At City Academies Neighborhood Middle School, there is a gap in student achievement. Over the course of two years, our lowest performing students did not grow at the rate of their peers. This problem has several consequences, including over classification of students with disabilities and a widening achievement gap. The purpose of my research was…

This study investigates the correlation between three data gathering methods for uncovering differences in secondary school students' text-learning strategy use. In total, 56 secondary school students' text-learning strategies were assessed with (a) a task-specific self-report inventory, (b) think-alouds protocols, and (c) the trace methodology.…

As part of its STEM programming initiatives, Community Boating, Inc., the nation's oldest public sailing organization introduced an "Introduction to Microscopy" course merging principles of scientific investigation with analytical techniques using compound light microscopes. Boston's Charles River provided the environmental setting for…

Learning analytics have the potential to improve teaching and learning in K-12 education, but as student data is increasingly being collected and transferred for the purpose of analysis, it is important to take measures that will protect student privacy. A common approach to achieve this goal is the de-identification of the data, meaning the…

The Private School Universe Survey (PSS) is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education to collect basic information on American private elementary and secondary schools. PSS is currently designed to generate biennial data on the total number of private schools, teachers, and…

Scientific statistical working in a team is a special challenge for students in high schools, especially with a civic statistical problem. Ideally, they are following the PPDAC cycle: they formulate a problem together, plan an investigation, collect the data, use software to analyze the data, and formulate results in a seminar paper. This article…

With the growing attention on large-scale educational testing and assessment, the ability to process substantial volumes of response data becomes crucial. Current estimation methods within item response theory (IRT), despite their high precision, often pose considerable computational burdens with large-scale data, leading to reduced computational…

Background: New technology and increased collaboration have revolutionized how scientists work with data. This creates a need to identify new aspects of working with scientific data that are important for K-12 students to learn. Purpose: To address this need, we conducted a study with practicing scientists and K-12 science teachers. The purpose of…

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the dynamic process involved in developing and utilizing a theoretical model in a mixed methods study. Specifically, I illustrate how the theoretical model can serve as the starting point in framing the study, as a lens for guiding the data collection and analysis, and as the end point in explaining the…

For investigating a comprehensive PLC framework, instruments are needed that capture the multi-layered PLC characteristics and that take into account the complex influencing educational context. Such instruments are currently lacking. This study aims at describing the development and validation of two qualitative classification instruments usable…

This article describes a critical literacy research project undertaken with English Additional Language students at a South African township school. Students were invited to take on the position of researchers in gathering and analysing bumper stickers found in commuter minibuses known as itekisi (taxi). These everyday texts in English and African…

Students have many options as they leave high school and enter postsecondary education or the workforce. But during the six years that the Data Quality Campaign has reviewed report cards from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, it has been found that states have struggled to provide a robust picture of all of these options on their report…

One major challenge researchers have faced during the disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is how to adapt to the global virus and, at the same time, make good progress in their research pursuits. Also, many international researchers have suspended ongoing research in developing countries due to inadequate online facilities in these…

To support student success effectively, school teams need information on known predictors of youth behavior and academic performance. In contrast to measures of behavioral and academic outcomes that are commonly relied on in schools, the School Success Profile (SSP) for middle and high school students provides comprehensive information on…

Research indicates that data-informed practice helps teachers change their teaching and promotes teacher professional development (TPD). Although educational data are often collected from digital spaces, in-action evidence from physical spaces is seldom gathered, providing an incomplete view of the classroom reality. Also, most learning analytics…