Categorical data become increasingly ubiquitous in the modern big data era. In this dissertation, we propose novel statistical learning and inference methods for large-scale categorical data, focusing on latent variable models and their applications to psychometrics. In psychometric assessments, the subjects' underlying aptitude often cannot be…

Most higher education institutions in the United States would not be able to answer, "how many LGBTQ+ students are at your school?" Rarely are colleges and universities asking students to self-identify their sexual or gender identity, leading to disconnect with the community, gaps of information, and difficulty with outreach. The purpose…

Purpose: This study is part of a participatory design research project and aims to develop and study pedagogical frameworks and tools for integrating computational thinking (CT) concepts and data science practices into elementary school classrooms. Design/methodology/approach: This paper describes a pedagogical approach that uses a data science…

The importance of family background in determining a student's academic achievement has long been acknowledged by researchers. Nonetheless, the effect of schooling on this relationship has also been widely investigated. Some studies have shown that family background plays a far stronger role while the effect of schooling is minimal; others have…

Early childhood educators play essential roles in providing stable and high-quality child care for young children and supporting their development and growth. As is also true nationwide, historically low wages in the District of Columbia have led to challenges in compensating and retaining qualified early childhood educators, and in turn, building…

The increasing prevalence of data emphasizes the importance of statistical literacy. Educational systems are charged with developing students who are statistically literate before entering higher education or the workforce. Adequate teaching and learning of statistics in K-12 education faces challenges, due to limited statistical content knowledge…

This dissertation develops and applies sophisticated Item Response Theory (IRT) methods to address fundamental measurement challenges in cognitive testing, focusing on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The first chapter implements a confirmatory multidimensional IRT…

According to the cliché, it is not what one says so much as how one says it. In the business world, those words ring particularly true. How one presents information can influence all forms of business decisions, from level of investment to expansion to downsizing and everything in between. This brings up significant questions relating to the…

Data visualization technologies are powerful tools for telling evidence-based narratives about oneself and the world. This paper contributes to the literature on data science education by examining the sociotechnical practices of data wrangling--strategies for selecting and managing large, aggregated datasets to produce a model and story. We…

In the contemporary society a massive amount of data is generated continuously by various means, and they are called Big-Data sets. Big Data has potential and limits which need to be understood by statisticians and statistics consumers, therefore it is a challenge to develop Big-Data Literacy to support the needs of constructive, concerned, and…

Students with or at-risk of High Incidence Disabilities (HID) experience negative short and long-term outcomes. To intervene, many schools have elected to implement evidence-based practices within Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), such as Response to Intervention (RTI). MTSS target the academic and behavioral progress of students deemed 'at…

This paper introduces the Lang-Track-App, a smartphone application and backend system to aid second language acquisition researchers in implementing the experience sampling method (ESM). Surveying research participants with the Lang-Track-App multiple times per day can yield exceptionally rich data that can be analyzed in multiple ways. This…

College English teaching should give full play to the important role of network resources, implement the student-centered network autonomous learning model, and give full play to learners' autonomous learning potential. At present, although some universities have tried this new model, its application in college English lacks practical research.…

'QuantCrit' (Quantitative Critical Race Theory) is a rapidly developing approach that seeks to challenge and improve the use of statistical data in social research by applying the insights of Critical Race Theory. As originally formulated, QuantCrit rests on five principles; 1) the centrality of racism; 2) numbers are not neutral; 3) categories…

Head Start is a national program that helps young children from families with low income get ready to succeed in school. It does this by working to promote their early learning and health and their families' well-being. The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) provides national information about Head Start programs and…