When randomized control trials are not possible, quasi-experimental methods often represent the gold standard. One quasi-experimental method is difference-in-difference (DiD), which compares changes in outcomes before and after treatment across groups to estimate a causal effect. DiD researchers often use fairly exhaustive robustness checks to…

The aim of this study was to investigate and empirically derive parameters commonly used for statistical power and sample size calculations to better inform future trial design. Towards achieving this aim, the research project leveraged the richness of the National Pupil Database (NPD) and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Archive to: (1)…

The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of Aerobic Exercise (AE), Resistance Exercise (RE), and a nonexercise (NE) control on measures of academic achievement (AA) and cognition in 10th grade males and females. This study utilized a randomized crossover design. Tenth grade males and females performed three exercise trials (AE,…

Although scalable programs, such as online courses, have the potential to reach broad audiences, they may pose challenges to evaluating learners' knowledge and skills. Automated scoring offers a possible solution. In the current paper, we describe the process of creating and testing an automated means of scoring a validated measure of teachers'…

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an important cross-national study of 15-year-olds' academic knowledge and skills. Educationalists and public policymakers eagerly await the tri-annual results, with particular interest in whether their country has moved up or slid down the international rankings, as compared to earlier…

Research Findings: Mental state verbs (MSV), a component of literate and academic language, may facilitate vocabulary growth, as they relate to metacognitive and metalinguistic awareness as well as decontextualized talk, all of which have been associated with vocabulary growth. In this study, we examined teacher MSV use in group content…

In this paper we present a mobile application for self-assessment. The work describes the main features of the application and focuses on its acceptance by students and the increase on their learning, through its usage in real testing settings. The application supports the retrieval of questions based on a number of criteria and it was evaluated…

This study examines the impact of inclusion on secondary students by focusing on the performance of students without disabilities in the inclusive environment compared to their performance in a segregated environment. Many studies exist demonstrating the positive impact of the inclusive environment on the performance of students with disabilities.…

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the extent to which students who took a computer adaptive test of reading comprehension accounting for testlet effects were administered fewer passages and had a more precise estimate of their reading comprehension ability compared to students in the control condition. A randomized controlled…

In the 21st century, students have access to a plethora of information. As such, the skills required to access and effectively sort through this information (information literacy skills) become ever more important for success in both academic and non-academic settings. This study sought to assess the efficacy of two educational games designed to…

In this districtwide scale-up, we randomly assigned seventh-grade students within 11 schools to receive a series of writing exercises designed to promote values affirmation. Impacts on cumulative seventh-grade grade point average (GPA) for the district's racial/ethnic minority students who may be subject to stereotype threat are consistent with…

A variety of computerized interactive learning platforms exist. Most include instructional supports in the form of problem sets. Feedback to users ranges from a single word like "Correct!" to offers of hints and partially to fully worked examples. Behind-the-scenes design of such systems varies as well --from static dictionaries of…

This study used a randomized controlled trial design to investigate the ROOTS curriculum, a 50-lesson kindergarten mathematics intervention. Ten ROOTS-eligible students per classroom (n = 60) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a ROOTS five-student group, a ROOTS two-student group, and a no-treatment control group. Two primary…

Although evidence of negative associations between early literacy development and children's behavior problems exists, the field still lacks an understanding of the complicated links between these two areas. Children's gender has often not been included in much of the extant research as a potential moderating variable, yet gender differences may…

This study examined the effectiveness of two methods of increasing student learning from posterior probability lessons: diagrams and questioning while reading. Undergraduate students (N = 245) read a lesson in one of three diagram conditions and one of three questioning-while-reading conditions (embedded questions, elaboration interrogations, and…