Organizational relationships are complex. Employees do their work as individuals, but also as members of larger teams. They exist within various social networks, both within and spanning organizations. Multilevel theory is at the core of the organizational sciences, and unpacking multilevel relationships is fundamental to the challenges faced…

Suppose an education researcher wants to test the impact of a high school drop-out prevention intervention in which at-risk students attend classes to receive intensive summer school instruction. The district will allow the researcher to randomly assign students to the treatment classes or to the control group. Half of the students (the treatment…

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) expects all Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees to conduct an evaluation of their programs. Experience with earlier rounds of TIF grants has shown that evaluations can provide valuable information for managing and improving TIF-supported activities, as well as evidence that these activities have had a…

The Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) Reading Assessment (FRA) consists of computer-adaptive reading comprehension and oral language screening tasks that provide measures to track growth over time, as well as a Probability of Literacy Success (PLS) linked to grade-level performance (i.e., the 50th percentile) on the reading comprehension…

One of the most revolutionary advances in psychometric research during the last decades has been the systematic development of statistical models that allow for cognitive psychometric research (CPR) to be conducted. Many of the models currently available for such purposes are extensions of basic latent variable models in item response theory…

Provides an introduction to structural equation modelling (SEM) for language research, including: general objectives of SEM applications relevant to language assessment; methodology and statistical assumptions about data that must be met; commonly-used SEM steps and concepts; application matters, with sample models; and recent critical discussions…

Written by a social worker for social work students, this is a nuts and bolts guide to statistics that presents complex calculations and concepts in clear, easy-to-understand language. It includes numerous examples, data sets, and issues that students will encounter in social work practice. The first section introduces basic concepts and terms to…

Illustrates the basic concepts of the loglinear approach to research analysis. Explains what type of research questions are answerable and what type of data will lend itself to a loglinear analysis approach. Three educational research examples illustrate this concept. (TLJ)

Presents an approach to document numbering, document titling, and process measurement which, when used with fundamental techniques of statistical process control, reveals meaningful process-element variation as well as nominal productivity models. (SR)

Describes a statistical model that can be used to compute an institution's expected enrollment yield and an average discount to obtain a net tuition and fees forecast for the coming year; using this information, resource allocation decisions can be made earlier and with confidence. (EV)

The paper reviews a series of models designed to reduce bias in the assessment process and describes the intent of each model and their interactive effect in the process of nonbiased educational evaluation. (Author/CL)

An extension of the discussion of loglinear models presents post hoc procedures for statistically evaluating treatment effects, contrasts, and confidence intervals, illustrating methods for main effect and interaction contrasts and paying special attention to odds ratios and their interval estimates. Procedures for treating variables as…

Tries to develop a method for empirical evaluations of the impact of a school system on measurable cognitive and affective outcomes in students. Concentrates on the Partial Least Squares (PLS) methodology, and illustrates the potential of PLS for system analysis. (BW)

Six statistical methods for identifying possible sources of bias in standardized test items are presented. The relationship between chi-squared methods and item-response theory methods are also discussed. (Author/BW)

A guide to the use of microcomputer statistical analysis packages for loglinear analysis describes the application of one popular package to a straightforward problem and critically surveys features available in four of the leading packages. Survey findings and suggestions for further development are included. (Author/MSE)