We use new high statistics data from CLAS and COMPASS on the nucleon's spin structure function at... more We use new high statistics data from CLAS and COMPASS on the nucleon's spin structure function at low Bjorken x and low virtuality, Q 2 < 0.5 GeV 2 , together with earlier measurements from the SLAC E-143, HERMES and GDH experiments to estimate the effective intercept(s) for spin dependent Regge theory. We find αa 1 = 0.31 ± 0.04 for the intercept describing the high-energy behaviour of spin dependent photoabsorption together with a new estimate for the high-energy part of the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum-rule, −15 ± 2µb from photon-proton centre-of-mass energy greater than 2.5 GeV. Our value of αa 1 suggests QCD physics beyond a simple straight-line a1 trajectory.
The Authoritative School Climate Survey was designed to provide schools with a brief assessment o... more The Authoritative School Climate Survey was designed to provide schools with a brief assessment of 2 key characteristics of school climate— disciplinary structure and student support—that are hypothesized to influence 2 important school climate out-comes—student engagement and prevalence of teasing and bullying in school. The factor structure of these 4 constructs was examined with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in a statewide sample of 39,364 students (Grades 7 and 8) attending 423 schools. Notably, the analyses used a multilevel structural approach to model the nesting of students in schools for purposes of evaluating factor structure, demonstrating convergent and concurrent validity and gauging the structural invariance of concurrent validity coefficients across gender. These findings provide schools with a core group of school climate measures guided by authoritative discipline theory.
ABSTRACT The authors investigated whether age at kindergarten entry was associated with early lit... more ABSTRACT The authors investigated whether age at kindergarten entry was associated with early literacy achievement gaps and if these gaps persisted over time. Using the kindergarten age eligibility cutoff date, they created 2 groups of students who represented the oldest and youngest children in a cohort of students in high-poverty, low-performing schools. The authors followed 405 students from the beginning of kindergarten until the end of Grade 2. Results indicated that the youngest students scored lower than their oldest peers at the beginning of kindergarten on various early literacy measures. The early-age achievement gap, however, narrowed over time but did not close completely by the end of Grade 2. Implications for parents and educators are discussed.
Letter-sound knowledge is necessary for children to begin reading and writing, and kindergartener... more Letter-sound knowledge is necessary for children to begin reading and writing, and kindergarteners who know only a few letter sounds are at risk for later reading difficulties. This study examines the letter-sound knowledge of 1197 first-time kindergarteners who were economically disadvantaged, in light of six hypotheses about letter-sound knowledge acquisition: (1) the letter-name structure effect hypothesis, (2) the letter-sound ambiguity hypothesis, (3) the letter-name knowledge hypothesis, (4) the own-name advantage hypothesis, and 5) the phonological awareness facilitation hypothesis, as well as the interactions between phonological awareness and letter-name structure. Results using threelevel multilevel modeling indicate that letter sounds have varying levels of difficulty and several letterand child-related factors are associated with naming a letter sound correctly. Implications for instruction are discussed.
Adolescents are surrounded by people who have expectations about their college-going potential. Y... more Adolescents are surrounded by people who have expectations about their college-going potential. Yet, few studies have examined the link between these multiple sources of college-going expectations and the actual status of students in postsecondary education years later. The study draws on data collected in the 2002-2006 Educational Longitudinal Study and employs an underutilized statistical technique (cross-classified multilevel modeling) to account for teacher reports on overlapping groups of students (typical of high school research). Results showed that positive expectations of students, parents, English, and mathematics teachers in the 10th grade each uniquely predicted postsecondary status 4 years later. As a group, the four sources of expectations explained greater variance in postsecondary education than student characteristics such as socioeconomic status and academic performance. This suggests positive expectations are additive and promotive for students regardless of their risk status. Teacher expectations were also found to be protective for low income students. Implications for future expectancy research and equity-focused interventions are discussed.
The practice of academic redshirting, or holding children back a year prior to their enrolling in... more The practice of academic redshirting, or holding children back a year prior to their enrolling in kindergarten, continues to be a controversial practice. Although most studies investigating redshirting have used small statewide samples or older, nationally representative data sets, the current study uses population-level data from one state that spans several years. Findings indicate a downward trend in redshirting rates (3.5% in fall of 2012), and redshirted students were consistently more likely to be White boys who were not economically disadvantaged. Students with disabilities were also more likely to be redshirted. Of the redshirted students, the majority were born in the summer months (>70%). Rates have been stable and lower than previously reported national estimates, suggesting that the practice is not as widespread as feared.
Clustered data (e.g., students within schools) are often analyzed in educational research where d... more Clustered data (e.g., students within schools) are often analyzed in educational research where data are naturally nested. As a consequence, multilevel modeling (MLM) has commonly been used to study the contextual or group-level (e.g., school) effects on individual outcomes. The current study investigates the use of an alternative procedure to MLM: regression using Taylor series linearization (TSL) variance estimation. Despite the name, regressions using TSL are straightforward to conduct, can yield consistent and unbiased estimates and standard errors (given the apropriate conditions), and can be performed using a variety of commercially- and freely-available statistical software. I analyze a subsample of the High School and Beyond (HSB) dataset using MLM, regression using TSL, and ordinary least squares regression and compare results. In addition, 12,000 random samples are drawn from the HSB dataset of varying level-one and level-two sample sizes in order to compute biases in standard errors based on the different conditions. Sample R and SAS syntax showing how to run regressions using TSL are provided.
Accurate measurement is essential to determining the prevalence of bullying and evaluating the ef... more Accurate measurement is essential to determining the prevalence of bullying and evaluating the effectiveness of intervention efforts. The most common measurement approach is through anonymous self-report surveys, but previous studies have suggested that students do not adhere to standard definitions of bullying and may be influenced by the order of questions about types of victimization. In the current study, we have presented findings from 2 randomized experiments designed to determine (a) the impact of using or not using a definition of bullying and (b) asking about general versus specific types of bullying victimization and how the order of these questions affects victimization-prevalence rates. The study was conducted using a sample of 17,301 students attending 119 high schools. Findings indicate that the use of a definition had no impact on prevalence rates, but asking specific bullying-victimization questions (e.g., &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;I have been verbally bullied at school&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;) prior to general bullying-victimization questions (e.g., &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;I have been bullied at school&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;), resulted in a 29-76% increase in victimization-prevalence rates. Results suggest that surveys that ask general-to-specific bullying-victimization questions, such as those found in national and international surveys, may be underreporting bullying victimization. (PsycINFO Database Record
ABSTRACT This study explored the viability of using kindergarten measures of phonological awarene... more ABSTRACT This study explored the viability of using kindergarten measures of phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and orthographic knowledge, administered in English, to predict first grade reading achievement of Spanish-speaking English language learners. The primary research question was: Do kindergarten measures of early literacy skills in English predict first grade reading achievement for Spanish-speaking students as effectively as they do for English speakers? Participants were 3,448 economically disadvantaged students (50% spoke Spanish at home) from 243 schools. Regression analyses demonstrated that kindergarten variables accounted for similar percentages of variance in first grade reading for both Spanish speakers (43% in fall, 46% in spring) and non-Spanish speakers (49% in fall, 46% in spring) and that fall and spring variables were equally effective in predicting later achievement for both groups.
ABSTRACT Young-for-grade students have been shown to receive lower grades and have a higher likel... more ABSTRACT Young-for-grade students have been shown to receive lower grades and have a higher likelihood of retention compared to their oldest peers upon kindergarten entry. Our study of 1474 economically disadvantaged first-time kindergarteners investigates if preschool attendance may ameliorate some of the risks potentially associated with being young-for-grade. Using the state-mandated age cutoff date, we establish four groups of students based on age (oldest/youngest in the cohort) and preschool experience (attended preschool/did not attend preschool) and use multilevel linear and logistic regression models in analyzing early literacy scores as well as the likelihood of being retained. Our findings show that while preschool attendance is associated with higher emergent literacy performance, young students still experience higher retention risks compared to their older peers, regardless of preschool attendance and controlling for end-of-year literacy scores.
We investigated five hypotheses related to the successful naming of lowercase letters. Participan... more We investigated five hypotheses related to the successful naming of lowercase letters. Participants included 5,020 first-time kindergarteners from economically disadvantaged homes who previously attended publicly funded preschools. Results analyzed using three-level logistic regression showed that children have a higher probability of correctly identifying letters that appear in their own name and letters that appear frequently in print. In addition, lowercase letter shape similarity to its uppercase counterpart and letter order were also associated with the correct identification of the letter. Finally, if a lowercase letter had a visual and phonological resemblance to other letters, students had a lower probability of identifying the letter correctly. Implications for instruction are discussed.
International Journal of Educational Development, 2010
In 1983, Heyneman and Loxley stated that in low income countries, school-level factors could acco... more In 1983, Heyneman and Loxley stated that in low income countries, school-level factors could account for a greater proportion of variance in student achievement as compared to student-level characteristics. The phenomenon has come to be known as the ''HL effect'' and signaled the important role of schools in developing countries. This study investigated the presence of the HL effect using a longitudinal sample of 1790 11.5-year-old students from 60 schools in a developing country, the Philippines. The main variables of interest were related to socioeconomic status and proxy measures of school quality. The correlates of achievement were explored using two-level multilevel modeling, while controlling for students' prior ability. While findings did not support the presence of the HL effect in the sample, with schools accounting for only 3-5% of overall conditional variance, schools were found to be important in the production of higher achievement scores. ß
This study investigated the differential and persistent effects of a state-funded pre-K program, ... more This study investigated the differential and persistent effects of a state-funded pre-K program, the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI). We analyzed data from a cohort of over 60,000 students nested in approximately 1000 schools from the beginning of kindergarten to the end of first grade using two-level hierarchical logistic regression models. While controlling for student-and school-level variables, we found that attending a VPI-funded program was beneficially associated with a lower likelihood of repeating kindergarten and improved probabilities of meeting or exceeding minimum literacy competencies. The benefits of attending pre-K were greatest upon kindergarten entry and persisted until the end of the first grade for Hispanic and Black students, as well as for students with disabilities, despite VPI-funded program attendees going to schools with higher concentrations of poverty.
ABSTRACT School violence research is often concerned with infrequently occurring events such as c... more ABSTRACT School violence research is often concerned with infrequently occurring events such as counts of the number of bullying incidents or fights a student may experience. Analyzing count data using ordinary least squares regression may produce improbable predicted values, and as a result of regression assumption violations, result in higher Type I errors. Count data are optimally analyzed using Poisson-based regression techniques such as Poisson or negative binomial regression. We apply these techniques to an example study of bullying in a statewide sample of 290 high schools and explain how Poisson-based analyses, although less familiar to many researchers, can produce findings that are more accurate and reliable, and are easier to interpret in real-world contexts.
We use new high statistics data from CLAS and COMPASS on the nucleon's spin structure function at... more We use new high statistics data from CLAS and COMPASS on the nucleon's spin structure function at low Bjorken x and low virtuality, Q 2 < 0.5 GeV 2 , together with earlier measurements from the SLAC E-143, HERMES and GDH experiments to estimate the effective intercept(s) for spin dependent Regge theory. We find αa 1 = 0.31 ± 0.04 for the intercept describing the high-energy behaviour of spin dependent photoabsorption together with a new estimate for the high-energy part of the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum-rule, −15 ± 2µb from photon-proton centre-of-mass energy greater than 2.5 GeV. Our value of αa 1 suggests QCD physics beyond a simple straight-line a1 trajectory.
The Authoritative School Climate Survey was designed to provide schools with a brief assessment o... more The Authoritative School Climate Survey was designed to provide schools with a brief assessment of 2 key characteristics of school climate— disciplinary structure and student support—that are hypothesized to influence 2 important school climate out-comes—student engagement and prevalence of teasing and bullying in school. The factor structure of these 4 constructs was examined with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in a statewide sample of 39,364 students (Grades 7 and 8) attending 423 schools. Notably, the analyses used a multilevel structural approach to model the nesting of students in schools for purposes of evaluating factor structure, demonstrating convergent and concurrent validity and gauging the structural invariance of concurrent validity coefficients across gender. These findings provide schools with a core group of school climate measures guided by authoritative discipline theory.
ABSTRACT The authors investigated whether age at kindergarten entry was associated with early lit... more ABSTRACT The authors investigated whether age at kindergarten entry was associated with early literacy achievement gaps and if these gaps persisted over time. Using the kindergarten age eligibility cutoff date, they created 2 groups of students who represented the oldest and youngest children in a cohort of students in high-poverty, low-performing schools. The authors followed 405 students from the beginning of kindergarten until the end of Grade 2. Results indicated that the youngest students scored lower than their oldest peers at the beginning of kindergarten on various early literacy measures. The early-age achievement gap, however, narrowed over time but did not close completely by the end of Grade 2. Implications for parents and educators are discussed.
Letter-sound knowledge is necessary for children to begin reading and writing, and kindergartener... more Letter-sound knowledge is necessary for children to begin reading and writing, and kindergarteners who know only a few letter sounds are at risk for later reading difficulties. This study examines the letter-sound knowledge of 1197 first-time kindergarteners who were economically disadvantaged, in light of six hypotheses about letter-sound knowledge acquisition: (1) the letter-name structure effect hypothesis, (2) the letter-sound ambiguity hypothesis, (3) the letter-name knowledge hypothesis, (4) the own-name advantage hypothesis, and 5) the phonological awareness facilitation hypothesis, as well as the interactions between phonological awareness and letter-name structure. Results using threelevel multilevel modeling indicate that letter sounds have varying levels of difficulty and several letterand child-related factors are associated with naming a letter sound correctly. Implications for instruction are discussed.
Adolescents are surrounded by people who have expectations about their college-going potential. Y... more Adolescents are surrounded by people who have expectations about their college-going potential. Yet, few studies have examined the link between these multiple sources of college-going expectations and the actual status of students in postsecondary education years later. The study draws on data collected in the 2002-2006 Educational Longitudinal Study and employs an underutilized statistical technique (cross-classified multilevel modeling) to account for teacher reports on overlapping groups of students (typical of high school research). Results showed that positive expectations of students, parents, English, and mathematics teachers in the 10th grade each uniquely predicted postsecondary status 4 years later. As a group, the four sources of expectations explained greater variance in postsecondary education than student characteristics such as socioeconomic status and academic performance. This suggests positive expectations are additive and promotive for students regardless of their risk status. Teacher expectations were also found to be protective for low income students. Implications for future expectancy research and equity-focused interventions are discussed.
The practice of academic redshirting, or holding children back a year prior to their enrolling in... more The practice of academic redshirting, or holding children back a year prior to their enrolling in kindergarten, continues to be a controversial practice. Although most studies investigating redshirting have used small statewide samples or older, nationally representative data sets, the current study uses population-level data from one state that spans several years. Findings indicate a downward trend in redshirting rates (3.5% in fall of 2012), and redshirted students were consistently more likely to be White boys who were not economically disadvantaged. Students with disabilities were also more likely to be redshirted. Of the redshirted students, the majority were born in the summer months (>70%). Rates have been stable and lower than previously reported national estimates, suggesting that the practice is not as widespread as feared.
Clustered data (e.g., students within schools) are often analyzed in educational research where d... more Clustered data (e.g., students within schools) are often analyzed in educational research where data are naturally nested. As a consequence, multilevel modeling (MLM) has commonly been used to study the contextual or group-level (e.g., school) effects on individual outcomes. The current study investigates the use of an alternative procedure to MLM: regression using Taylor series linearization (TSL) variance estimation. Despite the name, regressions using TSL are straightforward to conduct, can yield consistent and unbiased estimates and standard errors (given the apropriate conditions), and can be performed using a variety of commercially- and freely-available statistical software. I analyze a subsample of the High School and Beyond (HSB) dataset using MLM, regression using TSL, and ordinary least squares regression and compare results. In addition, 12,000 random samples are drawn from the HSB dataset of varying level-one and level-two sample sizes in order to compute biases in standard errors based on the different conditions. Sample R and SAS syntax showing how to run regressions using TSL are provided.
Accurate measurement is essential to determining the prevalence of bullying and evaluating the ef... more Accurate measurement is essential to determining the prevalence of bullying and evaluating the effectiveness of intervention efforts. The most common measurement approach is through anonymous self-report surveys, but previous studies have suggested that students do not adhere to standard definitions of bullying and may be influenced by the order of questions about types of victimization. In the current study, we have presented findings from 2 randomized experiments designed to determine (a) the impact of using or not using a definition of bullying and (b) asking about general versus specific types of bullying victimization and how the order of these questions affects victimization-prevalence rates. The study was conducted using a sample of 17,301 students attending 119 high schools. Findings indicate that the use of a definition had no impact on prevalence rates, but asking specific bullying-victimization questions (e.g., &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;I have been verbally bullied at school&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;) prior to general bullying-victimization questions (e.g., &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;I have been bullied at school&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;), resulted in a 29-76% increase in victimization-prevalence rates. Results suggest that surveys that ask general-to-specific bullying-victimization questions, such as those found in national and international surveys, may be underreporting bullying victimization. (PsycINFO Database Record
ABSTRACT This study explored the viability of using kindergarten measures of phonological awarene... more ABSTRACT This study explored the viability of using kindergarten measures of phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and orthographic knowledge, administered in English, to predict first grade reading achievement of Spanish-speaking English language learners. The primary research question was: Do kindergarten measures of early literacy skills in English predict first grade reading achievement for Spanish-speaking students as effectively as they do for English speakers? Participants were 3,448 economically disadvantaged students (50% spoke Spanish at home) from 243 schools. Regression analyses demonstrated that kindergarten variables accounted for similar percentages of variance in first grade reading for both Spanish speakers (43% in fall, 46% in spring) and non-Spanish speakers (49% in fall, 46% in spring) and that fall and spring variables were equally effective in predicting later achievement for both groups.
ABSTRACT Young-for-grade students have been shown to receive lower grades and have a higher likel... more ABSTRACT Young-for-grade students have been shown to receive lower grades and have a higher likelihood of retention compared to their oldest peers upon kindergarten entry. Our study of 1474 economically disadvantaged first-time kindergarteners investigates if preschool attendance may ameliorate some of the risks potentially associated with being young-for-grade. Using the state-mandated age cutoff date, we establish four groups of students based on age (oldest/youngest in the cohort) and preschool experience (attended preschool/did not attend preschool) and use multilevel linear and logistic regression models in analyzing early literacy scores as well as the likelihood of being retained. Our findings show that while preschool attendance is associated with higher emergent literacy performance, young students still experience higher retention risks compared to their older peers, regardless of preschool attendance and controlling for end-of-year literacy scores.
We investigated five hypotheses related to the successful naming of lowercase letters. Participan... more We investigated five hypotheses related to the successful naming of lowercase letters. Participants included 5,020 first-time kindergarteners from economically disadvantaged homes who previously attended publicly funded preschools. Results analyzed using three-level logistic regression showed that children have a higher probability of correctly identifying letters that appear in their own name and letters that appear frequently in print. In addition, lowercase letter shape similarity to its uppercase counterpart and letter order were also associated with the correct identification of the letter. Finally, if a lowercase letter had a visual and phonological resemblance to other letters, students had a lower probability of identifying the letter correctly. Implications for instruction are discussed.
International Journal of Educational Development, 2010
In 1983, Heyneman and Loxley stated that in low income countries, school-level factors could acco... more In 1983, Heyneman and Loxley stated that in low income countries, school-level factors could account for a greater proportion of variance in student achievement as compared to student-level characteristics. The phenomenon has come to be known as the ''HL effect'' and signaled the important role of schools in developing countries. This study investigated the presence of the HL effect using a longitudinal sample of 1790 11.5-year-old students from 60 schools in a developing country, the Philippines. The main variables of interest were related to socioeconomic status and proxy measures of school quality. The correlates of achievement were explored using two-level multilevel modeling, while controlling for students' prior ability. While findings did not support the presence of the HL effect in the sample, with schools accounting for only 3-5% of overall conditional variance, schools were found to be important in the production of higher achievement scores. ß
This study investigated the differential and persistent effects of a state-funded pre-K program, ... more This study investigated the differential and persistent effects of a state-funded pre-K program, the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI). We analyzed data from a cohort of over 60,000 students nested in approximately 1000 schools from the beginning of kindergarten to the end of first grade using two-level hierarchical logistic regression models. While controlling for student-and school-level variables, we found that attending a VPI-funded program was beneficially associated with a lower likelihood of repeating kindergarten and improved probabilities of meeting or exceeding minimum literacy competencies. The benefits of attending pre-K were greatest upon kindergarten entry and persisted until the end of the first grade for Hispanic and Black students, as well as for students with disabilities, despite VPI-funded program attendees going to schools with higher concentrations of poverty.
ABSTRACT School violence research is often concerned with infrequently occurring events such as c... more ABSTRACT School violence research is often concerned with infrequently occurring events such as counts of the number of bullying incidents or fights a student may experience. Analyzing count data using ordinary least squares regression may produce improbable predicted values, and as a result of regression assumption violations, result in higher Type I errors. Count data are optimally analyzed using Poisson-based regression techniques such as Poisson or negative binomial regression. We apply these techniques to an example study of bullying in a statewide sample of 290 high schools and explain how Poisson-based analyses, although less familiar to many researchers, can produce findings that are more accurate and reliable, and are easier to interpret in real-world contexts.
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Papers by Francis Huang
Findings indicate a downward trend in redshirting rates (3.5% in fall of 2012), and redshirted students were consistently more
likely to be White boys who were not economically disadvantaged. Students with disabilities were also more likely to be redshirted.
Of the redshirted students, the majority were born in the summer months (>70%). Rates have been stable and lower
than previously reported national estimates, suggesting that the practice is not as widespread as feared.
can yield consistent and unbiased estimates and standard errors (given the apropriate conditions), and can be performed using a variety of commercially- and freely-available statistical software. I analyze a subsample of the High School and Beyond (HSB) dataset using MLM, regression using TSL, and ordinary least squares regression and compare results. In addition, 12,000 random samples are drawn from the HSB dataset of varying level-one and level-two sample sizes in order to compute biases in standard errors based on the different conditions. Sample R and SAS syntax showing how
to run regressions using TSL are provided.
Findings indicate a downward trend in redshirting rates (3.5% in fall of 2012), and redshirted students were consistently more
likely to be White boys who were not economically disadvantaged. Students with disabilities were also more likely to be redshirted.
Of the redshirted students, the majority were born in the summer months (>70%). Rates have been stable and lower
than previously reported national estimates, suggesting that the practice is not as widespread as feared.
can yield consistent and unbiased estimates and standard errors (given the apropriate conditions), and can be performed using a variety of commercially- and freely-available statistical software. I analyze a subsample of the High School and Beyond (HSB) dataset using MLM, regression using TSL, and ordinary least squares regression and compare results. In addition, 12,000 random samples are drawn from the HSB dataset of varying level-one and level-two sample sizes in order to compute biases in standard errors based on the different conditions. Sample R and SAS syntax showing how
to run regressions using TSL are provided.