When tests consist of multiple-choice and constructed-response items, researchers are confronted with the question of which item response theory (IRT) model combination will appropriately represent the data collected from these mixed-format tests. This simulation study examined the performance of six model selection criteria, including the…

Chinese learners of Dutch and a control group of native speakers of Dutch were presented with 26 sentences in the order they come in a story, visually as well as auditorily as spoken with four intonation contours. Participants were instructed to select the most appropriate intonation contour for each sentence in a forced choice task. Chinese…

It would be unusual to read the current literature on community colleges and not find a reference to impending retirements of senior-level administrators, faculty, and staff, as well as what skills and characteristics are important for future leadership. There is limited research on attaining the first community college presidency. This study…

On a recent Saturday morning, 20 inmate mothers filed into the prison chapel at Alabama's Tutwiler Prison to participate in a unique program--The Storybook Project, a program of Aid to Inmate Mothers (AIM). AIM is a nonprofit organization that helps mothers in prison stay in contact with their children during their incarceration. At the front of…

In this paper the authors present a new method for sample selection for scale-up experiments. This method uses propensity score matching methods to create a sample that is similar in composition to a well-defined generalization population. The method they present is flexible and practical in the sense that it identifies units to be targeted for…

This dissertation transforms a set of system complexity reduction problems to feature selection problems. Three systems are considered: classification based on association rules, network structure learning, and time series classification. Furthermore, two variable importance measures are proposed to reduce the feature selection bias in tree…

This practical guide demonstrates how to sponsor a successful, student-led book club for grades K through 12 that is fun, easy-to-implement, and encourages reading. Establishing a book club for children and young people that's self-sustaining and successful long-term is a challenge that this book addresses and conquers. According to recent…

This article takes up the opportunity offered by the United Nations' "Strategic Development Goals" to examine provisions for the selection, recruitment, training and professional development of secondary English teachers in Bangladesh. Qualified and trained teachers are considered as essential to effect the changes in English teaching…

California, like many states, is experiencing significant challenges with teacher staffing. Numerous headlines over the last few years highlight the difficulties that the state faces in developing, recruiting, and, ultimately, hiring enough teachers (Blume, 2016; Apodaca, 2017; Calefati, 2017; Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017; Times…

Gardner's "Five Minds for the Future" approach is focused on disciplined, synthesizing, creative, respectful, and ethical minds. Based on this approach, the purpose of this research is to determine senior secondary school students' levels of five mind areas, and investigate the relationship between these mind areas and the students'…

Focused on the use of teacher evaluation data, this case was designed for use in two principal licensure courses, one on data literacy and the other on supervision and personnel. The principal of Baker Middle School has been instructed by the superintendent to use data from the state's new teacher evaluation system to determine which teachers…

This study investigates early childhood education teachers' and assistant teachers' views about a year-long professional development model that focuses on developing intentional teaching. The study shares the results of interviews conducted with the teachers at the end of the implementation of a one-year experimental professional model in Head…

How are English texts selected to teach students from culturally diverse backgrounds in Australia and England? The English curricula in both countries aim for students to read and interpret meanings through texts, while learning about their culture, and that of cultural others. However, the current list of prescribed texts in both curricula are…

The third in a series of reports evaluating a multi-year Wallace initiative documents ways in which six districts are working to improve school leadership districtwide. It describes several new measures districts are implementing, including systematic support for assistant principals; the use of performance standards to hire and evaluate…

The Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools' consistently positive impacts on student achievement (detailed in Volume I of this report) have prompted efforts to scale up the KIPP model to serve more students. According to the KIPP model, highly qualified and autonomous principals, supported by national and regional staff, drive the…