The purpose of this grounded theory study was to develop a model of biblical worldview development for Evangelical Christians during emerging adulthood. Data were collected via personal worldview development timelines, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group. The study provided insight into a maturing biblical worldview, including growth in…

Visual word recognition is facilitated by the presence of "orthographic neighbors" that mismatch the target word by a single letter substitution. However, researchers typically do not consider "where" neighbors mismatch the target. In light of evidence that some letter positions are more informative than others, we investigate…

This article describes a research-based and developmentally informed model of reflective practice for mentoring in the context of leadership development. The event path model of professional reflection helps individuals and organizations move to a more postindustrial model of leadership, improving the self-efficacy and agency of those involved.

A nonconverged Markov chain can potentially lead to invalid inferences about model parameters. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of a nonconverged Markov chain on the estimation of parameters for mixture item response theory models using a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. A simulation study was conducted to investigate the…

This paper focuses on MOOCs (massive open online courses), a fairly recent paradigm in e-learning educational projects. Despite the high dropout rate, and the impossibility of benefiting from the opportunities that bring with it a face-to-face dialogue, several factors make MOOCs a good option for ongoing teacher professional learning. The MOOCs…

This study aims to conduct differential item functioning analyses in the context of cognitive diagnosis assessments using various formulations of the Wald test. In implementing the Wald test, two scenarios are considered: one where the underlying reduced model can be assumed; and another where a saturated CDM is used. Illustration of the different…

The Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS), the value-added model (VAM) sold by the international business analytics software company SAS Institute Inc., is advertised as offering "precise, reliable and unbiased results that go far beyond what other simplistic [value-added] models found in the market today can provide." In this…

This article draws on the ecological model of teacher agency and elaborates on how teacher agency is achieved, its components and how it could be strengthened. This model highlights professional competence, structural and cultural context, and professional purpose as the main elements of achieving agency. In this paper, we specify some elements of…

The Existential Model of Perfectionism and Depressive Symptoms (EMPDS) is a promising integrative model. According to the EMPDS, self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism indirectly influence depressive symptoms through rumination and difficulty accepting the past. Yet, the extent to which self-oriented perfectionism,…

Background: Although early closure of formal youth mentoring relationships has recently begun to receive some attention, more information about factors that contribute to premature endings, and how those factors interact, is needed so that empirically-based program practices can be developed and disseminated to prevent such endings and to ensure…

High phonological neighborhood density has been associated with both advantages and disadvantages in early word learning. High density may support the formation and fine-tuning of new word sound memories--a process termed lexical configuration (e.g., Storkel, 2004). However, new high-density words are also more likely to be misunderstood as…

Growth models (GM) of the mixed-effects and latent curve varieties have become popular methodological tools in lifespan research. One of the major advantages of GM is their flexibility in studying individual differences in change. We scrutinized the change functions of GM used in five years of publications on cognitive aging. Of the 162…

Mathematization is critical in providing students with challenges for solving modelling tasks. Inadequate assumptions in a modelling task lead to an inadequate situational model, and to an inadequate mathematical model for the problem situation. However, the role of assumptions in solving modelling problems has been investigated only rarely. In…

This short-term, longitudinal study examines evidence that the level of popularity among adolescents' peer role models exacerbates the emotional impact of mistreatment by peers. We recruited 469 adolescents (255 boys, 214 girls; [X-bar] age = 12.7 years) from an ethnically diverse middle school and followed these youth for a 1-year period. We…

The current study demonstrates how mediated Learning Experience Theory uniquely characterizes a novel model that includes a mediating teacher in conjunction with distance delivery of information in a face-to-face classroom. According to this model, a teacher in the physical learning space plays a mediating role, and is assisted by a…