Longitudinal data structures are frequently encountered in a variety of disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Growth curve modeling offers a highly extensible framework that allows for the exploration of rich hypotheses. However, owing to the presence of interrelated sources of potential data-model misfit at multiple levels, the…

Although there is recognition that there may be differential outcomes for groups of students within schools, examination of outcomes for subgroups presents challenges to researchers and policymakers. It complicates analytic procedures, particularly when the number of students per school in the subgroup is small. We explored five alternatives for…