Selected Reports

Executive Summary of 2017 Evaluation Findings; Big Thought, Dallas City of Learning

In the summer of 2017, Big Thought supported a network of summer learning providers through an initiative called Dallas City of Learning (DCoL).  By providing some financial assistance, training, curriculum and supplies, networking, transportation, and other supports, Big Thought sought to increase the likelihood that high quality programming was reaching Dallas youth throughout the summer months.
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Technical Report; Effects of Sustained Quality in Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade in DallasISD

In collaboration with DallasISD, CORE is monitoring the effects of high quality early childhood.  Our results show sustained positive effects for attending PreK in DallasISD and even more benefits when PreK is high quality and is followed by high quality kindergarten and first grade too.
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Executive Summary; Sustained Quality in Early Grades

A study conducted by SMU’s Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE) shows that DallasISD students in high- quality PreKindergarten (PreK), Kindergarten, and 1st grade classrooms outperform their peers in lower quality classrooms.
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Commentary; Cascading Impact of Quality Pre-K

How do we know whether PreK is worth the investment? The best method to assess the true impact, and therefore the value of PreK over time is to measure the quality of PreK followed by the quality of Kindergarten, first, second, and even third grade.
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Articles

Examining the Effects of Prekindergarten to Second Grade Classroom Quality on Early Elementary Achievement

Farmer, D., Kara, Y., E., Wright, A., Hujar, J., Kamata, A. & Baker, S.K. Examining the Effects of Prekindergarten to Second Grade Classroom Quality on Early Elementary Achievement. Developmental Psychology. Submitted for Publication.

 

Dallas Afterschool Student Outcomes Project

Farmer, D., Wright, A., & Moore, T. (2017). Dallas Afterschool Student Outcomes Project. Presented at American Evaluation Association Conference, Washington, D.C

Promoting Student Outcomes by Increasing Afterschool Site Quality

Wright, A., Farmer, D., Lan, P., & Johns, R. (2017). Promoting Student Outcomes by Increasing Afterschool Site Quality. Unpublished white paper.

Continuous Improvement: A Leadership Process for School Improvement

Kara, Y. & Kamata, A. (2022). Multilevel item response model with heterogeneous within-cluster variances. Journal of Experimental Education, 90(4), 962-980.

The Bidirectional Dance in Mother-Infant Interactions: Gaze and Facial Effect

Kahya, Y., Uluc, S., & Kara, Y. (2022). The bidirectional dance in mother-infant interactions: Gaze and facial effect. Turkish Journal of Psychiatry,33(1), 32-43.

Evaluation of Covariate Balance as a Qualaity Indicator for Propensity Score Matching Analysis

Kara, Y., Kamata, A., Gallegos, E., Patarapichayatham, C., & Potgieter, C. J. (2021). Evaluation of covariate balance as a quality indicator for propensity score matching analysis. Journal of Measurement and Evaluation in Education and Psychology, 12(4), 374-387.

Supporting Change in Novice Alternative Certification Teachers' Efficacy

Wilhelm, A. G., Woods, D., & Kara, Y. (2021). Supporting change in novice alternative certification teachers’ efficacy. Psychology in the Schools, 58(10), 1902-1918.

Writing to Learn in Elementary Classrooms: A National Survey of U.S. Teachers

Gillespie Rouse, A., Kiuhara, S. A, & Kara, Y. (2021). Writing to learn in elementary classrooms: A national survey of U.S. teachers. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 34(9), 2381-2415.

Continuous Improvement: A Leadership Process for School Improvement

Wieselmann, J. R., Knight, S., & Wright, A. (2022; chapter proposal accepted; in preparation). Continuous improvement in STEM education: Collaboration among four partners to co-design an innovative and equitable STEM school. In E. A. Anderson & S. D. Hayes (Eds.), Continuous improvement: A leadership process for school improvement. Information Age Publishing.

Examining the Effects of Pre-K to Second Grade Quality on Early Elementary Achievement

Farmer, D., Kara, Y., Wright, A., Kamata, A., & Baker, S.K., Examining the effects of pre-k to second grade quality on early elementary achievement. 

Estimating Treatment Effects on Afterschool Interventions Provided Within a Community Coalition; Propensity Score Matching and Third Grade Reading Outcomes

Baker, S., Kamata, A., Wright, A., Nippert, R. Farmer, D., Markle, R., & Lan, P. (2018). Estimating treatment effects of afterschool interventions provided within a community coalition; Propensity score matching and third grade reading outcomes. Journal of Community Psychology.

Innovative Methods in Evaluation: An Application of Latent Class Analysis To Assess How Teachers Adopt Educational Innovations

Lamont, A., Markle, R., Wright, A., Abraczinzkas, M., Smith, S., Imm, P, Wandersman, A. (2017). Innovative methods in evaluation: An application of Latent Class Analysis to assess how teachers adopt educational innovations. American Journal of Evaluation.

An Empowerment Evaluation Approach to Implementing with Quality at Scale: The Quality Implementation Process and Tools

Lamont, A., Wright, A., Wandersman, A., Hamm. D. (2014). An empowerment evaluation approach to implementing with quality at scale: The Quality implementation process and tools. In, Empowerment Evaluation, 2nd Edition, D. Fetterman, S, Kaftarian & A. Wandersman, Eds.

Writing to Learn in Elementary Classrooms: A National Survey of U.S. Teachers

Gillespie Rouse, A., Kiuhara, S. A, & Kara, Y. (2021). Writing to learn in elementary classrooms: A national survey of U.S. teachers. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Published online first.

Contextualizing the Ecuadorian National Science Curriculum: Perspectives of Science Teachers in the Galapagos Islands

Roman, D., Rossi, D., Perez-Joehnk, G., Knab, R., & Rahim, H. (2020). Contextualizing the Ecuadorian National Science Curriculum: Perspectives of Science Teachers in the Galapagos Islands. In I. Tapia (Ed.), International Perspectives on the Contextualization of Science Education, (pp. 47-66). New York, NY: Springer.

Estimating Model-Based Oral Reading Fluency: A Bayesian Approach

Kara, Y., Kamata, A., Potgieter, C., and  Nese, J. F. T. (2020). Estimating Model-Based Oral Reading Fluency: A Bayesian Approach. Educational and Psychological Measurement.

Virtual and Physical  Interactions in School-Based Spaces: Latinx Parent Engagement in a High-Tech Urban Elementary School

Pavlakis, A. E., Conry, J. M., and del Rosal, K. (2019). Virtual and Physical Interactions in School-Based Spaces: Latinx Parent Engagement in a High-Tech Urban Elementary School. Urban Education.

Affordances and Task Design: A Case Study of Online Mentoring Between Practicing Teachers and Adolescent Learners

Ware, P., del Rosal, K., and Conry, J. (2018). Affordances and task design: A case study of online mentoring between practicing teachers and adolescent learners. In Kern, R. & Develotte, C. (Eds.) Online multimodal communication and intercultural encounters: Theoretical and educational perspectives. Routledge.

The Severity of State Truancy Policies and Chronic Absenteeism

Conry. J. M. and Richards, M. P. (2018). The Severity of State Truancy Policies and Chronic Absenteeism. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR).

Exploring the Cross-linguistic Transfer of Reading Skills in Spanish to English in the Context of a Computer Adaptive Reading Intervention 

Baker, D. L., Basaraba, D. L., Smolkowski, K., Conry, J., Hautala, J., Richardson, U., Cole, R.(2017). Exploring the cross-linguistic transfer of reading skills in Spanish to English in the context of a computer adaptive reading intervention. Bilingual Research Journal, 40(2), 222-239.
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Exploring the Fluid Online Identities of Language Teachers and Adolescent Language Learners

del Rosal, K., Conry, J., and  Wu, S. (2017). Exploring the fluid online identities of language teachers and adolescent language learners.Computer Assisted Language Learning, 30(5), 390-408.

Intervening with Struggling Readers in Seventh Grade: Impact Evidence from Six School Districts

Baker, SK, Nelson, NJ, Stoolmiller, M, Paine, PK, Turtura, J, Crone, D, and Fien, H (2018) Intervening with Struggling Readers in Seventh Grade: Impact Evidence from Six School Districts, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness. DOI: 10.1080/19345747.2018.1472357 
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Evaluation of Analysis Approaches for Latent Class Analysis with Auxiliary Linear Growth Model

Kamata, A, Kara, Y, Patarapichayatham, C and Lan, P (2018) Evaluation of Analysis Approaches for Latent Class Analysis with Auxiliary Linear Growth Model. Front. Psychol. 9:130. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00130

Using Propensity Score Matching to Estimate Treatment Effects of Afterschool Programs on Third‐grade Reading Outcomes

Baker, SK, Kamata, A, Wright, A, Farmer, D, Nippert, R. Using propensity score matching to estimate treatment effects of afterschool programs on third-grade reading outcomes. J Community Psychol. 2018;1–18.https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22104.

Evaluation of Ability Estimates Under Bi-factor Testlet Model

Patarapichayatham, C., Kamata, A. (2018). Evaluation of ability estimates under bi-factor testlet model. Journal of Graduate Studies.

Parameter Recovery for the 1-P HGLLM with Non-normally Distributed Level-3 Residuals

Kara, Y.,  Kamata, A. (2017). Parameter recovery for the 1-P HGLLM with non-normally distributed level-3 residuals. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 17, 1165-1177.

A Two-step Sampling Weight Approach to Growth Mixture Modeling for Emergent and Developing Skills with Distributional Changes Over Time

Nese, J. F. T., Kamata, A.,  Tindal, J. (2017). A two-step sampling weight approach to growth mixture modeling for emergent and developing skills with distributional changes over time. Journal of School Psychology, 61, 55-74.

Assessment of Biological, Psychological and Adherence Factors in the Prediction of Step-down Treatment for Patients with Well-controlled Asthma

Saito, N., Kamata, A., Itoga, M., Tamaki, M., Kayaba, H., Ritz, T. (2017). Assessment of biological, psychological and adherence factors in the prediction of step-down treatment for patients with well-controlled asthma. Clinical & Experimental Allergy. 47, 467-478.

Review of Early Childhood Assessments; Methods and Recommendations

Wright, A, Farmer, D., Baker, S. (2016). Review of Early Childhood Assessments; Methods and Recommendations. Prepared for Texas Education Agency; file:///C:/Users/46756095/Downloads/Assessment_Review_Final_Report.pdf

Getting To Outcomes and Social and Emotional Learning Programs

Wright, A., Lamont, A., Wandersman, A., Osher, D. (2014) Getting to outcomes and social and emotional learning programs. Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning, CASEL, Chicago, IL.

New Opportunities in Teen Pregnancy Prevention

Wright, A. Duffy, J., Kershner, S., Flynn, S., Lamont, A. (2014) New opportunities in teen pregnancy prevention: Identifying individual and environmental differences between youth who abstain, use contraception and use no contraception. American Journal of Community Psychology.

Innovative Methods in Evaluation: An Application of Latent Class Analysis to Assess How Teachers Adopt Educational Innovations

Lamont, A., Markle, R., Wright, A., Abraczinzkas, M., Smith, S., Imm, P, Wandersman, A. (2017). Innovative methods in evaluation: An application of Latent Class Analysis to assess how teachers adopt educational innovations. American Journal of Evaluation.

An Empowerment Evaluation Approach to Implementing with Quality at Scale: The Quality Implementation Process and Tools

Lamont, A., Wright, A., Wandersman, A., Hamm. D. (2014). An empowerment evaluation approach to implementing with quality at scale: The quality implementation process and tools. Empowerment Evaluation, 2nd Edition, D. Fetterman, S, Kaftarian, A. Wandersman, Eds.