The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between college students' social class and their academic outcomes. A structural equation model was proposed, hypothesizing that a student's socioeconomic status (SES) is related to their motives for attending college, thus influencing their perception of fit at the university, their…

The Missionary Training Center (MTC), affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, needs a reliable and cost effective way to measure the oral language proficiency of missionaries learning Spanish. The MTC needed to measure incoming missionaries' Spanish language proficiency for training and classroom assignment as well as to…

Using a mixed methodology approach, this study examined the impact of the implementation of the science PSSA on the curriculum and instructional practice of eighth-grade teachers. It was hypothesized that despite the specter of PSSA influence on the academic climate, teachers are not necessarily influenced to change instructional practices, even…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of open enrollment, curriculum alignment, and data-driven instruction on the test performance of English Language Learners (ELLs) and Re-designated Fluent English Proficient students (RFEPs) at Shangri-la High School. Participants of this study consisted of the student population enrolled in…

This correlation research study examined school and teacher characteristics in relationship to the academic performance of students in elementary schools in South Carolina. The school characteristics examined in this study were school size, poverty, minority level, and student teacher ratio. The teacher characteristics examined in this study were…

Quality policing requires selecting and retaining the best and the brightest officers and supporting their advancement into the leadership ranks of police organizations. This study investigates two aspects of police promotional testing: identifying and understanding the barriers to participation in the promotional process and the use of online…

Beginning in 2005, the GE Foundation initiated a commitment of expertise and financial resources to a set of urban school districts to improve public education and enhance student achievement in mathematics and science. This report analyzes the impacts of the GE Foundation commitment to the partner districts by examining trends in student…

This study explores the potential for automated indices related to speech delivery, language use, and topic development to model human judgments of TOEFL speaking proficiency in second language (L2) speech samples. For this study, 244 transcribed TOEFL speech samples taken from 244 L2 learners were analyzed using automated indices taken from…

This study investigates the dynamics in the Spanish classroom between heritage language learner (HLL) dyads, second language learner (L2L) dyads, and mixed HLL-L2L dyads. Specifically, it examines oral, written and embodied discourse that informs our understanding of how learners attend to language. Analysis for this dissertation examined…

Trajectories of depressive symptoms were compared between European American and African American boys and girls from ages 8 to 14 in a longitudinal sample of 130 children born to adolescent mothers. Mixed-effects regression modeling was used to analyze individual and group differences in level of depressive symptoms and their changes over time.…

Test-based accountability as well as value-added asessments and much experimental and quasi-experimental research in education rely on achievement tests to measure student skills and knowledge. Yet, we know little regarding fundamental properties of these tests, an important example being the extent of measurement error and its implications for…

This paper presents a novel task-oriented, user-centered, multi-method evaluation (TUME) technique and shows how it is useful in providing a more complete, practical and solution-oriented assessment of the accessibility and usability of Learning Management Systems (LMS) for blind and visually impaired (BVI) students. Novel components of TUME…

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a system of international assessments that allows countries to compare outcomes of learning as students near the end of compulsory schooling. PISA core assessments measure the performance of 15-year-old students in mathematics, science, and reading literacy every 3 years. Coordinated by…

The purpose of this study is related to Green Information Technology (IT), Green Computing, and/or Sustainability (GITS) curriculum initiatives in institutions of higher education in the US and abroad. The purpose of this study is threefold; 1) to evaluate whether GITS academic programs have been initiated in higher educational organizations; 2)…

We revisit the relationship between attendance and performance in the undergraduate university setting and apply agency theory in the instructor-student context. Building on agency theory propositions in the educational setting advanced by Smith, Zsidisin, and Adams (2005), we propose that the student and instructor must align goals to promote the…