Policy scoping reviews are an effective method for generating evidence-informed policies. However, when applying guiding methodological frameworks to complex policy evidence, numerous, unexpected challenges can emerge. This paper details five challenges experienced and addressed by a policy trainee-led, multi-disciplinary research team, while…

Theories of writing development posit several component skills as necessary to the writing process. This meta-analysis synthesizes the literature on the correlation between these proposed component skills and writing outcomes. Specifically, this study examines the bivariate relationship of handwriting fluency, spelling, reading, and oral language…

This monograph provides an epistemological rational for the design of an advanced novel analysis metric. The metric is designed to analyze the outcomes of the Tri-Squared Test. This methodology is referred to as: "Tri-Squared Mean Cross Comparative Analysis" (given the acronym TSMCCA). Tri-Squared Mean Cross Comparative Analysis involves…

A problem that is frequently encountered during the systematic review process is when studies that meet the inclusion criteria do not provide the appropriate numerical estimates to include in a meta-analysis. For dichotomous outcomes, a method has been suggested by Di Pietrantonj for reconstructing the 2 × 2 table when the Odds Ratio…

Background: As policymakers and advocates across the United States look to early childhood educators to improve children's cognitive development so they enter elementary school ready to learn, debates have emerged over what types of practices these educators should be engaged in to achieve this goal. Historically, the field of early childhood…

We conducted a comprehensive review and meta-analysis of research regarding feeding problems and nutrient status among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The systematic search yielded 17 prospective studies involving a comparison group. Using rigorous meta-analysis techniques, we calculated the standardized mean difference (SMD) with…

Distributed leadership is now widely known and variously enacted in schools and school systems. Distributed leadership implies a fundamental re-conceptualisation of leadership as practice and challenges conventional wisdom about the relationship between formal leadership and organisational performance. There has been much debate, speculation and…

Empirical evidence on the association between the shifting component of executive functioning and academic performance is equivocal. In two meta-analyses children's shifting ability is examined in relation to their performance in math (k = 18, N = 2330) and reading (k = 16, N = 2266). Shifting ability was significantly and equally associated with…

This paper focuses on the use of mobile technologies in relation to the aims of the European Union's Lifelong Learning programme. First, we explain the background to the notion of mobile lifelong learning. We then present a methodological framework to analyse and identify good practices in mobile lifelong learning, based on the outcomes of the…

Lindquist, Siegel, Quigley, and Barrett (2013) critiqued our recent meta-analysis that reported the effects of discrete emotions on outcomes, including cognition, judgment, physiology, behavior, and experience (Lench, Flores, & Bench, 2011). Lindquist et al. offered 2 major criticisms--we address both and consider the nature of emotion and…

For the last century, there has been a continuing debate about the nature of emotion. In the most recent offering in this scientific dialogue, Lench, Flores, and Bench (2011) reported a meta-analysis of emotion induction research and claimed support for the natural kind hypothesis that discrete emotions (e.g., happiness, sadness, anger, and…

In their examination of the effectiveness of affect regulation strategies, Webb, Miles, and Sheeran (2012) offered the results of a broad meta-analysis of studies on regulatory interventions. Their analysis provides an alternative to our earlier, more focused meta-analysis of the affect regulation literature (Augustine & Hemenover, 2009).…

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is now a generic modeling framework for many multivariate techniques applied in the social and behavioral sciences. Many statistical models can be considered either as special cases of SEM or as part of the latent variable modeling framework. One popular extension is the use of SEM to conduct linear mixed-effects…

The article aims to explore the progress of technology use in gifted education and highlight the best practices and empirical research in this area. The literature on the use of technology with gifted students and their teachers has been extensive, with articles on best practices, but the empirical research in this area is still emerging. With the…

Multimedia integration signals highlight correspondences between text and pictures with the aim of supporting learning from multimedia. A recent meta-analysis revealed that only learners with low domain-specific prior knowledge benefit from multimedia integration signals. To more thoroughly investigate the influence of prior knowledge on the…