students likely to have difficulty with coursework and provide supplemental tutorial support. The focus was on the…

As strengths-based approaches continue to gain steady momentum in colleges and universities, a distinct need for scholarship on the benefits of strengths-based practices has emerged. In fall 2011, all first-year students at a university in the Midwest were invited to discover their strengths by taking the Clifton StrengthsFinder. The purpose of…

This study aims to determine lifelong learning dispositions of English Language and Literature students in terms of gender, grade levels, and age variables. Descriptive research design was used. The study group consisted of 402 students studying English Language and Literature at Cumhuriyet University in Sivas, Turkey. Research data were collected…

This large-scale, longitudinal study examines teacher attrition data from over 6,500 teachers in Illinois over a 14-year period from 1997 to 2010. Attrition rates between teachers who participated in a Professional Development School (PDS) versus students prepared traditionally are compared. The effects of teacher preparation experiences on…

Typically a longitudinal growth modeling based on item response theory (IRT) requires repeated measures data from a single group with the same test design. If operational or item exposure problems are present, the same test may not be employed to collect data for longitudinal analyses and tests at multiple time points are constructed with unique…

The goals of this study were: 1) to study the situation, problems and needs for a learning model to enhance the social skills of sixth grade students; 2) to develop a learning model that would address those needs; 3) to study the effectiveness of that learning model; 4) to compare performance on pretests and posttests of social skills; and 5) to…

The focus of this study was to assess the teaching effectiveness of English Grammar teachers in public Senior High Schools within the Cape Coast Metropolis using the Quality Teaching Model. It sought to ascertain how appropriately the three dimensions of the Quality Teaching Model are addressed in the teaching and assessment practices of the…

W. A. Wallis studied vacancies in the US Supreme Court over a 96-year period (1837-1932) and found that the distribution of the number of vacancies per year could be characterized by a Poisson model. This note updates this classic study.

Although software has been studied with technology adoption and training research, the study of specific software features for professional groups has been limited. To address this gap, I researched the impact of software features of varying complexity on internal audit (IA) professionals. Two studies along with the development of training…