The latest education papers. Last updated Friday July 26, 2024 at 21:13 PST.
Friday, 26. July 2024 |
Educational Policy, Ahead of Print.
This paper explores the policy, pedagogy, and practice affordances and constraints of teacher education as an environment to develop pre-service teachers’ antiracism commitments. Through critical analysis of interviews with pre-service teachers and teacher educators at three social justice-oriented teacher preparation programs, research findings indicate that the material consequences of passing the edTPA can lead pre-service teachers to deprioritize the antiracist or equitable frameworks that were emphasized in their program. The edTPA’s inattention to racism and antiracist practice signals an irrelevance to some pre-service teachers. These findings have implications for how teacher educators may approach the edTPA in social justice-oriented programs.
Friday, 26. July 2024 |
Educational Policy, Ahead of Print.
This interview-based study examines how justice-oriented K-12 administrators and teachers in Iowa make sense of the recent state-level education policy, H.F. 802. Synthesizing literature on Critical Policy Analysis and epistemic justice, we introduce Critical Epistemic Policy Analysis to understand the micro-level impact of divisive education legislation on efforts to create just and inclusive schools. Findings highlight a sociopolitical terrain with ambivalent and shallow equity commitments, deteriorating support for equity work in schools, and a need to grapple with questions of divisiveness and solidarity in justice-oriented educational activism.
Friday, 26. July 2024 |
Review of Educational Research, Ahead of Print.
The aim of this systematic review is to provide insight into the conceptual and methodological credibility of experimental research designs on the effectiveness of team teaching—a promising instructional strategy wherein two or more professionals collaboratively provide education for a group of students. A total of 31 studies were included. These studies were conceptually and methodologically examined according to two actualized quality-appraisal frameworks. The findings reveal that it remains a challenge to design rigorous experimental studies with clear conceptualizations of key variables related to team teaching. To make convincing claims on the effectiveness of team teaching, there is an urgent need for better-defined quality experimental research. Therefore, we conclude with recommendations for future research, specifically how experimental studies on the effectiveness of team teaching should be conceptually and methodologically implemented to provide policymakers and stakeholders with information for evidence-informed decision-making on educational practices.
Friday, 26. July 2024 |
American Educational Research Journal, Ahead of Print.
In this study, researchers used a longitudinal multisite qualitative cross-case study to examine the beliefs and practices of five beginning teachers related to critical historical inquiry. They collected interview, observation, and classroom artifact data over a 5-year period, from teacher preparation through the teachers’ 4th year in the classroom. Using critical theory as the frame, the researchers found that the beginning history teachers tended to move along two pedagogical continuums: one related to the criticality of content and the other related to didactic- or inquiry- based instruction. Teachers were more successful in engaging in critical historical inquiry practices if they had well-developed conceptual and practice tools and had opportunities to teach within school contexts that supported the use of critical historical inquiry.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
Journal of Teacher Education, Ahead of Print.
Many teacher educators seek to implement culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) in their courses. However, enactment is often mediated by our socialization into whiteness and niceness. This study investigates how our self-study community of practice (SSCoP) of eight White female literacy teacher educators at different institutions collaborated to narrow the gap between our aspirations for implementing CRP and enacted practice. Through analysis of collaborative journal entries, we interpret tensions between what niceness and whiteness demand of us and what enactment of CRP requires: (a) between centering equity in our courses and addressing equity on the margins, (b) between enactment of critical pedagogy and maintaining status as “nice” educators, and (c) between the expectation of expertise and the necessity of a learning stance. We argue that teacher educators might use SSCoP spaces to navigate the complex interplay between their identities and the sociopolitical context of teacher education to more fully enact CRP.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
Journal of Teacher Education, Ahead of Print.
The narrative woven throughout this article elevates the persistence, perseverance, resilience, and resolve of a neighborhood anchored in faith, and fiercely devoted to its children. Contextualized through its rich history of mobilization for social justice, this story uplifts and defends the cultural wealth of a historically marginalized community as an imperative element of children’s education and as a critical cognizance for those aspiring to become teachers. An exemplar in self-determinism, the narrative, elevates how neighbors’ voice and vision propel innovation in the dynamics of university/community collaboration. Ultimately, the article challenges traditional power structures, offering a compelling and justifiable direction for the field of educator preparation.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Ahead of Print.
The inclusion of students with disabilities in general education versus more restrictive settings has steadily increased since the 1990s. Yet little is known about inclusion’s effectiveness for these students or their nondisabled peers. I examine the impacts of a district-wide inclusion policy, leveraging the staggered, school-level implementation to estimate the policy’s causal effects on academic and behavioral outcomes. Elementary and middle school test scores and attendance rates were unaffected by the policy. High school graduation and ninth grade promotion rates increased by two and six percentage points, respectively, in the years following implementation. Findings suggest that inclusive education does not come at the expense of students’ academic progress in the short term and may improve academic outcomes in the longer term.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Ahead of Print.
This paper examines the relationship between subject specialization in high school and university undergraduate degree program choices. Focusing on a reform in England that encouraged students to opt for studying mathematics in the last 2 years of high school, the study analyzes its effect on undergraduate enrollment in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The findings indicate that the reform increased the likelihood of students pursuing and completing STEM undergraduate degrees. Thus, encouraging mathematics specialization during high school enhances the number of STEM graduates. However, despite the reform’s implementation, gender and socioeconomic disparities in STEM participation remained unchanged, suggesting that interventions during adolescence might not effectively address the underrepresentation of specific groups, such as females, in STEM programs.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
Evaluation Review, Ahead of Print.
As found in behavioral decision theory, venture capitalists (VCs) rely on heuristics and bias, owing to their bounded rationality, either by limited alternatives or information and resources. India’s booming startup scene challenges VCs in decision-making owing to information overload from numerous evolving ventures, which hinders informed judgment. VC investment behavior, due diligence, and cognitive factors related to decision-making have always drawn the attention of researchers. We provide an alternative approach for an optimal decision by VCs by identifying the attributes that influence investment or funding decisions at an early stage of a venture in tech-based industries. Through a literature review, we identify eight attributes, both on internal and external criteria, that venture investors consider when making investment decisions. Based on interviews with 20 experts, we further identify eight key tech-based sectors. Using grey system theory, we then determine the rankings of eight tech startups for investors’ early-stage investment decisions. This study presents a linguistic variable-based approach of grey numbers to decide weights and ratings, the grey possibility degree to compare and rank different tech startups, and based on the results, suggests the ideal tech startup. We find that agritech ranks first; thus, investors should prefer venturing into such startups for early-stage investment. E-commerce and edutech ranked second and third, respectively, followed by electric vehicle infrastructure, insurtech, fintech, space tech, and software as a service.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
The Stata Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 301-328, June 2024.
Multivariate meta-analysis is used to synthesize estimates of multiple quantities (“effect sizes”), such as risk factors or treatment effects, accounting for correlation and typically also heterogeneity. In the most general case, estimation can be intractable if data are sparse (for example, many risk factors but few studies) because the number of model parameters that must be estimated scales quadratically with the number of effect sizes. This article presents a new command, smvmeta, that makes estimation tractable by modeling correlation and heterogeneity in a low-dimensional space via random projection. This reduces the number of model parameters to be linear in the number of effect sizes. smvmeta is demonstrated in a meta-analysis of 23 risk factors for pain after total knee arthroplasty. Validation experiments show that, compared with meta-regression (a reasonable alternative model that could be used when data are sparse), smvmeta can provide substantially more precise estimates (that is, narrower confidence intervals) at little cost in bias.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
The Stata Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 369-369, June 2024.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
The Stata Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 185-212, June 2024.
Instrumental-variables estimation is an approach commonly used to evaluate the effect of a program in case of noncompliance. However, when the binary treatment status is misreported, standard techniques are not sufficient to point identify and consistently estimate the effect of interest. We present a new command, ivbounds, that implements three partial identification strategies developed by Tommasi and Zhang (2024, Journal of Econometrics 238: 105556) to bound the heterogeneous treatment effect when both noncompliance and misreporting of treatment status are present. We illustrate the use of the command by reassessing the benefits of participating in the 401(k) pension plan on savings in the United States.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
The Stata Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 370-371, June 2024.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
The Stata Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 213-249, June 2024.
In this article, we describe the package twostep, a bundle of programs to perform analyses of hierarchical data applying the two-step approach. We consider a two-level data setup in which “microlevel” units are nested within “macrolevel” units. One-step models (which can be fit using, for example, mixed) are the most common approach to modeling two-level data. The two-step approach is an alternative in which parameters associated with microlevel and macrolevel predictors are estimated separately for each level. It can be used as an alternative to one-step models if the estimand is a cross-level interaction. We also show how the two-step approach usefully complements one-step approaches by providing exploratory data analysis, descriptive graphs, and regression diagnostics.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
The Stata Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 250-272, June 2024.
In this article, we describe the mixrandregret command, which extends the randregret command introduced in Gutiérrez-Vargas, Meulders, and Vandebroek (2021, Stata Journal 21: 626–658) by allowing random coefficients in random regret minimization models. The newly developed mixrandregret command allows the user to specify a combination of fixed and random coefficients in the regret function of the classical random regret minimization model introduced in Chorus (2010, European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research 10: 181–196). In addition, the user can specify normal and lognormal distributions for the random coefficients using the appropriate command’s options. The models are fit by maximum simulated likelihood estimation using numerical integration to approximate the choice probabilities.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
The Stata Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 329-361, June 2024.
Membership of overlapping or intersecting sets may be recorded in a bundle of (0, 1) indicator variables. Annotated Euler or Venn diagrams may be used to show graphically the frequencies of subsets so defined, but beyond just a few sets such diagrams can be hard to draw and use effectively. This column presents two new commands for graphical alternatives: upsetplot and vennbar. Each command produces a bar chart by default, but there is scope to recast to different graphical forms. The differences between the new commands reflect the divide in Stata between twoway commands and other graph commands. They also provide some flexibility in graph design to match tastes and circumstances. The discussion includes many historical details and references.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
The Stata Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 362-368, June 2024.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
The Stata Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 273-286, June 2024.
In this article, we develop a first-stage linear regression command, fsivqreg, for an instrumental-variables quantile regression (QR) model. The quantile first stage is analogous to the least-squares case, that is, a linear projection of the endogenous variables on the instruments and other exogenous covariates, with the difference that the QR case is a weighted projection. The weights are given by the conditional density function of the innovation term in the QR structural model, at a given quantile. An empirical application illustrates its implementation.
Thursday, 25. July 2024 |
The Stata Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Page 287-300, June 2024.
The Skellam distribution is a discrete probability distribution related to the difference between two independent Poisson-distributed random variables. It has been used in a variety of contexts, including sports or supply and demand imbalances in shared transportation. Stata does not support the Skellam distribution or Skellam regression. We present a command, skellamreg, to estimate the parameters of a Skellam distribution and Skellam regression model using Mata’s optimize function.
Wednesday, 24. July 2024 |
Educational Researcher, Ahead of Print.
This article used a rich longitudinal data set from four school districts in California to study absenteeism patterns among students classified as an English learner (EL). We looked at absence patterns overall and disaggregated by EL classification, grade level, and pre/post COVID-19. When their demographic and school-level factors are considered, ELs have fewer absences and are less likely to be chronically absent than non-EL students. This finding is evident for all EL classified groups, although the differences in absenteeism for long-term EL (LTEL) and newcomer EL students are markedly smaller than for other EL subgroups. The negative absenteeism patterns for ELs shifted after the COVID-19 pandemic. EL-classified students experienced higher absenteeism rates during the pandemic even when holding other factors constant. This rising absenteeism trend is most evident for current ELs and LTELs.
Wednesday, 24. July 2024 |
Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, Ahead of Print.
This commentary examines the Duolingo English Test Responsible AI standards and provides some thoughts on specific ways we can evaluate the use of AI for automated scoring.