Researchers have reported that a variety of socio-cultural interventions can be used to increase positive attitudes toward reading for secondary students. A socially constructed reading intervention could add learning growth for a reluctant reading population. This study examines whether secondary students experience a measurable increase in positive attitudes toward reading after engaging in modeling and mentoring sessions with a much younger student and whether there is a perceivable difference in the secondary students' attitude following this mentoring activity. A variation of the one-way ANOVA, the Mann-Whitney U test, was completed to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference between these groups of students after participating in the reading intervention plan. It was determined that a small increase was found in one of the domains. The measurement survey is divided into four measured components that align with Albert Bandura's model for self- efficacy. The results from this study indicated growth in only one of the measures, however, some of the outcomes in the other measures suggested potential growth in attitudes with a relaxation of these necessary experimental strictures. A limitation of this research was the change from face-to-face tutoring completed by the secondary student with elementary students in an afterschool …

This study explores students' and their families' experiences during the pandemic response to COVID-19 by the higher education community. Using the hermeneutic phenomenological approach, we employed two open-ended surveys and semi-structured interviews of 16 parent-college student dyads (N = 34). The study draws on students' and parents' retrospective accounts beginning Spring 2020 through the Fall 2020 semesters. Families experienced a disruptive event initialized by the ebb and flow of information. Students' experiences varied based on their expectations and academic classification. The most consistent family challenges were the displacement of students and parents from their physical education and work locations while having to maintain student and occupation responsibilities. The educational experience was inconsistent and dependent on each professors' capacity to engage the students in the online environment. Students expressed feelings of loss of their student and educational experiences, but most students felt the spring courses prepared them to continue their education. Assignments due at random times and poor communication about expectations inhibit students from having dedicated time to interact and make memories. Most families adapted to the new normal by supporting the family members' identities as students and employees and ensuring everyone had the resource needed to succeed. Families experienced monotony …

Early reading intervention has not eradicated reading deficiencies at the middle school level. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), adolescents continue to read below grade level in middle grades. Response to intervention (RTI) is one method of combating this educational concern. This study examined the impact of implementation of a RTI program within one district across multiple middle school campuses. Using individual structured online questionnaires, focus groups, and document analysis, the researcher employed a qualitative, multi-site case study design to evaluate the perceptions of impact of RTI through the lens of middle school reading teachers. Participants included a convenient purposive sample of middle school reading teachers in a suburban school district of about 24,000 students in North Central Texas. I present a review of relevant research at the middle school level to provide a framework for the current study. Additionally, an outline of methodology, research questions, and the proposed data analysis plan are provided. I discuss the intended use of constant comparative analysis to report findings in themes. Particularly, facilitators, hindrances, and impact are a priori themes for reporting.

In order to determine which interventions work best for which students, precision education researchers have examined aptitude-treatment interactions (ATI) or skill-by-treatment interactions (STI) by using multiple regression analysis. In recent years, technological innovation and greater accessibility to more advanced statistical techniques have allowed researchers to examine ATI or STI using longitudinal mixed modeling. Probing techniques for interaction effects like slopes difference tests fit well with an ATI or STI framework, but the power of using a slopes difference test in longitudinal mixed models is unknown. The current study used the simulation method to determine which factors influence the power of a slopes difference test in a longitudinal mixed model. Specifically, the study examined design conditions such as number of waves, number of clusters and participants per cluster, effect size, intraclass correlation, variances and covariance of the random effects, and proportion of treatment to non-treatment participants. These were examined in order to help ATI and STI researchers understand whether the slopes difference test in a longitudinal mixed model is sufficiently powered for their sample and study. Effect size, number of waves, number of clusters, and participants per cluster were found to be strong determinants of power and significantly impacted model convergence …

Children with disabilities are three to four times more likely to be abused than their non-disabled peers due to the impact of challenges related to behavior, cognition, language, social skills, and communication skills. In September of 2018, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) specifically noted the need to establish maltreatment prevention and response curricula and promote research and advocacy surrounding maltreatment of children with disabilities. One common curriculum recommended is Kidpower®. While Kidpower® shows promise in increasing people safety skills and offers some basic accommodations for use with disabled populations, a complete accommodation plan for deaf or hard of hearing students has not been developed. The purpose of this study was to explore how Kidpower® curriculum could be accommodated to meet the unique needs of deaf and hard of hearing students from the perspective of the deaf education community, including deaf adults, deaf education teachers, deaf education teacher preparation faculty, and parents with deaf or hard of hearing children. A combination of focus groups and interviews were utilized to review lessons and homework from the Kidpower® curriculum. Participants gave feedback on obstacles and ideas for accommodations and modifications that would mediate the challenges. Data were inductively coded and analyzed for …

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in early intervention (EI) referral and service frequency for children with blindness or visual impairment (BVI) and gather information about the practices and experiences of vision professionals across the United States. The study focused on obtaining data from certified teachers of students with visual impairment (CTVI) and certified orientation and mobility specialists (COMS) in the United States. Information collected included descriptive statistics and professional information about EI for children with BVI, and information about the referral process and service frequency for children with BVI during EI. Thirty-three states were represented in the collected data. Of these states, 26 had responses from four or more professionals, the criteria for inclusion in the analyses. Participants provided information based on a researcher-developed survey requesting information related to the procedures used to provide EI services for children with BVI. Questions were adapted from established instruments where possible. Across states, there were some statistically significant differences in CTVIs and COMS reports of procedures regarding the role of professional collaboration, parent/caregiver participation in IFSP meetings, strengths/resources utilized by vision professionals, and challenges parents/families encountered when accessing EI services for their child with BVI. No statistically significant differences …

There has been an increase in the fatherhood studies with minority groups in the United States in the past decades; however, these studies rarely included Turkish American fathers. To the best of the authors knowledge, current study was the first to explore father involvement in relation to fathers' perception of mothers' gate-keeping, fathers' competence as a parent, and their cultural stance as related to conservatism among a sample of Turkish American fathers with children between the ages of 3 to 6 years (n = 103). An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to examine the factor loadings of gate-closing and gate-opening items. The results yielded a two-factor solution with one suppressed item, and two cross-loading items with factor loadings bigger than .32. A path analysis was conducted to determine whether father's competence in relation to gate-closing and gate-opening, and father's conservatism adequately described father involvement through regression paths. The results of the chi-square goodness-of-fit test were not significant, χ2(3) = 1.84, p = .607, suggesting that the model fit the data well. Father's competency significantly predicted father involvement (B = 0.56, SE = .211, p = .008). Gate-closing (B = -30.48, SE = 15.340, p = .047) and gate-opening (B = …

Value-added models (VAMs) have become widely used in evaluating teacher accountability. The use of these models for high-stakes decisions making has been very controversial due to lack of consistency in classifying teachers as high performing or low performing. There is an abundance of research on the impact of various student level covariates on teacher value-added scores; however, less is known about the impact of teacher-level and school-level covariates. This study uses hierarchical linear modeling to examine the impact of including teacher characteristics, school characteristics, and student demographics aggregated at the school level on elementary mathematics and reading teacher value-added scores. Data for this study was collected from a large school district in north Texas. This study found that across all VAMs fitted, 32% of mathematics teachers and 37% of reading teachers changed quintile ranking for their value-added score at least once across all VAMs, while 55% and 65% of schools changed their quintile ranking of value-added scores based on mathematics and reading achievement, respectively. The results show that failing to control for aggregated student demographics has a large impact on both teacher level and school level value-added scores. Policymakers and administrators using VAM estimates in high-stakes decision-making should include teacher- …

Federal and state descriptions of gifted and talented services include identifying and developing leadership talent, but in many states, services are not mandated or funded. Consequently, leadership development is often left to extracurricular programs (e.g., student organizations, athletics). The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) provides school-based military-focused leadership education and opportunities to apply emergent leadership skills. This qualitative descriptive study examined leadership talent development in JROTC and the postsecondary paths participants chose. A self-report survey was distributed to graduating seniors enrolled in JROTC in Texas public high schools and semi-structured interviews were conducted with JROTC instructors across the state. The findings highlighted characteristics of students in the sample who chose to pursue military-focused education or careers after high school and themes about the experiences and key considerations related to choosing postsecondary paths. JROTC instructors supported students with differentiated development plans and information about flexible pathways to reach postsecondary goals. Students benefitted from broad definitions of success, exposure to career options, realistic self-assessment, and alignment between intentions and preparation.

Secondary students with specific learning disabilities often have challenges with academic engagement and performance within the general education setting. Opportunity to respond strategies, such as student response systems, have shown promise in supporting academic engagement for students without disabilities. However, there are few studies examining the relationship between student response systems and academic engagement for older students with specific learning disabilities. The purpose of this study was to pilot the use of Google classroom as a student response system on academic participation and disruptive behavior for high school students with specific learning disability. While the study began as a multiple baseline across participants single-subject research design, the design was changed due to school closures as a result of COVID-19. A high-school student with specific learning disability participated in a study using an AB non-experimental design. The student response system resulted in an abrupt change in academic participation for the participant. The student and teacher perceived the intervention to be effective and appropriate for increasing participation and decreasing disruptive behavior. This study contributes to a limited body of research on student response systems for secondary students with specific learning disabilities.

Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect globally, affecting both children and their families. Twenty –five percent of children experiencing a CHD birth defect are diagnosed with complex CHD (cCHD), signifying critical heart dysfunction requiring one or more open-heart surgeries during the first year of life. With medical advances, cCHD survival rates have almost tripled in the last three decades. This has resulted in an increase in the number of morbidities associated with cCHD, which is drastically impacting the need to support quality of life outcomes for a child with cCHD and their family. The two most prevalent unaddressed risks for quality of life outcomes in the cCHD population are child and caregiver mental health and child's neurodevelopmental disabilities. Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect globally, affecting both children and their families. Twenty-five percent of children experiencing a CHD birth defect are diagnosed with complex CHD (cCHD), signifying critical heart dysfunction requiring one or more open-heart surgeries during the first year of life. With medical advances, cCHD survival rates have almost tripled in the last three decades. This has resulted in an increase in the number of morbidities associated with cCHD, which is drastically impacting …

Growth mixture modeling (GMM) is a useful tool for examining both between- and within-persons change over time and uncovering unobserved heterogeneity in growth trajectories. Importantly, the correct extraction of latent classes and parameter recovery can be dependent upon the type of covariates used. Time-varying covariates (TVCs) can influence class membership but are scarcely included in GMMs as predictors. Other times, TVCs are incorrectly modeled as time-invariant covariates (TICs). Additionally, problematic results can occur with the use of maximum likelihood (ML) estimation in GMMs, including convergence issues and sub-optimal maxima. In such cases, Bayesian estimation may prove to be a useful solution. The present Monte Carlo simulation study aimed to assess class enumeration accuracy and parameter recovery of GMMs with a TVC, particularly when a TVC has been incorrectly specified as a TIC. Both ML estimation and Bayesian estimation were examined. Results indicated that class enumeration indices perform less favorably in the case of TVC misspecification, particularly absolute class enumeration indices. Additionally, in the case of TVC misspecification, parameter bias was found to be greater than the generally accepted cutoff of 10%, particularly for variance estimates. It is recommended that researchers continue to use a variety of class enumeration indices during …

This dissertation investigated the roles of early childhood fundamental motor skills (FMS) competence on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health outcomes among underserved preschoolers in Head Start, and examined parental influence on their children's FMS competence. An explanatory sequential mixed methodology was used to examine the predictive strength of FMS competence on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial health outcomes among 216 underserved preschoolers from six Head Start centers (Mage = 4.32, SD = 0.63; girls 56.5%). This methodology allowed for a follow-up qualitative aspect to explore the influence of parents' perceptions and behaviors on their child's FMS competence and health outcomes in a subsample of eight parent–child dyads who demonstrate high or low FMS competence in the quantitative data. The results of this dissertation suggest that preschoolers' FMS competence, especially locomotor skills, were associated with and predicted various health outcomes in sedentary behavior (β = -0.21), light physical activity (β = 0.23), executive function (β = -0.21), and perceived motor competence (β = 0.34). No significant influences of FMS competence on moderate-to-vigorous, body fatness, HRQoL were found (p > 0.05). We also found that positive parental influences (role modeling, support, and facilitation) were observed more often among preschoolers in the high FMS …

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at an increased risk to be victims of bullying due to the core characteristics of the disorder. Prior research has focused on understanding bullying from the perspectives of individuals with ASD, parents, and practitioners through interviews and questionnaires. However, limited evidence exists using interventions to teach individuals with ASD about how to identify and respond to bullying. This study employed Kidpower® bullying narratives to teach individuals with ASD how to identify and respond to various bullying scenarios. Kidpower was selected to provide practitioners with a pre-established curriculum to utilize, rather than creating materials for each student. A multiple probe design across three participants was utilized to (a) teach individuals with ASD how to identify and respond to bullying drawings on Kidpower narratives, and (b) add an experimental study to the limited literature base pertaining to strategies for teaching about bullying to individuals with ASD. A fourth participant was also included as a case study. Progress for all participants was measured using the percentage of correct responses to 10 questions. Three out of four participants reached the mastery criterion of 90% over two consecutive sessions. Sessions for the fourth participant concluded after seven intervention …

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) assess cycling coaches' trauma-related competencies, as measured by trauma knowledge (i.e., trauma-specific education, familiarity with post-traumatic stress [PTS]), stigma of persons with PTS (i.e., fear/dangerousness, help/interact, forcing treatment, negative emotions), and interpersonal skills (i.e., self-reported emotional intelligence, perceived quality of coach-athlete relationships); and (b) examine the influence that trauma knowledge and stigma of persons with PTS has on coaching efficacy specific to coaching trauma-impacted athletes (i.e., trauma-informed coaching efficacy), after controlling for general coaching experience. Descriptive statistics indicated the majority of coaches had no trauma-specific education, a high degree of familiarity with PTS, and a low level of stigma via four attribution variables. Moreover, participants highly appraised their own emotional intelligence, the quality of their coach-athlete relationships, and their trauma-informed coaching efficacy. A hierarchical regression analyses indicated that familiarity with PTS helped to explain additional variance in trauma-informed coaching efficacy over and above demographic and general coach experience variables. The study establishes trauma-informed coaching as a distinct area of research and highlights the need for improved continuing education opportunities for coaches related to psychological trauma and PTS.

Previous research has individually assessed parallel analysis and minimum average partial for factor retention in exploratory factor analysis using ordinal variables. The current study is a comprehensive simulation study including the manipulation of eight conditions (type of correlation matrix, sample size, number of variables per factor, number of factors, factor correlation, skewness, factor loadings, and number of response categories), and three types of retention methods (minimum average partial, parallel analysis, and empirical Kaiser criterion) resulting in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 4 × 5 design that totals to 5,760 condition combinations tested over 1,000 replications each. Results show that each retention method performed worse when utilizing polychoric correlation matrices. Moreover, minimum average partials are quite sensitive to factor loadings and overall perform poorly compared to parallel analysis and empirical Kaiser criterion. Empirical Kaiser criterion performed almost identical to parallel analysis in normally distributed data; however, performed much worse under highly skewed conditions. Based on these findings, it is recommended to use parallel analysis utilizing principal components analysis with a Pearson correlation matrix to determine the number of factors to retain when dealing with ordinal data.

College student and Amazon's Mechanical TURK (MTURK) samples are regularly utilized in trauma research. Recent literature, however, has criticized these samples for not being generalizable to the general U.S. population. Measurement invariance (MI) using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), is rarely utilized in trauma research, even though the analysis can determine whether groups are invariant across factor structure, factor loadings, item intercepts, and residual error variances on a given measure of PTSD symptom severity. The purpose of this study was to determine whether college student (n = 255) and MTURK (n = 316) samples are invariant on the PCL-5. Model fit indices indicated the 7-factor Hybrid model was the best fitting model, but the 6-factor anhedonia model was the most parsimonious model. Both models demonstrated equivalence in factor structures (configural invariance), factor loadings (metric invariance), intercepts (scalar invariance), and residuals (strict invariance), indicating MTURK and college student samples are similar in regards to PTSD symptom severity. These findings provide evidence that these groups can be combined in future studies to increase sample size for trauma research. Only the Anhedonia factor exhibited mean differences between groups, which may be related to true differences between college students and MTURK survey-takers. Thus, there is …

In response to concerns about using only standardized multiple-choice assessments, some school districts have moved to using alternative ratings of student achievement with authentic assessments. However, such assessments are often limited in terms of the psychometric validity data supporting their use. The present study mixed quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the validity, development, and refinement of an authentic rating approach currently in use in middle school mathematics classes from a large suburban school district in the Southwest United States. A sample of teachers (n = 14), rated students (n = 110) using a pilot rubric of 187 items. Analyses resulted in a 32-item rubric with 20 themes and 9 factors. Results from a G-study revealed the facet that best explained variance in student scores was the interaction between raters and assessment units, as well as students and assessment units. As part of the development of the assessment, a content validity exercise revealed 18% of the rubric items as below average quality. Findings highlight the need to enhance contextualization of rubrics, use a strategy of assessment that includes contextualized and decontextualized assessment, and to investigate the role of utilization deficiency in explaining low student scores.

This study investigated the association between Chinese immigrant mothers' reports of parenting stress and two sources of parenting support: fathers' support and social support. Five independent-samples t-tests were first computed to examine whether there were discrepancies between Chinese immigrant mothers' and fathers' perceptions of fathers' involvement across five domains of fathers' involvement in early child care: (1) fathers' warmth and attunement; (2) control and process responsibility; (3) emotional involvement; (4) indirect care; and (5) positive engagement. Then regression analyses were conducted to understand how and to what extent the five domains of father involvement reported by mothers and mothers' perceived social support influenced Chinese immigrant mothers' parenting stress. In addition, an indirect effects of mothers' self-efficacy on the relation between fathers' involvement and mothers' parenting stress was also tested. The results showed that Chinese mothers reported significantly greater level of fathers' emotional involvement than the same type of involvement reported by Chinese immigrant fathers. This study also found that fathers' emotional involvement reported by Chinese immigrant mothers was a significant predictor of Chinese immigrant mothers' parenting stress. However, mothers' perceived social support was a stronger predictor, accounting for more variance in their parenting stress than their reports of fathers' involvement …

Students' self-determination (SD) can positively influence their ability to make choices in planning for their future. The current study is a preliminary validity study on the most recent 21-item version of Shogren and Wehmeyer's Self-Determination Inventory: Student Report (SDI-SR). The SDI-SR was administered to 316 students (ages 13-22) and results were examined with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results of the EFA on a 7-factor solution (TLI = 0.97; RMSEA = 0.04; SRMR = 0.02) aligned with the theoretical basis for the SDI:SR as well as results for the 7-factor CFA using simulated data (TLI = 0.913; RMSEA = 0.047; SRMR = 0.072 and CFI = 0.931); however, the CFA 7-factor solution results on the present study data were slightly lower than what is considered acceptable model fit (TLI = 0.883; RMSEA = 0.04; RMSR = 0.047). These results combined suggest that theory-based 7-factor solution does capture seven latent constructs in this data. A CFA was also conducted with a 5-factor structure based on factor loading from an EFA using the present research data resulting in a better model fit (TLI = 0.912; RMSEA = .075; SRMR = 0.046; and CFI = 0.940) as well as …

The current study focused on dyadic discrepancy, the difference between two individuals. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to compare three dyadic discrepancy estimation methods across a variety of potential research conditions, including variations on intraclass correlation, cluster number, reliability, effect size, and effect size variance. The methods compared were: raw score difference (RSD); empirical Bayes estimate of slope in multilevel modeling (EBD); and structural equation modeling estimate (SEM). Accuracy and reliability of the discrepancy estimate and the accuracy of prediction when using the discrepancy to predict an outcome were examined. The results indicated that RSD and SEM, despite having poor reliability, performed better than EBD when predicting an outcome. The results of this research provide methodological guidance to researchers interested in dyadic discrepancies.

In recent years, the sport of women's ice hockey is growing fast worldwide. Upon winning the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, women's ice hockey in China started to develop rapidly. However, the development of women's ice hockey in China has encountered numerous challenges. These challenges include addressing traditional Chinese culture, gender norms, and the process of sport reform. This study used a qualitative case study methodology to examine the perspectives of Chinese women ice hockey players, coaches, club administrators, government administrators, and the parents of youth hockey players to understand how women's ice hockey navigated itself within the institutional complexity to gain legitimacy, and how the different institutional logics impacted the identities of organizations within women's ice hockey in China. An abductive grounded theory approach was used to analyze the transcriptions and archived documents. Findings indicated that there were challenges for the development of women's ice hockey in China at macro level, meso level, and micro level. Actors such as hockey administrations, professional clubs, and ice hockey coaches and players at different levels adopted multiple forms of institutional work to find out ways to incorporate institutional structures that mitigated the fact that there were multiple logics. In addition, …

Supporting creativity in undergraduate education is important for the future development of society. To do this, an understanding of undergraduate characteristics is needed. A systematic literature review of the relationship between the Big Five personality factors and little-c creativity in undergraduates identified 19 studies. The creativity assessments within these investigations represented several conceptions of the construct with domain-general, self-reported measures of Person as most common. Results suggest that both Openness to Experience and Extraversion have strong, consistent, positive relationships with creativity. Few significant relations were found concerning Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Notable differences were found between NEO and IPIP inventories in regard to the strength of the relationship between the Big Five personality factors and creativity. Additional differences were also found concerning which students were assessed. Given these results along with previous research, six descriptive discriminant analyses (DDAs) were conducted to identify differences between honors and non-honors undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors and those in non-STEM majors in relation to personality and creative self-beliefs. Surveys, which included a 120-item, 5-point scale measure of the Big Five and a 50-item, 5-point scale measure of creative self-beliefs, were completed by 573 undergraduates. No interaction effects were observed. However, …

Understanding how emotions influence motivation among students is critical to the talent development process. Research shows that certain emotions elicit an approach motive while other emotions elicit an avoidance motive. This study explored emotional disposition and fear of failure among undergraduates enrolled in honors college (n = 63) compared to undergraduates enrolled in regular college courses (n = 296). Results suggest that dispositional shame is positively correlated with fear of failure; however, neither gender nor enrollment in honors college predict fear of failure beyond dispositional shame. Students enrolled in honors college do not differ on measurements of shame and fear of failure compared to students not enrolled in honors college. In general, female undergraduates were more likely to report experiences of shame, guilt, fear of shame and embarrassment, and fear of devaluing one's self-estimate than their male peers. The findings are discussed in light of a need to understand high-ability college students.