This study compared reading rate to reading fluency (as measured by a rating scale). After listening to first graders read short passages, we assigned an overall fluency rating (low, average, or high) to each reading. We then used predictive discriminant analyses to determine which of five measures--accuracy, rate (objective); accuracy, phrasing,…

In this paper we consider discrimination-aware classification of educational data. Mining and using rules that distinguish groups of students based on sensitive attributes such as gender and nationality may lead to discrimination. It is desirable to keep the sensitive attributes during the training of a classifier to avoid information loss but…

This study examined the accuracy of three shortened measures of intelligence: the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability, Third Edition Brief Intellectual Ability (WJ III COG BIA) score; the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition Abbreviated IQ (SB5 ABIQ); and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test IQ Composite (K-BIT) in predicting…

A method for comparing the cross-validated classification accuracy of Fisher's linear classification functions (FLCFs) and the least absolute deviation is presented under varying data conditions for the two-group classification problem. With this method, separate-group as well as total-sample proportions of current classifications can be compared…

Cross-validated classification accuracies were compared under assumptions of equal and varying degrees of unequal prior probabilities of group membership for 24 bootstrap and 48 simulated data sets. The data sets varied in sample size, number of predictors, relative group size, and degree of group separation. Total-group hit rates were used to…

Three methods of transforming unordered categorical response variables are described. One is a method using dummy binary variables. The second method analyzes all categorical variables simultaneously and is based on an eigenanalysis of frequency patterns scaled relative to within-groups variance, jointly developed by J. E. Overall and J. A.…

Methods of adjusting cut scores used in placement decisions are examined empirically. Admission and performance variables are used to study alternate methods of adjusting cut scores for placement in standard and accelerated rhetoric courses in a large university setting, with the predicted variable being success or failure as measured by…

With a sample of 531 children measured on 79 variables, a series of discriminant function predictions of school placement were computed to compare the results of selected alternative procedures for treating missing data in multivariate data analyses. Procedures included elimination of cases with missing data as well as methods for substituting…