Beginning in the 2017-2018 school year, appraisal systems in Texas, whether the state-recommended system or a locally developed system, will need to include a measure of student growth at the individual teacher level. Student growth measures how much a student progresses academically during his or her time with a particular teacher. It takes into…

Growth curve modeling provides a general framework for analyzing longitudinal data from social, behavioral, and educational sciences. Bayesian methods have been used to estimate growth curve models, in which priors need to be specified for unknown parameters. For the covariance parameter matrix, the inverse Wishart prior is most commonly used due…

Growth modeling has been of interest in many assessment programs, including both highstakes and low-states tests. Growth could be modeled using different approaches. This study models growth with an Item Response Theory (IRT) based approach that utilizes item response data. It investigates the impact of complex student clustering structure where…

Although letter naming fluency (LNF) and letter sound fluency (LSF) measures are widely available to educators for assessing early literacy skills of kindergarten children, better understanding of the contributions of these skills to reading development can help improve the interpretation of LNF and LSF data for instructional decisions. This study…

John Dewey is known as the father of American experiential education. His views on building understanding in children through experiences in a correlated curriculum continue to influence educational practice to this day. His writings and experiments with experiential education also influenced music and arts education, most recently through the…

This article proposes a latent variable regression four-level hierarchical model (LVR-HM4) that uses a fully Bayesian approach. Using multisite multiple-cohort longitudinal data, for example, annual assessment scores over grades for students who are nested within cohorts within schools, the LVR-HM4 attempts to simultaneously model two types of…

A talented, innovative workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a critical component of sustained economic growth and global competitiveness. The development of this workforce is a primary concern among policymakers, industry leaders, and academics. Although many students express an interest in STEM in secondary…

In 2010, the Massachusetts Legislature lifted the cap on the number of charter schools that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) can authorize in low-performing school districts. The "smart cap" requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to rank district performance (based on student outcomes)…

Student growth percentiles (SGPs, Betebenner, 2009) are used to locate a student's current score in a conditional distribution based on the student's past scores. Currently, following Betebenner (2009), quantile regression (QR) is most often used operationally to estimate the SGPs. Alternatively, multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) may…

Student Growth Percentiles (SGP, Betebenner, 2009) are used to locate a student's current score in a conditional distribution based on the student's past scores. Currently, following Betebenner (2009), quantile regression is most often used operationally to estimate the SGPs. Alternatively, multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) may also be…

Executive leadership of the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) initiated a flexibility offering from No Child Left Behind. Our work explores specific design decisions made in these state-specific accountability systems as associated with state political environments, resources, and demographic characteristics. Our analysis, focused on 42 states…

This study is based on the application of latent growth modeling, which is one of structural equation models on real data. Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES), which was previously adapted into Turkish was administered to 200 preservice teachers at different time intervals for three times and study data was collected. Measurement equivalence…

Although extensive research exists on the use of curriculum-based measures for progress monitoring, little is known about using computer adaptive tests (CATs) for progress-monitoring purposes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the frequency of data collection on individual and group growth estimates using a CAT. Data were…

To date, small sample problems with latent growth models (LGMs) have not received the amount of attention in the literature as related mixed-effect models (MEMs). Although many models can be interchangeably framed as a LGM or a MEM, LGMs uniquely provide criteria to assess global data-model fit. However, previous studies have demonstrated poor…

With the help of teachers and leaders throughout the state, the Indiana Department of Education has developed an optional model teacher evaluation system named RISE. Whether corporations choose to adopt RISE or a model of their own, the department's goal is to assist corporations in developing or adopting models that both comply with IC 20-28-11.5…