This chapter presents findings from two recent Pell Institute studies, which explored the characteristics and experiences of low-income, first-generation community college transfer students in Texas and two-year and four-year institutional approaches to facilitating transfer student degree completion. Specifically, the first study asked the…

This study examined the impact of teachers' characteristics and self-reported practices on students' Algebra achievement while controlling for students' characteristics. This study is based on the secondary analysis of data collected from a nationally representative sample of 9 th grade students and their mathematics teachers during…

An estimation tool for symmetric univariate nonlinear regression is presented. The method is based on introducing a nontrivial set of affine coordinates for diffeomorphisms of the real line. The main ingredient making the computations possible is the Connes-Moscovici Hopf algebra of these affine coordinates.

To investigate the generalizability of the results of single-case experimental studies, evaluating the effect of one or more treatments, in applied research various simultaneous and sequential replication strategies are used. We discuss one approach for aggregating the results for single-cases: the use of hierarchical linear models. This approach…

Borsboom (Psychometrika, 71:425-440, 2006) noted that recent work on measurement invariance (MI) and predictive invariance (PI) has had little impact on the practice of measurement in psychology. To understand this contention, the definitions of MI and PI are reviewed, followed by results on the consistency between the two forms of invariance in…

Does the appearance of an instructor and the format of the class influence student grades and learning? We tested this question with 861 undergraduate students who completed an online questionnaire rating their instructors. Students were equally spread across class year and were from different majors. We used multiple regression analyses and found…

Research has demonstrated that parental divorce and family functioning are associated with children's socieomotional and psychological adjustment well into their adult years. Research has also demonstrated that sexual attitudes are becoming more liberal (cf., Harding & Jencks, 2003; Leiblum, Wiegel, & Brickle, 2003). The purpose of this research…

This study examined the importance of faculty's commitment to pedagogical quality (CPQ) in predicting instructional technology adoption. A customized electronic survey of 27 questions was developed and implemented to four higher educational institutions and yielded 104 usable surveys. Data were analyzed with SPSS using correlation and backward…

This paper presents new empirical evidence on whether failing the high school exit exam increases the chance of exiting from high school "prior to high school completion". More importantly, the author discusses the potentially different impacts of failing the High School Exit Exams (HSEE) on students with limited English proficiency,…

The National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983) published "A Nation at Risk" to relay the academic performance level of American students. The results revealed that Americans students were performing considerably below other countries. Consequently, accountability through testing became the focus for policy makers to promote…

This new study by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) demonstrates that English Language Learners (ELLs) who learn English at school can do better academically than native English speakers, and that the window for mastering the English language is wider than previously thought. Typically ELLs perform at lower levels than their English-fluent…

Objective--Recent follow-along studies of personality disorders have shown significant improvement in psychopathology over time. The purpose of this study was to prospectively investigate the association between positive childhood experiences related to resiliency and remission from personality disorder. Method--Five hundred twenty patients with…

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of undergraduates' metacognitive beliefs about writing and knowledge, ways that those beliefs may change during the semester, and the relationship of beliefs to their persuasive writing. Scales assessing epistemological and writing beliefs were given to students in lower-division…

The study assessed the ability of English phonemic awareness measures to predict kindergarten reading performance and determine factors that contributed to growth trajectories on those measures for English Only (EO) and English language learner (ELL) students. Using initial sound fluency (ISF), phoneme segmentation fluency (PSF), and a combined…

Based on the fact that the relationships among student teachers' efficacy beliefs, achievement goals, and conceptions about teaching and learning has remained to be investigated to date, this study aimed to examine student teachers' efficacy beliefs and achievement goals as predictors of their conceptions about teaching and learning. Results of…