The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive value of selected input variables on the accountability rating of Texas high schools with student populations greater than or equal to 900. Specifically, this study analyzed the effect of student, staff and fiscal input variables in determining the odds of a high school in this study receiving a Low Performing, an Academically Acceptable, or a Recognized rating in the Texas public education accountability system - a system which is based in student performance on state standardized testing. Identifying a set of variables that helps predict campus accountability ratings provides campus administrators and teachers with information to improve student performance on standardized testing. Using statistical methods to determine the odds of campus ratings based on selected input variables, this study revealed that successful student remediation in mathematics is the most consistent, positive indicator of campus accountability rating out of 60 student, staff and fiscal inputs analyzed. However, the most telling aspect of this study is that inputs such as, teacher experience, teacher campus tenure, teacher degree level, student SAT performance, Advanced Placement testing performance and the percentage of low socioeconomic students were not statistically significant. The wider implications of these findings warrant further research into why these variables seem to have no affect on campus accountability rating.

Le score de propension s'est progressivement imposé comme l’une des méthodes de référence dans l'analyse des données observationnelles afin de prendre en compte le biais potentiel lié à l’existence de facteurs de confusion dans l'estimation de l'effet du traitement sur le critère de jugement. Parmi les recommandations de bonnes pratiques d'utilisation, le processus de sélection des variables à inclure dans le score final utilisé est essentiel, ainsi que l'évaluation de l'équilibre obtenu sur les covariables après appariement ou pondération sur ce score. Dans l'objectif de prioriser l'inclusion et l'équilibre des variables ayant une relation avec le critère de jugement une nouvelle mesure d'équilibre est proposée dans ce travail de thèse. Une première partie de ce travail a eu pour objectif de développer une mesure globale pondérée permettant d'évaluer l'équilibre global des covariables obtenu après appariement et ainsi d'aider à la sélection d’un modèle de propension le plus parcimonieux possible, en éliminant notamment les variables instrumentales. En effet ces variables ne doivent pas être introduites dans le modèle de score de propension au risque de majorer le biais final d'estimation. Lors des étapes d'évaluation de l'équilibre final obtenu, les différentes mesures d'équilibres disponibles ne prennent le plus souvent pas en compte cette information et concluent souvent à l'intérêt d'inclure une telle variable afin de réduire au maximum le déséquilibre entre les groupes. L'évaluation des performances de cette mesure a dans un premier temps fait appel à des simulations de type Monte Carlo. Dans une seconde partie, une mise en application sur des données réelles issues de la médecine d'urgence a permis de préciser la pratique d'utilisation d'une telle mesure / Propensity score (PS) methods have become increasingly used to analyze observational data and take into account confusion bias in final estimate of treatment effects. The goal of the PS is to balance the distribution of potential confounders across treatment groups. The performance of the PS strongly relies on variable selection in PS construction and balance assessment in PS analysis. Specifically, the choice of the variables to be included in the PS model is of paramount importance. In order to priorize inclusion and balance of variables related to the outcome, a new balance measure was proposed in this thesis. First, a new weighted balance measure was studied to help in construction of PS model and to obtain the most parsimonious model, by excluding instrumental variables known to be related with increasing bias in final treatment estimate. Several balances measures are proposed to assess final balance, but none of them help researchers to not include instrumental variables. We propose a new weighted balance measure that takes into account, for each covariate, its strength of association with the outcome. This measure was evaluated using a simulation study to assess whether minimization of the measure coincided with minimally biased estimates. Secondly, we propose to apply this measure to a real data set from an observational cohort study.

The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal impacts of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach on student science achievement measured by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). A number of studies have reported positive impact of an inquiry-based instruction on student achievement, critical thinking skills, reasoning skills, attitude toward science, etc. So far, studies have focused on exploring how an intervention affects student achievement using teacher/researcher-generated measurement. Only a few studies have attempted to explore the long-term impacts of an intervention on student science achievement measured by standardized tests. The students' science and reading ITBS data was collected from 2000 to 2011 from a school district which had adopted the SWH approach as the main approach in science classrooms since 2002. The data consisted of 12,350 data points from 3,039 students. The multilevel model for change with discontinuity in elevation and slope technique was used to analyze changes in student science achievement growth trajectories prior and after adopting the SWH approach. The results showed that the SWH approach positively impacted students by initially raising science achievement scores. The initial impact was maintained and gradually increased when students were continuously exposed to the SWH approach. Disadvantaged students who were at risk of having low science achievement had bigger benefits from experience with the SWH approach. As a result, existing problematic achievement gaps were narrowed down. Moreover, students who started experience with the SWH approach as early as elementary school seemed to have better science achievement growth compared to students who started experiencing with the SWH approach only in high school. The results found in this study not only confirmed the positive impacts of the SWH approach on student achievement, but also demonstrated additive impacts found when students had longitudinal experiences with the approach. By engaging in the argument-based classrooms where teachers value students' prior knowledge, encourage students to take control of their learning, and provide non-threatening environment for students to developing big ideas through negotiation, student's achievement can be enhanced. The results also started to shed some light on sustainability of the SWH approach within the school district.

No description available.

The purpose of this nonexperimental, quantitative study was to determine if there is a significant correlation among teacher-assigned grades (TAG), district checkpoint scores (CP), and student scale-scores on TNReady tests. The focus was on 1,445 seventh and eighth grade students who were enrolled at a middle school in northeast Tennessee during the academic years of 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, specifically for the content areas of English Language Arts and mathematics. The second purpose of this study was to examine any moderating effects of the categorical variable, students with disabilities (SWD) status, on the correlations among the district and state assessments and students’ final teacher-assigned grades in math and English Language Arts. Sixteen research questions served as the framework of the study. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients. Results of the analysis revealed that there were significant correlations among teacher-assigned grades, district checkpoint scores, and student-scale scores on TNReady tests for both math and English Language Arts for seventh and eighth grade students at this middle school during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years. These correlations were all positive and strong for the general population for both years and both content areas with the values of r ranging between .61 and .89. In general, the results suggest that high scores in any area are associated with high scores in the other two areas. These positive high correlations for the overall population acknowledge the efforts of the school and district to align its teaching practices and district assessments with one another along with the state assessments. The study also concluded that there were not significant effects of the categorical variable of students with disabilities status (SWD) on the correlations.

A major consideration in this study has been given to the establishment of the criteria by which the soundness of a testing program could be evaluated as its role in the secondary school. This problem was limited to the planning and administering of a progressive and comprehensive long-range testing program designed to meet the needs and problems common to most school administrators within the economic limits of a small high school. It was not the purpose of this study to anticipate the problems peculiar to particular teachers, high schools, or localities. However, the testing program if properly directed will result in the formation of subsidiary testing programs undertaken by particular teachers or groups of teachers for the purpose of throwing light on the specific problems raised by a large general testing program.

No description available.

Introduction: Macroscopic hematuria is an important alarm symptom of cancer in theurinary tract. One single episode in patients over the age of 50 fulfills the criteria for referralto the standardized care pathway. Several patients included in the pathway with a negativeresult of the investigation will return with recurrent macroscopic hematuria for repeatinvestigation. Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic yield of repeat investigation in patients presenting withrecurrent macroscopic hematuria after a previous negative investigation and to estimate theincidence of false negative investigations in the standardized care pathway for cancer in theurinary tract. Material and Methods: A retrospective review of medical records was performed at theDepartment of Urology in Örebro County, including all patients investigated in thestandardized care pathway for cancer in the urinary tract during 2016 with a negative result ofthe investigation. Individuals with repeat investigation were identified. Results of theseinvestigations and the time interval between investigations were documented. Results: Repeat investigation was performed in 96 out of 627 patients (15.3%). Two (2.1%)were diagnosed with cancer, at a time interval from initial investigation of 4 and 27 months,respectively. Other results were benign urological conditions (n = 62) and normalinvestigations (n = 30). Conclusions: It appears that few tumors are missed when macroscopic hematuria isinvestigated in the standardized care pathway. We observed a very low number of newlydiagnosed cancers after repeat investigation of recurrent macroscopic hematuria. A moreselective approach regarding repeat investigations should be considered.

This dissertation is comprised of three stand-alone articles, two of them co-authored, and one solo. The solo article, "Increases in Victim Mortality Rates in the Aftermath of Mandatory Arrest Laws: A Study in Unintended Effects" is in Part I. The first co-authored article "Teachers' Strikes and Standardized Test Scores: Impact on Performance & Participation", is in Part II. The last chapter, Part III, is already published in the journal "Information Economics and Policy" (ISSN: 0167-6245), accessible under the title "The Value of Online Scarcity Signals". / Graduate / 2022-08-24

Standard analytical technics are used by the inspection of basic parameters of wine quality in the prezented graduation theses. Theoretical patr contains short description of viniculture history. Description of elementary bunch of grapes stage of processing and wine production from stum pressing untill bottling follow. There is short description of wine diseases and wine defekt, too. Attention paid to quality assessment. Experimental part is divided to 2 parts. The first part contains determination of four wines qualitative parameters value. Analysis are focused on final wine processing phase, e.g. wine filtration, wine clarification and stabilisation, wine bottling. Data evaluation of these four sort of wine get no basic parameters differences. Parameters value differences are small but fundamentaly conducive to wine enhance quality.