Instrumental variables is a popular approach for causal inference in education when randomization of treatment is not feasible. Using a first-year college program as a running example, this article reviews the five assumptions that must be met to successfully use instrumental variables to estimate a causal effect with observational data: SUTVA,…

Approximately 3-4 boys for every girl meet the clinical criteria for autism in studies of community diagnostic patterns and studies of autism using samples of convenience. However, girls with autism have been hypothesized to be underdiagnosed, possibly because they may present with differing symptom profiles as compared to boys. This secondary…

Developing tailored implementation strategies to increase the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) requires accurate identification of predictors of their use. However, known difficulties with measuring EBP use complicates interpretation of the extant literature. In this proof-of-concept study, we examined whether the same predictors of use of…

Over the past 20+ years, researchers have worked toward identifying early behavioral predictors of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developing observation-based screeners to supplement existing parent-report methods. This study is a follow-up, 3 to 8 years later, with parents/caregivers of 57 children previously enrolled in a U.S.…

The speed-accuracy trade-off (SAT) suggests that time constraints reduce response accuracy. Its relevance in observational settings--where response time (RT) may not be constrained but respondent speed may still vary--is unclear. Using 29 data sets containing data from cognitive tasks, we use a flexible method for identification of the SAT (which…

Few studies have investigated eyewitnesses' ability to predict their later lineup performance, known as "predecision confidence." We applied calibration analysis in two experiments comparing predecision confidence (immediately after encoding but prior to a lineup) to postdecision confidence (immediately after a lineup) to determine which…

Barriers to identifying autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in young children in a timely manner have led to calls for novel screening and assessment strategies. Combining computational methods with clinical expertise presents an opportunity for identifying patterns within large clinical datasets that can inform new assessment paradigms. The present…

This study applied the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) to explore the sources of self-efficacy and professional development activities that are most predictive of PreK-6 music teachers' efficacious beliefs. This study also compared teacher efficacy levels across different groups. The target population for this study was PreK-6 music teachers in the…

This paper introduces a new observation system that is designed to investigate students' and teachers' talk during literacy instruction, "Creating Opportunities to Learn from Text" (COLT). Using video-recorded observations of 2nd-3rd grade literacy instruction (N = 51 classrooms, 337 students, 151 observations), we found that nine types…

In this paper, an empirical comparison of three state-of-the-art classifier methods (artificial immune recognition systems, Lazy-K Star, and random tree) to predict teachers' ability to adapt in a classroom environment is carried out. Two educational databases are used for this task. First, measures collected in an academic context, especially…

Adolescents who experience social anxiety often display distressing fears that unfamiliar individuals evaluate their performance in social settings. These fears typically manifest as fears of negative evaluation (FNE) and/or fears of positive evaluation (FPE). Two well-established survey measures were originally developed to assess these…

In this study, we explore the influence of student engagement on middle school students' environmental literacy outcomes at a residential environmental education (EE) program. We observed 80 lessons and 17 educators, observing six measures related to engagement. We also administered immediate post-experience surveys measuring students'…

Noncognitive constructs such as self-efficacy, social awareness, and academic engagement are widely acknowledged as critical components of human capital, but systematic data collection on such skills in school systems is complicated by conceptual ambiguities, measurement challenges and resource constraints. This study addresses this issue by…

The move to include students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream education is one of the priorities of educational reform agendas in many countries. In Flanders (Belgium) the aim is to implement a more inclusive school system, but it faces resistance from practitioners. The aim of this study is twofold: (1) to compare teachers'…

Feeling socially well embedded in the classroom's peer network is a predictor of many positive developmental outcomes, such as engagement at school. But what does feeling embedded depend on? We investigated the impact of both peers and the teacher. Peer status, measured by sociometric sympathy-based peer nominations, and peer victimization,…