Latest content added for UNT Digital Library Collection: UNT Theses and Dissertationshttps://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/UNTETD/browse/?display=grid&fq=str_degree_department:Department+of+Educational+Psychology2024-01-27T22:15:48-06:00UNT LibrariesThis is a custom feed for browsing UNT Digital Library Collection: UNT Theses and DissertationsExploring the Association of Language Brokering and Parent-Child Relationship in Korean Immigrant Families2024-01-27T22:15:48-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2257740/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2257740/"><img alt="Exploring the Association of Language Brokering and Parent-Child Relationship in Korean Immigrant Families" title="Exploring the Association of Language Brokering and Parent-Child Relationship in Korean Immigrant Families" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2257740/small/"/></a></p><p>This study focuses on investigating the dynamics of language brokering as Korean immigrant families experience environmental challenges associated with immigration. This study was conducted with qualitative research design with purposive sampling of Korean immigrant families. Six parent-child dyads were recruited and participating children were between 12 to 16 years old. Semi-structured interviews were conducted separately with parents and children in either English or Korean. Thematic analysis was employed for analyzing the transcribed interviews. The Dedoose software program was applied to assist the coding process. 12 subthemes were revealed under four main themes, which were aligned to the study's research questions. The twelve subthemes included parents' dependence on children, vulnerability and resilience of Korean immigrant families, children's socioemotional development through language brokering, and the role of first-born daughter in the family. Parent and child responses indicated how language brokering affects can be a risk in relation to children's development (i.e., with responsibility of language brokering leading the child to experience stress or experience the responsibility of translation as a burden. Positively, respondents indicated that the parent and child experienced a greater sense of empathy for each other's roles. The results derived from this study were aligned with the results of previous research conducted in the field in that language brokering affects parent-child relationship and the socioemotional development of children. The study adds to the literature with the interviewing both parents and children, thereby hearing both perspectives and experiences of parents and children on language brokering and parent-child relationships could be obtained. This study targeted Korean immigrant families since there is a lack in literature that have studied this population in relation to language brokering.</p>Predictors of Academic Success in an Early College Entrance Program2024-01-27T21:52:52-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2257715/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2257715/"><img alt="Predictors of Academic Success in an Early College Entrance Program" title="Predictors of Academic Success in an Early College Entrance Program" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2257715/small/"/></a></p><p>Early college entrance programs have existed in the United States since the 1950s, but in-depth research on academic success in these programs is lacking. Every year, early college entrance programs utilize a variety of data-gathering and candidate-screening techniques to select hundreds of students for admission into these accelerated programs. However, only a smattering of research articles has discussed the factors that predict academic success in these programs. This exploratory study investigated commonly-relied-upon admissions data points—such as high school GPA and ACT scores—and demographic information—such as sex, ethnicity, and locality—to see if any of these factors predicted academic success: namely, graduation and early college entrance program GPA. Secondary data from nearly 800 students admitted over an 11-year period to a state-supported, residential early college entrance program located at a large Southern university in the United States were utilized for this study. Logistic regression failed to yield a model that could accurately predict whether or not a student would graduate from the program. Multiple regression models showed that high school GPA and ACT scores were predictive of performance, and that factors like locality and ethnicity can have predictive power as well. However, the low variance in performance explained by the variables included in this study demonstrates that high school GPA, standardized test scores, locality, sex, and ethnicity can only tell us so much about a student's likelihood of success in an early college entrance program.</p>Implementing the Difference in Differences (Dd) Estimator in Observational Education Studies: Evaluating the Effects of Small, Guided Reading Instruction for English Language Learners2023-09-21T07:53:21-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179340/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179340/"><img alt="Implementing the Difference in Differences (Dd) Estimator in Observational Education Studies: Evaluating the Effects of Small, Guided Reading Instruction for English Language Learners" title="Implementing the Difference in Differences (Dd) Estimator in Observational Education Studies: Evaluating the Effects of Small, Guided Reading Instruction for English Language Learners" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179340/small/"/></a></p><p>The present study provides an example of implementing the difference in differences (DD) estimator for a two-group, pretest-posttest design with K-12 educational intervention data. The goal is to explore the basis for causal inference via Rubin's potential outcomes framework. The DD method is introduced to educational researchers, as it is seldom implemented in educational research. DD analytic methods' mathematical formulae and assumptions are explored to understand the opportunity and the challenges of using the DD estimator for causal inference in educational research. For this example, the teacher intervention effect is estimated with multi-cohort student outcome data. First, the DD method is used to detect the average treatment effect (ATE) with linear regression as a baseline model. Second, the analysis is repeated using linear regression with cluster robust standard errors. Finally, a linear mixed effects analysis is provided with a random intercept model. Resulting standard errors, parameter estimates, and inferential statistics are compared among these three analyses to explore the best holistic analytic method for this context.</p>Selection Bias and Sensitivity as Moderators of Prekindergarten Age-Cutoff Regression Discontinuity Study Effects: A Meta-Analysis2023-09-21T07:17:32-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179287/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179287/"><img alt="Selection Bias and Sensitivity as Moderators of Prekindergarten Age-Cutoff Regression Discontinuity Study Effects: A Meta-Analysis" title="Selection Bias and Sensitivity as Moderators of Prekindergarten Age-Cutoff Regression Discontinuity Study Effects: A Meta-Analysis" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179287/small/"/></a></p><p>The age-cutoff regression discontinuity design (RDD) has emerged as one of the most rigorous quasi-experimental approaches to determining program effects of prekindergarten on literacy and numeracy outcomes for children at kindergarten entry. However, few pre-K meta-analyses have focused attention on validity threats. The current random-effects meta-regression tests the moderating effects of prominent threats to validity, selection bias and sensitivity, on impact estimates generated from age-cutoff regression discontinuity studies from large-scale programs. Results from averaging dependent standardized mean difference effects suggested small positive moderating effects of total attrition and robust 3-month bandwidths on reading effects, but not on math. However, these results were not statistically significant. In contrast, results generated from robust variance estimation yielded a small statistically significant association between total attrition and math effects. These mixed results may warrant further research on prekindergarten evaluation methodology, evaluation estimation methods, and the totality of evidence used to inform policy.</p>Self-Efficacy, Grit, and Their Relationship to the Black-White Achievement Gap2023-09-21T07:04:23-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179259/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179259/"><img alt="Self-Efficacy, Grit, and Their Relationship to the Black-White Achievement Gap" title="Self-Efficacy, Grit, and Their Relationship to the Black-White Achievement Gap" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179259/small/"/></a></p><p>Since the reveal of the Black-White achievement gap in 1966, leaders and policymakers have attempted to close the gap to no avail. The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed methods study was to examine the relationships between self-efficacy, grit, and academic achievement of Black and White students. For the first two research questions,I sought to determine whether there were relationships between self-efficacy, grit, and academic achievement as defined by the PSAT 10 Reading or Math results. Students were administered self-efficacy and grit surveys to establish their corresponding self-efficacy and grit levels. A Pearson correlation analysis was performed to determine the bivariate relationships between participants' self-efficacy and grit levels and their 2021 PSAT 10 Reading and Math results. Statistical significance was discovered; specifically, a positive correlation existed between Black students, grit, and their academic achievement on PSAT 10 Math. For the final two research questions, I solicited students' perspectives of self-efficacy and grit and how they perceived the two constructs were associated with their academic success. Semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted to better explain student perspectives from their Phase 1 survey responses, which produced themes associated with self-efficacy and grit. Students shared how they perceived these traits impacted their academic achievement. Themes that emerged from students that were discussed in this study were the perception of the snowball effect, the power of teacher perceptions, failure as a motivator, the importance of hard work and being careful, and more. Additionally, recommendations to further investigate grit and other noncognitive factors as viable options to increase academic student achievement are provided.</p>Examining the Perceived Efficacy of Professional Learning in Gifted and Talented Education2023-09-21T07:02:31-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179257/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179257/"><img alt="Examining the Perceived Efficacy of Professional Learning in Gifted and Talented Education" title="Examining the Perceived Efficacy of Professional Learning in Gifted and Talented Education" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2179257/small/"/></a></p><p>This research aims to examine current practices in gifted and talented educator professional learning, as well as teacher attitudes, beliefs, and experiences towards gifted education in order to explore opportunities to further develop and improve professional learning structures. Through a qualitative methodology following the constructivist-interpretivist paradigm, this research utilizes a phenomenological interview design in which data from educator interviews are examined through thematic analysis. To support and further extrapolate on the feedback from the interviews, this research also includes a document analysis of the published descriptions of 30-hour educator training required for those providing GT services in the state of Texas. The thematic analysis of interviews identified three major themes and two minor themes after engaging in a deep analysis of the interview transcriptions. These major themes are the (1) utility of professional learning, (2) shared control of learning, and (3) understanding the whole student. Minor themes are (i) long-term career growth and (ii) role of professional support networks and connections. Results of the document analysis illustrate that the most frequent descriptions are associated with the abilities participants will take from the learning. Within this descriptive code, most of the language focused on learner competence, while few of the descriptions included references to self-efficacy, which is integral to adult learning and motivation. Implications and further areas for study provide guidance on future work in developing effective professional learning coursework.</p>Newly Opened High School Campus: The Principal's Process in Creating the Teacher Profile to Hire the Inaugural Staff2023-07-08T22:51:39-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137592/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137592/"><img alt="Newly Opened High School Campus: The Principal's Process in Creating the Teacher Profile to Hire the Inaugural Staff" title="Newly Opened High School Campus: The Principal's Process in Creating the Teacher Profile to Hire the Inaugural Staff" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137592/small/"/></a></p><p>This study sought to explore the hiring process, including the creation of the teacher profile, of four suburban North Texas high schools implemented when hiring teachers for the first year of the campus' existence. An exploratory sequential mixed methods research design was applied, and three data collection tools were implemented: an electronic survey, interviews with campus administrators, and the analysis of campus hiring process artifacts. Survey data suggested that participating campus principals valued those domains and indictors on ASCD's Qualities of Effective Teachers and the Teacher Quality Index. Administrator interview data revealed that campus administrators who opened high school campuses in North Texas ISD and hired teachers for the inaugural year valued teachers aligned to the campus administrator's mission, vision, philosophy, and values. In addition, artifacts provided by the four interviewed administrators indicated the implementation of the campus administrator's mission, vision, philosophy, and values when developing the teacher profile and subsequent interview questions in collaboration with the campus leadership team involved in the hiring process. Recommended actions for campus administrators of new high school campuses, and recommendations for further research are also included.</p>Parenting Highly and Profoundly Gifted Children: Perspectives on Competence, Belonging, and Support within a Sociocultural Context2023-07-08T22:35:33-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137575/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137575/"><img alt="Parenting Highly and Profoundly Gifted Children: Perspectives on Competence, Belonging, and Support within a Sociocultural Context" title="Parenting Highly and Profoundly Gifted Children: Perspectives on Competence, Belonging, and Support within a Sociocultural Context" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137575/small/"/></a></p><p>Limited research exists regarding the experiences and perspectives of parents of highly and profoundly gifted children. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the experiences and perspectives of parents of highly and profoundly gifted children in developmental and cultural contexts. Semi-structured interviews were followed by thematic analysis regarding parental efficacy and parents' perceived support in parenting and educational communities to provide rich insights and to illuminate the voices of parents. In seeking academic and/or social emotional support, parents join groups designed to connect parents with experts in the field of gifted education and parent advocates of gifted children. A purposive sample was selected from parents who are members of networks and organizations serving profoundly gifted students. A self-report survey was distributed to parents enrolled in networks and/or organizations serving gifted students and parents of gifted students (e.g., SENG, Davidson Institute). Participant interviews were transcribed and qualitatively analyzed using thematic analysis. A qualitative descriptive analysis identified areas in which parents of highly and profoundly gifted children express the need for support within developmental and cultural contexts. Implications from the study aim to bring attention to the lived experiences of these parents to inform educators, counselors, and communities of parents' need for a sense of support and belonging in parenting trajectories.</p>Lasso Regularization for DIF Detection in Graded Response Models2023-07-08T22:21:25-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137561/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137561/"><img alt="Lasso Regularization for DIF Detection in Graded Response Models" title="Lasso Regularization for DIF Detection in Graded Response Models" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137561/small/"/></a></p><p>Previous research has tested the lasso method for DIF detection in dichotomous items, but limited research is available on this technique for polytomous items. This simulation study compares the lasso method to hybrid ordinal logistic regression to test performance in terms of TP and FP rates when considering sample size, test length, number of response categories, group balance, DIF proportion, and DIF magnitude. Results showed better Type I error control with the lasso, with smaller sample sizes, unbalanced groups, and weak DIF. The lasso also exhibited more stable Type I error control when DIF was weak, and groups were unbalanced. Lastly, low DIF proportion contributed to better Type I error control and higher TP rates with both methods.</p>Sleeping in a Creative Dream-Land: A Duo of Meta-Analyses on Sleep, Dream-Recall, and Creativity2023-07-08T22:03:22-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137537/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137537/"><img alt="Sleeping in a Creative Dream-Land: A Duo of Meta-Analyses on Sleep, Dream-Recall, and Creativity" title="Sleeping in a Creative Dream-Land: A Duo of Meta-Analyses on Sleep, Dream-Recall, and Creativity" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2137537/small/"/></a></p><p>This duo of meta-analyses explored relationships between creativity and sleep quality [Study 1], and creativity and dream recall [Study 2]. Studies on these topics noted personality influences in both creativity and sleep quality, as well as dream recall. Studies also identified potential connections between creativity, sleep, and dreaming by investigating the stage of sleep from which creative thinking could emerge. Twenty studies were eligible to code and analyze in Study 1 and 16 in Study 2. Analyses using two-level multivariate analyses showed a small and positive correlation between creativity and sleep (r = .147, 95% CI = [0.033, 0.257]), p = .012 [Study 1] as well as creativity and dream recall (r = 0.173, 95% CI = [0.089, 0.257]), p = .001) [Study 2]. Both Study 1 and Study 2 tested moderator variables via a meta-regression. Moderators were identified based on the nature of assessments used, sample characteristics, and study characteristics. Study 1 results indicated that the relationship between sleep and creativity was higher when creativity test modality was verbal than figural. Study 2 also found that test modality was a significant moderator, and conversely, the relationship was larger when creativity was measured by figural tests compared to the verbal measures. Additionally, the relationship between the two was smaller among undergraduates compared to other adults. The findings are discussed in relation to their overlap with individual findings from primary studies.</p>Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Make Better Parents? A Qualitative Exploration of Parents' Experiences during an Historic Period2023-02-09T17:38:55-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048685/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048685/"><img alt="Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Make Better Parents? A Qualitative Exploration of Parents' Experiences during an Historic Period" title="Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Make Better Parents? A Qualitative Exploration of Parents' Experiences during an Historic Period" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048685/small/"/></a></p><p>Predicated on the literature, parenting practices are subject to change following high-impact events. This understandably applies to the COVID-19 pandemic, a calamity of sheer magnitude. Despite the presence of maladaptive parenting behaviors in the pandemic, upsides (e.g., compassionate parenting practices, strengthened child-parent bond) did transpire as well. The present study is focused on whether and how parental betterment occurred and unfolded during the pandemic. The explicit research goal is to elucidate what positive parental responses and changes were and what drove those responses and changes. The study employed the phenomenological study to make a fine-grained inquiry into the researched phenomenon. Fourteen parents of varying demographic characteristics constituted the sample. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted over Zoom for data collection. Thematic analysis was performed to code the data. I eventually constructed four themes: (1) targeted parental responses and changes, (2) refined parenting skills and practices, (3) heightened understanding of children and parenting, and (4) unsettled parenting styles. Each theme reflects a critical facet of the parenting experiences during the pandemic. In the discussion, effort is invested in parsing out what could elevate the quality of parental responses and what may contribute to the positive parental changes, as well as in pointing out implications for parents, community stakeholders, and family science scholars. It is of centrality to validate and invigorate parents to hold onto the gains from the COVID-19 pandemic to face the growing precarity in today's economic and sociopolitical milieus.</p>Measuring Creativity in Academic Writing2023-02-09T17:34:56-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048679/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048679/"><img alt="Measuring Creativity in Academic Writing" title="Measuring Creativity in Academic Writing" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048679/small/"/></a></p><p>The demand for a creative workforce has never been higher, yet schools struggle to teach and assess creativity among students predictably and efficiently. Compositions are an effective way to incorporate creativity across the curriculum; however, essays are time consuming for teachers to score for objective quality or subjective creativity. In this study, I explored a) if high creativity scores are related to high quality and sophistication in academic writing, and b) if extant text-mining tools effectively identify quality, sophistication, and creativity in academic essays. I collected 230 essays written by Grade 11 students. Four human-raters analyzed these essays for quality, sophistication, and creativity, and I used text-mining tools designed to assess creativity to analyze the same. Using correlations - including the variables semantic distance (measured against the GloVe corpus), entropy (measured with Shannon's Entropy Index), and idea density (measured with CPIDR5.1) - I assessed both human-raters' and text-mining tools' proficiency at identifying quality, sophistication, and creativity in academic essays. Quality, sophistication, and creativity were also regressed on these same text-mining variables to assess which method - human or computer – and which of the text-mining tools - best predicts these dependent variables. Human-raters' creativity scores correlated with human-raters' quality scores (r = .418) and sophistication scores (r = .321), as well as the text-mining tools MeanSim (r = -.131), OCS Originality (r = .359), Idea Density (r = .368), and Entropy (r = .388). These findings suggest text-mining tools designed for creativity can capture quality and sophistication of student essays. A comparison of human-raters' creativity scores and text-mining models revealed text-mining models can capture quality (R2 = .445) and sophistication (R2 = .373) better than human raters can capture quality (R2 = .175) and sophistication (R2 = .103).</p>Reading and Mathematics Growth Patterns of High-Achieving Students: An Investigation of School-Year and Summer Trends2023-02-09T17:02:41-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048628/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048628/"><img alt="Reading and Mathematics Growth Patterns of High-Achieving Students: An Investigation of School-Year and Summer Trends" title="Reading and Mathematics Growth Patterns of High-Achieving Students: An Investigation of School-Year and Summer Trends" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048628/small/"/></a></p><p>Rambo-Hernandez and McCoach's analysis into the longitudinal growth of high-achieving students offered two conclusions about the reading growth of high achieving students: high-achieving students lose less ground in reading during the summer, but they exhibit less growth over the school year. This study will seek to replicate the reading results of the Rambo-Hernandez and McCoach's study and include an analysis of mathematics growth with initially high-achieving, third grade students in both the school and summer months. Through a three-level hierarchical linear model covering 1541 third graders, this study analyzes the differences between the school year and summer growth rates of the high-achieving students against other students that scored above the mean on MAP assessments. Students identified as being in the top 10% nationally at the start of the third grade grew less over the course of the school year compared to their peers in both mathematics and reading but showed signs of accelerated growth at the end of the study.</p>The Relationship between Racial Colorblindness and the Self-Reported Implementation of Multicultural Teaching Practices among Teachers of Gifted Students2023-02-09T16:48:36-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048603/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048603/"><img alt="The Relationship between Racial Colorblindness and the Self-Reported Implementation of Multicultural Teaching Practices among Teachers of Gifted Students" title="The Relationship between Racial Colorblindness and the Self-Reported Implementation of Multicultural Teaching Practices among Teachers of Gifted Students" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2048603/small/"/></a></p><p>Culturally responsive instruction is recommended as a tool to help mitigate disparities in the recruitment and retention of culturally diverse students in gifted programs. However, the endorsement of colorblind racial ideology has been associated with lower multicultural teaching competency and the adoption of deficit perspectives among teachers. In addition to informing teachers' perceptions of students' abilities and potential, endorsing colorblind racial ideology may make it more difficult for teachers to recognize disparities that adversely impact students from traditionally minoritized and underrepresented groups. The current study examines the relationship between colorblind racial attitudes and multicultural teaching competency among teachers of students who have been identified as gifted and talented. In a large sample of Texas teachers, multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between colorblind racial ideology, multicultural teaching knowledge, and the implementation of culturally responsive teaching practices when teaching gifted and talented students. Results indicate that racial colorblindness, sex, and multicultural teaching knowledge are all significant predictors of the self-reported implementation of culturally responsive instruction, while gifted-specific training and the proportion of students of color had no effects. Implications relate to the necessity of addressing teachers' racial beliefs and ensuring that gifted-specific professional development equips teachers with the knowledge and skill necessary for meeting the needs of diverse gifted students.</p>"All things at once": A Retrospective Qualitative Examination of the Parental Racial Ethnic Socialization Practices Experienced by Multiracial/Multiethnic Individuals2022-09-03T11:17:02-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1986935/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1986935/"><img alt=""All things at once": A Retrospective Qualitative Examination of the Parental Racial Ethnic Socialization Practices Experienced by Multiracial/Multiethnic Individuals" title=""All things at once": A Retrospective Qualitative Examination of the Parental Racial Ethnic Socialization Practices Experienced by Multiracial/Multiethnic Individuals" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1986935/small/"/></a></p><p>The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how individuals from different multiracial/multiethnic groups experience and process the phenomenon of parental racial ethnic socialization (RES). Critical multiracial race theory, critical race theory, and bioecological systems theory offered a conceptual framework to how RES is often presented and processed. This study was guided by two research questions: (1) What are the experiences of RES among multiracial individuals? and (2) How do multiracial individuals process the parental racial ethnic socialization they were offered? Nine qualitative, one-on-one, semistructured interviews were conducted with individuals from three different multiracial/multiethnic groups. Results revealed that experiences of RES varied along with how participants processed RES. Three subthemes and one theme emerged related to the RES experiences of participants. For some participants lack of conversations were evident in their RES, which meant that conversations surrounding multiraciality and other racialized topics were not present. Other participants disclosed the subtheme of preparedness as part of their RES experience, while others mentioned the importance of environment to their RES experience. Additionally, the theme of changes over time arose, demonstrating how different life events can impact RES experiences. As for how multiracial/multiethnic individuals process RES experiences, the main theme of identity arose with three subthemes. Participants felt that the lack of awareness/knowledge parents had about potential multiracial experiences left them feeling confused about how to navigate their multiple heritages.</p>Using Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Precursor Fire Safety Evacuation Skills to Children with Autism2022-06-16T10:52:45-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944336/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944336/"><img alt="Using Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Precursor Fire Safety Evacuation Skills to Children with Autism" title="Using Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Precursor Fire Safety Evacuation Skills to Children with Autism" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944336/small/"/></a></p><p>Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have challenges with communication, changes in routine, and processing social information and communication that can affect their ability to learn and respond successfully to safety threats. When given behavioral skills training (BST), children with and without ASD have demonstrated gains in safety responding skills. Although the prevalence of ASD has risen, few studies exist on the acquisition of fire safety skills for children with ASD. This study built on current literature by utilizing a multiple probe design across participants to teach a precursor fire safety evacuation procedure using BST. Additionally, it evaluated if the behaviors gained generalize to another environment and maintain over time, as generalization and maintenance are critical for real-world application of the safety skills. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if an intervention using BST for teaching a precursor fire alarm evacuation procedure was effective for children with ASD in acquiring, maintaining, and generalizing the procedure. The study showed that the BST procedure for teaching precursor fire safety skills was effective for three of four participants. Only 50% of participants demonstrated generalization of skills learned to an alternate location and fire alarm sound, and 75% of participants maintained skills after 4 weeks. According to the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) single-case design standards, the study met standards without reservations and demonstrated moderate evidence of a causal relation.</p>Survive or Thrive? 10th Graders' Parental Involvement and Its Influences on Early Adult Life2022-06-16T10:46:17-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944324/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944324/"><img alt="Survive or Thrive? 10th Graders' Parental Involvement and Its Influences on Early Adult Life" title="Survive or Thrive? 10th Graders' Parental Involvement and Its Influences on Early Adult Life" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944324/small/"/></a></p><p>To find out how adolescents' individual and environmental factors impact adulthood education and employment outcomes, this longitudinal study examined 10th graders' individual (such as math scores, intrinsic motivation, and school engagement) and environmental (i.e. parental involvement) factors through their education and employment outcomes in emerging adulthood. The current study examined the differentiated effect of parental involvement being autonomy-supportive or control on adolescents' academic achievement in high school and also young adulthood educational and occupational outcomes 10 years later. This research is based on an analysis of data drawn from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), which is a nationally representative longitudinal study that follows adolescents at four main timelines: the base year of students in 10th grade (Time 1), the first follow up at 12th grade(Time 2), the second follow up two years after the expected high school of high-school, and the third follow up when students who may have gone on to post-secondary education would complete their postsecondary education (Time 3). 5,439 students and their parent(s) were included in the study. Overall, the final model supported the majority of the hypotheses and revealed how differentiated parental involvements and students' previous academic performance influence their math scores at Time 2 (r = .80), and both educational (r = .32) and career (r = .27) outcomes at emerging adulthood.</p>Special Education Experiences for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder2022-06-16T10:41:43-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944319/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944319/"><img alt="Special Education Experiences for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder" title="Special Education Experiences for Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944319/small/"/></a></p><p>Millions of students with disabilities in the United States have access to educational programming to assist and provide special education support services. In existence for mere decades, special education as it currently stands was founded on groundbreaking legislation and refining law in the form of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The most recent revision of this law in 2004 significantly extended parents' rights to be decision-makers in the educational planning process for children with disabilities. A litany of research into parent experiences of the IEP and special education process reveals that parents consistently report feelings of being marginalized in the decision-making process. A systematic literature review conducted by the author revealed that parents and family members of children with ASD report broadly similar themes of dissatisfaction with the special education process and communicating with staff. The current research proposal seeks to investigate the interaction experiences with Licensed Specialist in School Psychology (LSSP) personnel of parents and family members of elementary-aged children with ASD. LSSPs, recognized as possessing expertise on autism spectrum disorder amongst special education evaluation personnel, often conduct evaluations for students with ASD.</p>Diagnosis and Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Experiences of Caribbean Immigrant Families Living in the United States2022-06-16T10:34:49-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944307/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944307/"><img alt="Diagnosis and Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Experiences of Caribbean Immigrant Families Living in the United States" title="Diagnosis and Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Experiences of Caribbean Immigrant Families Living in the United States" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1944307/small/"/></a></p><p>Compared to non-immigrant families of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), immigrant families tend to experience more challenges securing an evaluation, obtaining a diagnosis, and accessing services for their child/children diagnosed with ASD. Several studies investigated the experiences of various groups of immigrant families. They found that the delays can be attributed to cultural differences in the way families interpret the meaning of ASD and their perceptions of the causes and treatment for ASD. Additionally, a lack of knowledge about ASD and fear of the stigma associated with ASD impacted immigrant parents' willingness to seek a diagnosis. However, few studies examined how Caribbean immigrants living in the United States experience a diagnosis of ASD for their child/children. This qualitative study explored Caribbean immigrant families' perceptions and experiences with ASD. A semi-structured, in-depth interview was used to collect data on families' experiences about symptoms, causes, and treatments of ASD, as well as their sources of support. The data were coded and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA. Four themes were identified and discussed: A new world, emotional and physical burden caring for a child with ASD, attitudes about ASD in native cultures, and adapting to the new situation.</p>The Role of Maternal Health Literacy within Mother-Preterm Infant Attachment: A Meta-Analysis of Maternal Sensitivity Interventions2022-01-08T15:56:54-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1873823/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1873823/"><img alt="The Role of Maternal Health Literacy within Mother-Preterm Infant Attachment: A Meta-Analysis of Maternal Sensitivity Interventions" title="The Role of Maternal Health Literacy within Mother-Preterm Infant Attachment: A Meta-Analysis of Maternal Sensitivity Interventions" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1873823/small/"/></a></p><p>The present study systematically reviewed and statistically summarized the current body of literature on the relationship between maternal health literacy and maternal sensitivity, and the effect of these two variables on mothers' care and decision making on distal attachment outcomes. In so doing, a systematic review of the extant peer-reviewed, published literature examining the effectiveness of interventions in effort to improve health literacy and maternal sensitivity, with a focus on increasing the quality of mother-preterm infant attachment outcomes, was undergone. This was followed by four multilevel random effects meta-analyses. Results indicated that mothers who participated in health literacy (maternal sensitivity) interventions had, on average, higher attachment quality, in comparison to those who did not participate. Additionally, maternal age was found to be a statistically significant predictor of the overall average effect size. This suggests that maternal health literacy may be a yet unexplored correlate of mother-preterm infant attachment outcomes.</p>Influence of Quiet Eye Self-Training on Internal Processes and Performance Outcomes2022-01-08T15:20:43-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1873550/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1873550/"><img alt="Influence of Quiet Eye Self-Training on Internal Processes and Performance Outcomes" title="Influence of Quiet Eye Self-Training on Internal Processes and Performance Outcomes" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1873550/small/"/></a></p><p>Use and effectiveness of the quiet eye (QE) technique has been a topic of interest in sport, exercise, and performance psychology. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of QE self-training on college students' internal processes associated with performing a novel task. Specifically, college students' internal processes were examined to understand how QE self-training influenced performance on a novel aiming task. College students (N = 106; M = 21.84 ± 1.79) voluntarily participated in QE self-training intervention. Participants' self-efficacy, self-regulation, and mindfulness was examined before and after QE self-training intervention over a 7-week period, with performance being measured weekly. Following intervention, interviews and follow-up survey were used to gather information about perceptions of using QE self-training instruction. Results indicated outcome performance improved from pre- to post-intervention. Additionally, participants mindfulness acting with awareness and non-judging of inner experiences was influenced by QET self-training. Findings from this study may help sport coaches and performance psychology professionals provide attentional focus training instruction to individuals with diverse levels of skills while also providing future directions for applied practice and research.</p>Evaluating Program Diversity and the Probability of Gifted Identification Using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking2021-08-26T21:24:37-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833574/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833574/"><img alt="Evaluating Program Diversity and the Probability of Gifted Identification Using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking" title="Evaluating Program Diversity and the Probability of Gifted Identification Using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833574/small/"/></a></p><p>Multiple criteria systems are recommended as best practice to identify culturally, linguistically, economically diverse students for gifted services, in which schools often incorporate measures of creativity. However, the role of creativity in identification systems and its recruitment of diverse student populations is unclear. The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) is the most widely used norm-referenced creativity test in gifted identification. Although commonly used for identifying talent, little is known on the variability in composite scores on the TTCT-Figural and student demographics (i.e., race/ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, English language learning status). This study evaluated student demographic subgroup differences that exist after the initial phase of an identification process (i.e., universal screening, referrals) and examined the relationship among student demographics (i.e., race/ethnicity, free/reduced lunch status, English language learning status, sex), cognitive ability, academic achievement, and creativity, as measured by the TTCT-Figural Form A or B, to the probability of being identified for gifted programs. In a midsized school district in the state of Texas, findings indicate several demographic differences for students who were referred or universally screened across the measures of cognitive ability, academic achievement, and creativity. However, there were lower differences when using the TTCT-Figural. Results of a hierarchical generalized linear regression indicate underrepresented groups showed no difference in the probability of being identified after controlling for measures of cognitive ability, academic achievement, and creativity. Though, cognitive ability and academic achievement tests were more predictive of identification compared to the TTCT-Figural. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.</p>A Multi-Site Case Study of Middle School Reading Teachers' Perceptions of the Impact of Response to Intervention2021-08-26T20:55:31-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833524/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833524/"><img alt="A Multi-Site Case Study of Middle School Reading Teachers' Perceptions of the Impact of Response to Intervention" title="A Multi-Site Case Study of Middle School Reading Teachers' Perceptions of the Impact of Response to Intervention" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833524/small/"/></a></p><p>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.</p>Using a Slopes Difference Test to Probe Longitudinal Multilevel Interactions in an Aptitude-Treatment or Skill-by-Treatment Context: A Simulation2021-08-26T20:28:20-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833466/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833466/"><img alt="Using a Slopes Difference Test to Probe Longitudinal Multilevel Interactions in an Aptitude-Treatment or Skill-by-Treatment Context: A Simulation" title="Using a Slopes Difference Test to Probe Longitudinal Multilevel Interactions in an Aptitude-Treatment or Skill-by-Treatment Context: A Simulation" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833466/small/"/></a></p><p>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 and rates of singularity. The slopes difference test was also found to have greater power in a longitudinal mixed model than was discovered for a cross-sectional multiple regression context.</p>Exploring the Impacts of Social Media Use on Young Adults' Self-Esteem and Perceived Impact on Psychological Diagnoses or Emotional Disturbance Eligibility2021-08-26T20:23:37-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833457/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833457/"><img alt="Exploring the Impacts of Social Media Use on Young Adults' Self-Esteem and Perceived Impact on Psychological Diagnoses or Emotional Disturbance Eligibility" title="Exploring the Impacts of Social Media Use on Young Adults' Self-Esteem and Perceived Impact on Psychological Diagnoses or Emotional Disturbance Eligibility" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833457/small/"/></a></p><p>The impacts of emerging adults' social media use have been shown as generally negative, especially in decreasing their self-esteem and self-concept and increasing anxiety, depression, and more. Although there is research on social media's impact on various communities of adolescents and young adults, limited research has focused on this effect for young adults with mental health diagnoses or served under IDEA's emotional disturbance eligibility criteria. Additionally, no research has studied this topic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to examine how various types of social media use impact young adults' self-esteem, including those who are psychologically vulnerable. Participants included 119 individuals, 18 to 19-years of age, with and without mental health diagnoses or Emotional Disturbance special education eligibility recruited utilizing social media pages and social media hashtags. Participating individuals answered demographic and social media use questions and completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale to provide information about self-esteem. Additionally, participants responded to questions regarding what role they feel social media use has had on their mental health, including contribution to or exacerbating their symptoms. Univariate statistics were run to control demographic factors and determine the percentage of participants who believe social media has negatively affected their mental health. Multiple regression analyzed if time spent on social media or specific social media platform or activities were predictive of participant self-esteem. Limitations and implications are discussed.</p>Flipping Scripts: Mentoring for Secondary Readers2021-08-26T20:22:20-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833456/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833456/"><img alt="Flipping Scripts: Mentoring for Secondary Readers" title="Flipping Scripts: Mentoring for Secondary Readers" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833456/small/"/></a></p><p>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 program to the secondary student tutoring a younger member of their family who would be contactable during the stay-at-home orders in spring, 2021. The changes to the original experiment design were to accommodate for subject safety during the current worldwide pandemic of COVID-19.</p>Lived Experiences of Families of University Students Amid a Pandemic Response2021-08-26T20:16:38-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833446/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833446/"><img alt="Lived Experiences of Families of University Students Amid a Pandemic Response" title="Lived Experiences of Families of University Students Amid a Pandemic Response" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833446/small/"/></a></p><p>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 and temporal disorientation. Families made meaningful memories through conversation, outdoor recreation, and other activities outside the daily routine. Family members provided feedback to one another to help the family maintain a stable system.</p>Bringing Them Back: Using Latent Class Analysis to Re-Engage College Stop-Outs2021-08-26T20:12:07-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833438/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833438/"><img alt="Bringing Them Back: Using Latent Class Analysis to Re-Engage College Stop-Outs" title="Bringing Them Back: Using Latent Class Analysis to Re-Engage College Stop-Outs" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1833438/small/"/></a></p><p>Half of the students who begin college do not complete a degree or certificate. The odds of completing a degree are decreased if a student has a low socio-economic status (SES), is the first in a family to attend college (first-generation), attends multiple institutions, stops out multiple times, reduces credit loads over time, performs poorly in major-specific coursework, has competing family obligations, and experiences financial difficulties. Stopping out of college does not always indicate that a student is no longer interested in pursuing an education; it can be an indication of a barrier or several barriers faced. Institutions can benefit themselves and students by utilizing person-centered statistical methods to re-engage students they have lost, particularly those near the end of their degree plan. Using demographic, academic, and financial variables, this study applied latent class analysis (LCA) to explore subgroups of seniors who have stopped out of a public four-year Tier One research intuition before graduating with a four-year degree. The findings indicated a six-class model was the best fitting model. Similar to previous research, academic and financial variables were key determinants of the latent classes. This paper demonstrates how the results of an LCA can assist institutions in the decisions around intervention strategies and resource allocations.</p>Exploring Turkish American Fathers: Father Involvement, Father's Perception of Maternal Gatekeeping, Competence, and Conservatism2021-05-26T22:06:41-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808475/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808475/"><img alt="Exploring Turkish American Fathers: Father Involvement, Father's Perception of Maternal Gatekeeping, Competence, and Conservatism" title="Exploring Turkish American Fathers: Father Involvement, Father's Perception of Maternal Gatekeeping, Competence, and Conservatism" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808475/small/"/></a></p><p>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 = 1.20, SE = .298, p < .001) significantly predicted father involvement. Gate-closing partially mediated the relationship between father's competency and father involvement (B = 0.11, SE = .063, p = .004) while gate-opening didn't yield mediation. And finally, conservatism did not significantly predict father involvement (B = -0.09, SE = -1.11, p = .266). The results suggest that with Turkish American fathers, competency, gate-closing and gate-opening are good predictors of father involvement, while conservatism is not a good predictor in this current study.</p>The Impact of Including Teacher and School Characteristics on Predicting Value-Added Score Estimates2021-05-26T21:57:04-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808459/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808459/"><img alt="The Impact of Including Teacher and School Characteristics on Predicting Value-Added Score Estimates" title="The Impact of Including Teacher and School Characteristics on Predicting Value-Added Score Estimates" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808459/small/"/></a></p><p>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- and school-level covariates in their VAMs.</p>Accommodating People Safety Curriculum for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students2021-05-26T21:49:23-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808443/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808443/"><img alt="Accommodating People Safety Curriculum for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students" title="Accommodating People Safety Curriculum for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808443/small/"/></a></p><p>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 themes. Findings indicated the deaf education community believes the curriculum needs media components, language modifications and teaching strategies, enhanced visual information, and representation of people and situations related to the lives of deaf and hard of hearing children to be an effective curriculum for this population.</p>Military-Focused Leadership Talent Development: An Examination of JROTC Participation and Postsecondary Plans2021-05-26T21:24:30-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808400/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808400/"><img alt="Military-Focused Leadership Talent Development: An Examination of JROTC Participation and Postsecondary Plans" title="Military-Focused Leadership Talent Development: An Examination of JROTC Participation and Postsecondary Plans" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808400/small/"/></a></p><p>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.</p>Using Student Response Systems to Increase Academic Engagement for Secondary Students with Specific Learning Disability in General Education Settings2021-05-26T21:10:15-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808364/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808364/"><img alt="Using Student Response Systems to Increase Academic Engagement for Secondary Students with Specific Learning Disability in General Education Settings" title="Using Student Response Systems to Increase Academic Engagement for Secondary Students with Specific Learning Disability in General Education Settings" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808364/small/"/></a></p><p>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.</p>Early Intervention Referral and Service Frequency for Children with Visual Impairments: Experiences from the Field2021-05-26T21:04:36-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808342/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808342/"><img alt="Early Intervention Referral and Service Frequency for Children with Visual Impairments: Experiences from the Field" title="Early Intervention Referral and Service Frequency for Children with Visual Impairments: Experiences from the Field" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808342/small/"/></a></p><p>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 were identified across states for type of referral method, most commonly initiated by health care professionals, or method by which service frequency was determined. Results will be used to inform future research to further examine EI for children with BVI in the United States.</p>Using Kidpower® Social Narratives to Teach Individuals with Autism about Bullying2021-01-26T00:46:54-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752405/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752405/"><img alt="Using Kidpower® Social Narratives to Teach Individuals with Autism about Bullying" title="Using Kidpower® Social Narratives to Teach Individuals with Autism about Bullying" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752405/small/"/></a></p><p>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 sessions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many modifications were made to the original study design including changing the wording of the dependent variable and using more simple stories. No modifications were made to the actual stories. This study indicates the Kidpower narratives are helpful in teaching individuals with ASD who also meet certain criteria based on verbal comprehension. However, additional information is necessary in order to assess understanding of bullying.</p>A Mixed-Method Sequential Explanatory Study of Fundamental Motor Skills Competence of Underserved Preschool Children2021-01-26T00:41:16-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752400/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752400/"><img alt="A Mixed-Method Sequential Explanatory Study of Fundamental Motor Skills Competence of Underserved Preschool Children" title="A Mixed-Method Sequential Explanatory Study of Fundamental Motor Skills Competence of Underserved Preschool Children" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752400/small/"/></a></p><p>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 competence group. In addition, preschoolers with single, divorced, or young parents (age range 18–24) tended to show low FMS competence. The analysis of children's drawing pictures also indicated differences in images related to the moments when they played games or sports with parents based on their FMS competence levels. Practical implications and future research direction are discussed.</p>Caregiver Knowledge of Risk Factors Associated with Complex Congenital Heart Disease and Quality of Life Outcomes2021-01-26T00:16:23-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752366/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752366/"><img alt="Caregiver Knowledge of Risk Factors Associated with Complex Congenital Heart Disease and Quality of Life Outcomes" title="Caregiver Knowledge of Risk Factors Associated with Complex Congenital Heart Disease and Quality of Life Outcomes" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752366/small/"/></a></p><p>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 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. The present study sought to address the relationship between caregiver knowledge of cCHD developmental challenges (i.e., outcomes related to neurodevelopmental disabilities, mental health, and provider quality-care approach) and children's and caregiver's quality of life outcomes, inclusive of academic functioning ability of children with cCHD, children with cCHD and their caregivers' mental health functioning, and the overall satisfaction with the nature of the healthcare provider of the child with cCHD. A total sample size of N = 46 participants were included in the current study. Results that caregivers' knowledge of cCHD risks to quality of life outcomes explained a much greater percentage of the variance in caregiver satisfaction with healthcare providers (R2 = 0.350, p < 0.001) compared to number of surgical interventions (R2 = 0.058, p = 0.047). Clinical implications and implementation for use of a holistic, integrated approach are strengthened by the study findings.</p>Class Enumeration and Parameter Bias in Growth Mixture Models with Misspecified Time-Varying Covariates: A Monte Carlo Simulation Study2021-01-25T23:58:49-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752343/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752343/"><img alt="Class Enumeration and Parameter Bias in Growth Mixture Models with Misspecified Time-Varying Covariates: A Monte Carlo Simulation Study" title="Class Enumeration and Parameter Bias in Growth Mixture Models with Misspecified Time-Varying Covariates: A Monte Carlo Simulation Study" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1752343/small/"/></a></p><p>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 class enumeration, particularly relative indices. Additionally, researchers should take caution when interpreting variance parameter estimates when the GMM contains a misspecified TVC.</p>Measurement Invariance of a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Measure (PCL-5) in College Student and Amazon's Mechanical Turk Samples2020-09-07T10:29:05-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707346/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707346/"><img alt="Measurement Invariance of a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Measure (PCL-5) in College Student and Amazon's Mechanical Turk Samples" title="Measurement Invariance of a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Measure (PCL-5) in College Student and Amazon's Mechanical Turk Samples" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707346/small/"/></a></p><p>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 further evidence that the findings from trauma studies using these populations are generalizable to each other.</p>Coaching Athletes with Post-Traumatic Stress: Exploring Trauma-Related Competencies and Coaching Efficacy2020-09-07T10:29:05-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707363/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707363/"><img alt="Coaching Athletes with Post-Traumatic Stress: Exploring Trauma-Related Competencies and Coaching Efficacy" title="Coaching Athletes with Post-Traumatic Stress: Exploring Trauma-Related Competencies and Coaching Efficacy" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707363/small/"/></a></p><p>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.</p>Mixed Development and Validation of an Authentic Assessment for Middle School Mathematics2020-09-07T10:29:05-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707388/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707388/"><img alt="Mixed Development and Validation of an Authentic Assessment for Middle School Mathematics" title="Mixed Development and Validation of an Authentic Assessment for Middle School Mathematics" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707388/small/"/></a></p><p>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.</p>Mothers' Parenting Stress in Chinese Immigrant Families: The Role of Fathers' Involvement and Social Support2020-09-07T10:29:05-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707278/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707278/"><img alt="Mothers' Parenting Stress in Chinese Immigrant Families: The Role of Fathers' Involvement and Social Support" title="Mothers' Parenting Stress in Chinese Immigrant Families: The Role of Fathers' Involvement and Social Support" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707278/small/"/></a></p><p>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 across all the five dimensions. Mothers' self-efficacy did not account for the association between Chinese immigrant mothers' reports of fathers' involvement across five dimensions and mothers' parenting stress.</p>Factor Retention Strategies with Ordinal Variables in Exploratory Factor Analysis: A Simulation2020-09-07T10:29:05-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707377/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707377/"><img alt="Factor Retention Strategies with Ordinal Variables in Exploratory Factor Analysis: A Simulation" title="Factor Retention Strategies with Ordinal Variables in Exploratory Factor Analysis: A Simulation" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707377/small/"/></a></p><p>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.</p>Assessing Self-Determination Inventory: Validity for Students with Disabilities and Typically Developing Students2020-06-15T19:38:58-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703435/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703435/"><img alt="Assessing Self-Determination Inventory: Validity for Students with Disabilities and Typically Developing Students" title="Assessing Self-Determination Inventory: Validity for Students with Disabilities and Typically Developing Students" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703435/small/"/></a></p><p>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 a CFA run with the simulated data resulting in an even better fit (TLI = 0.952; RMSEA = 0.040; SRMR = 0.064; and CFI = 0.967) than the 7-factor solutions. It appears the current study results aligned with five of the latent factors of SD.</p>Institutional Pluralism and the Organization's Response: A Case Study of Chinese Women's Ice Hockey2020-06-15T19:38:58-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703291/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703291/"><img alt="Institutional Pluralism and the Organization's Response: A Case Study of Chinese Women's Ice Hockey" title="Institutional Pluralism and the Organization's Response: A Case Study of Chinese Women's Ice Hockey" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703291/small/"/></a></p><p>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, influenced by competing logics, the organizations created collective identities to balance those logics. This study provides insights into how the actors within sport organizations create a more satisfactory environment to gain legitimacy.</p>Comparing Raw Score Difference, Multilevel Modeling, and Structural Equation Modeling Methods for Estimating Discrepancy in Dyads2020-06-15T19:38:58-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703431/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703431/"><img alt="Comparing Raw Score Difference, Multilevel Modeling, and Structural Equation Modeling Methods for Estimating Discrepancy in Dyads" title="Comparing Raw Score Difference, Multilevel Modeling, and Structural Equation Modeling Methods for Estimating Discrepancy in Dyads" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703431/small/"/></a></p><p>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.</p>Teachers' Perceptions of Professional Development: A Mixed Methods Study2020-06-15T19:38:58-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703399/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703399/"><img alt="Teachers' Perceptions of Professional Development: A Mixed Methods Study" title="Teachers' Perceptions of Professional Development: A Mixed Methods Study" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703399/small/"/></a></p><p>Research has identified job context, specific attributes of professional development (PD), and perceived teacher input as factors that contribute to teachers' attitudes. This sequential mixed methods study tested those findings together and further investigated teachers' beliefs and attitudes about their own professional learning. The first phase of data collection included a 5-item attitude survey, demographic information, and two short-answer questions. Multiple regression analysis of the sample (N = 328) showed four statistically significant contributors to teacher attitude: (i) socioeconomic status of the school, (ii) teacher years of experience at the campus, (iii) content area taught, and (iv) degree attained by the teacher. During the second phase, six focus groups were conducted which confirmed earlier findings and revealed four themes in teachers' attitudes: (1) a need and desire for collaborative, engaging PD; (2) perceived interference from outside forces that supplant teachers' own PD goals and wishes; (3) a need to establish a context and a cohesive plan for long-term career and campus goals; and (4) a subgroup of teachers who believe that PD has little inherent value. Limitations and implications are included.</p>Relationship between the Big Five and Creative Self-Beliefs in Undergraduates in Terms of College Enrollment and Major2020-06-15T19:38:58-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703347/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703347/"><img alt="Relationship between the Big Five and Creative Self-Beliefs in Undergraduates in Terms of College Enrollment and Major" title="Relationship between the Big Five and Creative Self-Beliefs in Undergraduates in Terms of College Enrollment and Major" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703347/small/"/></a></p><p>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, each DDA had a statistically significant effect for having a STEM major and two had a statistically significant main effect for honors college enrollment. Most notable was the relationship between having a STEM major and Mechanical/Science creative self-belief. Limitations and implications are discussed.</p>Self-Reported Feelings of Shame and Fear of Failure among High Ability Undergraduates2020-06-15T19:38:58-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703278/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703278/"><img alt="Self-Reported Feelings of Shame and Fear of Failure among High Ability Undergraduates" title="Self-Reported Feelings of Shame and Fear of Failure among High Ability Undergraduates" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703278/small/"/></a></p><p>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.</p>The Effectiveness of Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) for Fathers2020-01-24T06:07:59-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1609171/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1609171/"><img alt="The Effectiveness of Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) for Fathers" title="The Effectiveness of Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) for Fathers" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1609171/small/"/></a></p><p>High levels of quality father involvement in childhood are associated with children's socio-emotional, cognitive, and behavioral wellbeing. However, fathers can experience difficulty in building positive relationships with their kids due to work-life balance, lack of relational experience, and other life stressors. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of child-parent relationship therapy (CPRT) on fathers' parental empathy, parental stress, and child behavior problems. Though an abundance of literature exists to support the efficacy of CPRT, this was the first study to include a randomized controlled design with an all-male sample. This was also the first CPRT study to include both English and Spanish speaking fathers with intervention offered in both languages. Participants were 30 fathers (22 English, 8 Spanish; 53% Latino, 40% Caucasian, 7% Asian) with children between the ages of 3 and 10 (60% male, 40% female; 57% Latino/a, 37% Caucasian, 6% Asian). Fathers were randomly assigned to the experimental group (CPRT) (n = 14) or waitlist control group (n = 16). Results from 2 (Group) by 2 (Time) repeated measures ANOVAs did not yield statistically significant interaction effects on the dependent variables. However, results indicated a statistically significant main effect for time on each dependent variable with large effect sizes. Results of the paired samples t-test post hoc analyses indicated a statistically significant change over time for the experimental (CPRT) group and a non-statistically significant change over time for the control group on all dependent variables. Findings of this study support previous studies on the effectiveness of CPRT, but also indicate a need for future research to more accurately determine the effectiveness of CPRT for fathers compared to a waitlist control group.</p>