2015 Annual Meeting
Professional Development and Training Courses
 
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Professional Development and Training
Courses for 2015 Annual Meeting
Courses Start April 16, 2015


The AERA Professional Development and Training Committee has planned a rich program of extended and mini-courses for the 2015 AERA Annual Meeting in Chicago. The program was crafted based on consideration of more than 50 submissions and a competitive review process.  

Jump to the course list

Course Dates: 

  • The extended courses begin on Thursday, April 16, on the first day of the Annual Meeting. 
  • The mini-courses will be held Friday through Sunday, April 17–19. 

Registration: 

Registration is now closed. 

Materials: 

Course participants should bring a laptop with any software suggested or specified in the course description.

Questions: 

Direct questions about the professional development and training courses to [email protected].

Click a course number to learn more.

Extended Courses
  • PDC01: An Introduction to Hierarchical Linear Modeling for Education Researchers

  • PDC02: Analyzing NAEP Assessment Data with Plausible Values: Hands-on Practice Approach with the National Assessment of Educational Progress Sample Data 

  • PDC03: Applying Critical Discourse Analysis in Education Research: Theory, Rigorous Method and Possibilities for Application

  • PDC04: Bayesian Nonparametric Regression for Education Research

  • PDC05: Coding Qualitative Data: A Survey of Selected Methods

  • PDC06: Cost and Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Educational Programs

  • PDC07: Improving Skills of School Leaders in Using Data to Drive Improvement:  Building on a tested District model

  • PDC08: Introduction to Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

  • PDC09: Narrative Inquiry in Education Research

  • PDC10: Story Mapping: An Innovative Process for Uncovering Community Assets and Building Shared Leadership Capacity

  • PDC11: Using Critical Race Theory in Secondary and Higher Education Research

  • PDC12: Video Analysis with the Measures of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database 
 Mini Courses
  • PDC13: Advanced Analysis using Adult International Large Scale Assessment Databases

  • PDC14: Building Researchers’ Capacity to Partner with Practitioners to Conduct Relevant and Useful Research

  • PDC15: Propensity Score Matching Using R

  • PDC16: Using NAEP Data on the Web for Educational Policy Research and Practice

  • PDC17: New Weighting Methods for Causal Mediation Analysis

  • PDC18: How to Get Published

  • PDC19: Writing an Application for an IES Grant: A Workshop

  • PDC20: Performance in Teacher Education

  • PDC21: Designing Adequately Powered Group Randomized Trials: A Hands-On Workshop Using Optimal Design Plus

  • PDC22: Embedding Evaluations in Everyday Activities: Conducting Opportunistic Experiments in Schools and Districts

  • PDC23: Writing Up Findings: An Introduction to Crafting the Qualitative Research Report Narrative

  • PDC24: Textbook Writing: The Integration of Scholarship and Teaching

  • PDC25: Hierarchical Linear Modeling with Large-Scale International Databases

  • PDC26: Social Networks Models in Education Research

  • PDC27: Sensitivity Analysis: Quantifying the Discourse about Causal Inference 

Extended Courses
PDC01: An Introduction to Hierarchical Linear Modeling for Education Researchers
This course will introduce the fundamentals of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), focusing on fundamental concepts and practical applications with minimal emphasis on statistical theory. In addition to presenting a conceptual overview of HLM, instructors will use a school-based example to demonstrate the application of HLM within an organizational framework. Participants will learn how to analyze 2-level data using HLM 7, and they will learn to interpret the results of the analyses. Instruction will consist of lecture, demonstrations of the software, and hands-on data analysis opportunities. Participants should bring a laptop equipped with the free student version of HLMv7 (from www.ssicentral.com) and SPSS or another  data manipulation software. The course example data will run on the student version of HLM. (Please note that there is no MAC version of the HLM software program.) Instructors: Ann A. O'Connell, The Ohio State University; D. Betsy McCoach, University of Connecticut

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 1st Floor - Zurich AB 
PDC02: Analyzing NAEP Assessment Data with Plausible Values: Hands-on Practice Approach with the National Assessment of Educational Progress Sample Data 
This course consists of lectures and hands-on practice of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data analysis with plausible values. The unique psychometric features of NAEP; however, require researchers to use special procedures with common statistical software packages. The objective of this course is to provide participants with the knowledge and understanding of the psychometric design and complex sampling structure of NAEP data and practical tools to analyze large-scale data. Participants will learn how to analyze plausible values with a software program. This course is designed for individuals in government, universities, private sector, and non-profit organizations who are interested in learning how to analyze large-scale assessment data with plausible values. Introductory course work in statistical methods is strongly recommended. Participants are expected to have working knowledge of Item Response Theory and sampling theory. Participants are required to bring their own laptop with Windows and SAS or SPSS. Reading the NAEP training materials in advance will be helpful. Instructors: Emmanuel Sikali, U.S. Department of Education; Young Yee Kim, American Institutes for Research

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 2nd Floor - St. Gallen 1
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PDC03: Applying Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in Education Research: Theory, Rigorous Method and Possibilities for Application
This course provides participants with hands-on experience of conducting rigorous critical discourse analysis (CDA) on texts of interest to educational researchers and teachers as researchers. In a series of lectures and hands-on workshops, participants will learn about: discourse theory; methods of CDA with different types of texts, for example education policy, teaching resources, and classroom interaction; how to apply the methods to their own small data sets; and how to write up their own analysis. On completion of this course, participants should be able to: demonstrate knowledge of discourse theory; understand the synergies of narrative inquiry, socio-spatial theory and reflexivity with discourse theory; understand some of the critiques of CDA and how to mitigate them in research; apply methods of critical text analysis (linguistic and spatial) to their own texts; understand how to write up their own analysis and begin to design future possibilities for applying CDA in their own classroom practice and research. The target audience is anyone interested in CDA, in particular graduate students and early career scholars. Teachers interested in exploring the workings of power in classroom discourse and in school settings are also encouraged to participate. Participants are required to bring laptops and a small data set (e.g., transcript of talk; course materials; a policy statement; a media text) that they would like to explore. Time will be allowed for planning potential projects based on areas of interest. Instructors: Margaret Kettle, Queensland University of Technology; Jennifer Alford, Queensland University of Technology; Mary Ryan, Queensland University of Technology

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 1st Floor - Zurich C
PDC04: Bayesian Nonparametric Regression for Education Research
This course will introduce participants to Bayesian Nonparametric (BNP) regression models and show how to apply the contemporary BNP models, in the analysis of real educational data sets, through guided hands-on exercises. The objective of this course is to show researchers how to use these BNP models for the accurate regression analysis of real educational data, involving either continuous, binary, ordinal, or censored dependent variables; for multi-level analysis, quantile regression analysis, density (distribution) regression analysis, causal analysis, meta-analysis, item response analysis, automatic predictor selection, cluster analysis, and survival analysis. This practically-oriented course targets graduate students, emerging researchers, and continuing researchers, who have at least an intermediate level of statistical skills, and at least one graduate-level course in regression analysis. The hands-on demonstrations of the BNP models will be done through the use of free, user-friendly and menu-driven software, which operates like SPSS. Course participants should bring a laptop, with wireless internet access. Instructors: George Karabatsos, University of Illinois at Chicago

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 2nd Floor - Vevey 1&2
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PDC05: Coding Qualitative Data: A Survey of Selected Methods
This course will review methods of coding qualitative data, collected from various publications in education and the social sciences. Participants will explore basic coding and recoding principles, apply them to the analysis of qualitative data, and discuss their transfer to relevant future projects. The primary goals of the course are to acquaint participants with sources and methods of coding, including factors that influence and affect coding selections, approaches to data analysis, and writing analytic memos. Manual (hard copy) coding will be emphasized with a discussion of available CAQDAS (software) for future use. The course will focus comprehensively on eight methods: (1) descriptive coding, (2) In Vivo coding, (3) process coding, (4) values coding, (5) emotion coding , (6) versus coding, (7) dramaturgical coding, and (8). themeing the data. At the completion of the course, participants will have: (1) reviewed and discussed the fundamental principles of coding qualitative data; (2) reviewed and discussed the relationships between coding and analytic memo writing; (3) surveyed eight unique methods for coding qualitative data; (4) applied selected coding methods to samples of qualitative data; (5) explored selected post-coding and pre-writing strategies for qualitative data analysis; and (6) reviewed and discussed the applications of coding with CAQDAS and to their own future projects in qualitative inquiry. Target audiences for the course include graduate students in the initial stages of their qualitative research projects, and professors instructing qualitative research methods courses. Participants should have an introductory knowledge of qualitative research/inquiry and its canon of data collection methods.
 Instructors: Johnny Saldana, Arizona State University

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 1st Floor - Zurich D
PDC06: Cost and Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Educational Programs
This course is designed to help researchers, analysts, evaluators, and decision-makers apply the ingredients and methods to estimate the costs and cost-effectiveness of educational programs. While participants are likely to be familiar with multiple methods for estimating effectiveness of educational programs, the goal of this course is to build capacity for estimating costs and combining them with available effectiveness data to evaluate programs and make efficient resource allocation: decisions. Activities will include a mix of lecture, discussion, demonstration, hands-on exercises, small group work, and presentations. The course will begin with a discussion of why cost analysis is important and a description of the ingredients method for estimating costs. Participants will practice identifying the ingredients of an educational program and be introduced to a computer-based Cost Tool Kit. The tool allows users to enter ingredients of an educational program and facilitates the estimation of costs associated with each ingredient, including adjustments for inflation, geographical location, and, for multi-year programs, the calculation of Net Present Value. Users will assign costs to different funders to investigate the burden of costs among sponsors of a program. After walking through an example of how to use the Cost Tool to estimate costs of an educational program, participants will work in groups to identify ingredients and use the Cost Tool to estimate costs of an educational program of their choice. Laptops and basic knowledge of Excel are required. Instructors: Barbara Hanisch-Cerda, Teachers College, Columbia University; Fiona M. Hollands, Columbia University; Henry M. Levin, Teachers College, Columbia University

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 2nd Floor - St. Gallen 2
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PDC07: Improving Skills of School Leaders in Using Data to Drive Improvement:  Building on a Tested District Model
Course also live-streamed through the Virtual Research Learning Center (VRLC). Organized by AERA Division H (Research, Evaluation, and Assessment in Schools) this course is focused on improving the use of data and methods of research and evaluation. The course is built around a model that has been designed and tested in the Wake County (North Carolina) Public School System. Lead objectives for the course are: share the data-driven decision making model that has been used to train non-evaluators to use data in their selection of efforts to meet their needs and to monitor the success of those efforts; address common problems and possible solutions for issues that are typically faced in evaluating the success of efforts within school systems; and discuss some ways to organize data which make it more user-friendly.


 Instructors: Rolf K. Blank, University of Chicago; Sonya T. Stephens, Wake County Public School System; Nancy R. Baenen, Wake County Public School System; Colleen Graham Paeplow, Wake County Public School System; Bradley J. McMillen, Wake County Public School System

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Fairmont, Second Level - State
PDC08: Introduction to Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
This course will introduce the basics of systematic review and meta-analysis. Topics covered include the development of a research question, searching the literature, evaluating and coding studies, meta-analysis techniques, and interpretation of results for policymakers and researchers. The course will include lecture, hands-on exercises, and individual consultation. The target audience includes both those new to systematic review and meta-analysis as well as those currently conducting a review. Students are required to bring a laptop computer.


 Instructors: Therese D. Pigott, Loyola University Chicago; Ryan Williams, The University of Memphis; Joshua R. Polanin, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 2nd Floor - Montreux 1&2
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PDC09: Narrative Inquiry in Education Research
The course format includes presentations and hands-on modules for narrative research design and narrative analysis in studies of teaching and learning sensitive to diversity, social change, and other issues. This course demonstrates and practices research designs and strategies involving students, teachers, and policy makers in educational contexts addressing diversity, power relations, social justice goals, as well as relevant curricula. Assignments include doing values analysis, significance analysis, practice making observations from analyses addressing research questions, and to examine narrative data provided by the instructors or data brought by course participants. No equipment or prior experience with narrative analysis is required. Course participants are graduate students, early career scholars, and advanced researchers becoming familiar with narrative inquiry or extending prior experience to another approach. Instructors: Colette Daiute, The Graduate Center – CUNY; Philip Kreniske, The Graduate Center (CUNY)

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 2nd Floor - Montreux 3
PDC10: Story Mapping: An Innovative Process for Uncovering Community Assets and Building Shared Leadership Capacity
This course is designed to use the activist research methodology in an innovative process called story-mapping. As a pedagogical tool, story mapping allows researchers to honor the experiences of self and the experiences of others as participant-researchers. Both develop a deeper understanding of how our initial locations shape our understandings and, just as important, how those understandings fit within the larger context of education and our responsibility for action in our schools and communities. Three key areas of scholarship inform this process: narrative inquiry, activist research methodology, and the sociology of neighborhoods. Participants will engage in the following activities: (1) constructing a journey line of research and using the stories to collectively analyze research journeys as a model for story mapping; (2) analyzing the stories of a community story mapping experience and comparing (think-matching) the group’s analysis with the analysis of the 60 persons who took part in the story-mapping; (3) using the mapping experience to make decisions about collective action and advocacy; and (4) debriefing about the processes for the purpose of improving the processes for subsequent use.  Instructors: Lynda Tredway, Institute for Educational Leadership; Gretchen Givens Generett, Duquesne University

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 1st Floor - Zurich F
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PDC11: Using Critical Race Theory in Secondary and Higher Education Research
This course will provide graduate students, early career and experienced scholars with information and skills to use Critical Race Theory (CRT) in education research. This course is designed to be intentionally interactive and will consist of activities, group dialogue, video, and independent exercises to facilitate one's understanding of the course content. Participants will be trained on the origins of CRT, its core tenets, concepts and key scholars. Instructors will illustrate how CRT can be used for framing education research.  Indeed, three illustrative (published) cases or examples of how prior researchers have used CRT to study educational issues across the pipeline will be highlighted for participants. Participants will collectively brainstorm and review current and future pressing educational issues, questions, and topics, discussing how CRT might be employed as an organizing frame or analytic tool. Additionally, using public data from the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS), instructors will lead participants through a detailed activity, illustrating the utility of CRT in interpreting quantitative findings about race; that is, how to complicate and contextualize findings using core tenets of CRT. Finally, the course will consist of two foci: (1) a review of the main “take-a-ways” from the course; and (2) an open house segment where participants will be able to field specific research questions about the integration of CRT in their own work. No prerequisite skills or knowledge are required for participation in this course, although participants will benefit from having a basic understanding of theory, educational research methods, and an interest in race and student success. Required/suggested readings will be provided to participants prior to the course. Instructors: Terrell Lamont Strayhorn, The Ohio State University; Royel Johnson, The Ohio State University - Columbus

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 1st Floor - Zurich G
PDC12: Video Analysis with the Measures of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database (MET LDB)
This course will introduce researchers to video data collected by the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Data collected on teachers and their teaching included video-recorded lessons scored by independent observers using multiple classroom observation protocols. Course faculty will offer an introduction for current or future users of the MET Longitudinal Database to the secure video player, including logistics of selecting and streaming video files, and the logistics of designing a video scoring protocol. We will also discuss the unique confidentiality concerns inherent in video data and strategies for mitigating risk, give a brief overview of the video capture process, and introduce the measures and scoring protocols used as part of the original MET study.

Researchers, graduate students, and district or state staff interested in collecting and/or using classroom video data for research or evaluation will benefit from lecture, training, and hands-on experience viewing and scoring videos.  Participants will leave the course with:
  • An understanding of the MET project’s video collection, scoring efforts, and video observation measures used in the project;
  • Experience scoring videos and an understanding of the systems needed to configure effective scoring teams and protocols;
  • Examples of research conducted using the MET video data;
  • Information on how to access the MET Longitudinal Database.

Participants should bring a laptop computer that has wireless capability and the capability to view video.  Participants should have a basic understanding of the MET project (www.metproject.org) and MET Longitudinal Database (www.icpsr.umich.edu /METLDB/).  Experience with the MET data is not required.

Instructors: Susan Jekielek, University of Michigan; Johanna Bleckman, University of Michigan; Catherine McClellan, Clowder Consulting; Rachael Gabriel, University of Connecticut; Tanner Wallace, University of Pittsburgh; Bryant Jensen, Brigham Young University

Date: Thursday, April 16, 8:00 am–3:45 pm

Fee: $125 

Location: Swissotel, Event Centre 2nd Floor - St. Gallen 3
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Mini Courses
PDC13: Advanced Analysis using Adult International Large Scale Assessment Databases (PIAAC)
This course covers how to download and prepare the public use data files from Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and conduct basic and advanced statistical analysis. PIAAC assesses literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills in the adult population of over 25 countries. The course will cover the statistical complexities and techniques used in these studies and their implications for analysis. It involves a combination of lectures and hands on exercises that will enable course participants to prepare data files for advanced statistical analysis and conduct basic and some advanced analysis using web based software. Information on how to access the tools will also be presented during the course. Participants need to bring a laptop computer with Windows and SPSS installed, and must have knowledge of basic and intermediate statistics. Instructors: Eugenio Gonzalez, Educational Testing Service

Date: Friday, April 17, 8:00 am–12:00 pm

Fee: $95 

Location: Fairmont, Third Level - Chancellor
PDC14: Building Researchers’ Capacity to Partner with Practitioners to Conduct Relevant and Useful Research
The learning objectives for this course are to: develop a deeper understanding of the various types of research-practice partnerships; gain insights from the lessons learned from successful partnerships; and understand the steps needed to develop and realize a research-practice partnership’s theory of action. The instructors will use a combination of brief presentations and hands-on exercises to build the participants’ capacity to partner with practitioners to conduct relevant research. 

 Instructors: Shazia R. Miller, American Institutes for Research; Carrie Lynne Scholz, American Institutes for Research; Julie R. Kochanek, American Institutes for Research

Date: Friday, April 17, 8:00 am–12:00 pm

Fee: $55 

Location: Fairmont, Second Level - State
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PDC15: Propensity Score Matching Using R
Through lectures and hands-on activities, this course will introduce basic concepts of propensity score matching and the use of R packages for propensity score matching. Participants will learn why and when to use propensity score matching and how to perform propensity score matching using R packages. Instructions for downloading and installing R software and related packages as well as example datasets will be provided to participants in advance through a course website. No prior knowledge of R or propensity score matching is required, but a basic understanding of research design, t-test, and logistic regression is desirable. This course is appropriate for faculty members, graduate students, and applied researchers. Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptop computers for hands-on activities. Instructors: Haiyan Bai, University of Central Florida; Christopher M. Swoboda, University of Cincinnati; Wei Pan, Duke University

Date: Friday, April 17, 8:00 am–12:00 pm

Fee: $95 

Location: Fairmont, Third Level - Regent
PDC16: Using NAEP Data on the Web for Educational Policy Research and Practice
This course is for researchers and practitioners interested in exploring the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data through the NAEP Data Explorer (NDE) web tool and effectively communicating the findings and implications of these data to a variety of audiences. 
Participants will be guided through an examination of the data, focusing on 1) student, teacher, and school variables; 2) relationships between student performance and characteristics of students, their teachers and their schools; and 3) using NAEP data to supplement other educational research. We will discuss recent data from NAEP and demonstrate how the NDE can be used to mine these data, with recommendations for developing appropriate research strategies to take advantage of this technology in answering important policy questions. Participants will also be shown ways to be more effective in communicating the results of their research, using data in a way to tell a story that resonates with their various audiences. The course will include interactive presentations and hands-on practice and activities. Participants will have the opportunity to work independently and share their findings with the group. A laptop with wireless internet capability is needed.
 Instructors: Debra Kline, Educational Testing Service; Selam Maru, Hager Sharp, Inc.; Debra Silimeo, Hager Sharp, Inc.; Joanne Lim, Hager Sharp, Inc.; Emmanuel Sikali, U.S. Department of Education; Edward M. Kulick, Educational Testing Service

Date: Friday, April 17, 1:00 pm–5:00 pm

Fee: $95 

Location: Fairmont, Third Level - Regent
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PDC17: New Weighting Methods for Causal Mediation Analysis
Course also live-streamed through the Virtual Research Learning Center (VRLC). Many important research questions in education, prevention science, and social sciences relate to how interventions work. Alternative theories often provide competing explanations for the causal mechanisms, that is, the processes through which an intervention succeeds or fails. A theoretical construct characterizing the hypothesized intermediate process is called a mediator. Conventional methods for mediation analysis generate biased results when the mediator-outcome relationship depends on the treatment condition. These methods also tend to have a limited capacity for removing confounding associated with a large number of covariates. This workshop teaches the ratio-of-mediator-probability weighting (RMPW) method for decomposing total treatment effects into direct and indirect effects in the presence of treatment-by-mediator interactions. RMPW is easy to implement and requires relatively few assumptions about the distribution of the outcome, the distribution of the mediator, and the functional form of the outcome model. We will introduce the concepts of causal mediation, explain the intuitive rationale of the RMPW strategy, and delineate the parametric and nonparametric analytic procedures. Participants will gain hands-on experiences with a stand-alone RMPW software program that eases computation and facilitates users’ analytic decision-making. We will also provide SAS, Stata, and R code for interested users and will distribute related publications including an article by Guanglei Hong, Jonah Deutsch, and Heather D. Hill forthcoming in the Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics and several chapters on mediation analysis from Guanglei Hong’s new book “Causality in a Social World: Moderation, Mediation, and Spill-over” (John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, 2015). The target audience includes graduate students, early career scholars, and advanced researchers who are familiar with multiple regression and have had prior exposure to binary and multinomial logistic regression. Prior knowledge of causal inference is not required but will be a major plus. Each participant will need to bring a laptop for hands-on exercises. Instructors: Guanglei Hong, University of Chicago; Jonah Deutsch, Mathamatica

Date: Friday, April 17, 1:00 pm–5:00 pm

Fee: $95 

Location: Fairmont, Second Level - State
PDC18: How to Get Published
This course will provide graduate students and early career faculty with critical information about how to publish. The course will feature three panels of scholars who will present an overview of the publishing process—from conceptualizing studies to preparing well-crafted manuscripts and from submission through review and resubmission. In the first panel, emerging and established scholars will share their lessons for navigating the challenges of publishing along with the other demands of academia and a balanced life. In the second panel, scholars with expertise in foundational aspects of publication will offer guidance for framing research and best practice for reporting quantitative and qualitative research. A final panel will address the identification and selection of appropriate venues for publication and issues related to publishing in the digital age, including open source journals and plagiarism. Question and answer sessions will follow each set of presentations. Each participant will be provided with materials including handouts and work samples that elaborate the important points shared during the session.


 Instructors: Patricia A. Alexander, University of Maryland – College Park; Courtney Hattan, University of Maryland, College Park; Lauren Singer, University of Maryland; DeLeon Gray, North Carolina State University; Matthew McCrudden, Victoria, University of Wellington, New Zealand; Panayiota Kendeou, University of Minnesota; Gregory Hancock, University of Maryland – College Park; Diane Schallert, University of Texas, Austin; Sofie Loyens, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands; Jeffrey A. Greene, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Date: Friday, April 17, 1:00 pm–5:00 pm

Fee: $95 

Location: Fairmont, Third Level - Crystal
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PDC19: Writing an Application for an IES Grant: A Workshop
This course will provide instruction on writing a successful application to the two primary research grant programs of the Institute of Education Sciences: the Education Research Grants Program (84.305A) and the Special Education Research Grants Program (84.324A).  The course will focus on: 1) the research topics, 2) the research goal structure, and 3) the four sections of the Research Narrative (Significance, Research Plan, Personnel, and Resources) that comprise the most important part of the grant application.  Direct instruction on these topics will be accompanied by review of examples, application to participant’s own work, and discussion.  Participants are expected to be familiar with the IES Request for Applications (see http://ies.ed.gov/funding/), to have the skills needed for such research, and to bring a research idea and outline of a research plan. Instructors: Allen Ruby, National Center for Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences; Meredith Larson, National Center for Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences

Date: Friday, April 17, 1:00 pm–5:00 pm

Fee: This course is by application only. The application deadline was February 19, 2015.

Location: Fairmont, Third Level - Chancellor
PDC20: Performance in Teacher Education
Drawing upon recent research on the centrality of practice in teacher education, the traditions of performance ethnography, and arts-based approaches to qualitative inquiry, this course introduces the theoretical grounding and practical applications of crafting and engaging with performative texts in teacher education. Specifically, the course illustrates how alternative representations, can be used to invite pre- and in-service educators to embody, voice, and imagine the perspectives of different characters and values related to institutionalized practices that generate and sustain (in)equities in educational settings. The course will include mini-lectures around the performance theory and methods that undergird performance ethnography, as well as hands-on opportunities to craft a performative text from qualitative data and engage in reperforming a text related to the preparation of teachers. Instructors: Rachael Gabriel, University of Connecticut; Jessica Nina Lester, Indiana University

Date: Saturday, April 18, 8:00 am–12:00 pm

Fee: $55 

Location: Fairmont, Third Level - Regent
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PDC21: Designing Adequately Powered Group Randomized Trials: A Hands-On Workshop Using Optimal Design Plus
This course will teach researchers and evaluators how to plan adequately powered Group Randomized Trials (GRTs). Instructors will describe the rationale and statistical framework for calculating the statistical power, teach participants how to use the Optimal Design Plus (OD+) Software, and introduce participants to the data repository within OD+ which stores design parameters for conducting power analyses for reading, math, science, and social/emotional outcomes. The course will combine lecture sessions with hands-on practice. The target audience includes researchers interested in planning and conducting group randomized trials. Participants should be familiar with basic research design concepts. In order to facilitate hands-on aspect of the course, participants are required bring a laptop to the session with the Optimal Design Plus software (http://wtgrantfoundation.org/FocusAreas#tools-for-group-randomized-trials). Instructors: Benjamin Kelcey, University of Cincinnati; Joseph Taylor, Biological Sciences Curriculum Study; Carl Westine, Western Michigan University; Jessaca K. Spybrook, Western Michigan University

Date: Sunday, April 19, 8:00 am–12:00 pm

Fee: $95 

Location: Fairmont, Third Level - Crystal
PDC22: Embedding Evaluations in Everyday Activities: Conducting Opportunistic Experiments in Schools and Districts
This course is based on two recent guides produced for the U.S. Department of Education on recognizing and conducting opportunistic experiments. An opportunistic experiment is a type of Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) that studies the effects of a planned intervention or policy action. The course will consist of lectures interspersed with five small-group activities that give participants experience identifying potential opportunistic experiments, developing a logic model that describes the theory of change for the activity being studied, planning random assignment for a study, recruiting participants, and planning the impact analysis. This course is appropriate for researchers and evaluators who have some experience planning and conducting evaluations and wish to develop skills for working with states or districts to embed random assignment evaluations in policy changes. Materials for the small-group activities will be distributed to participants. Instructors: Christina Tuttle, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc; Alexandra Resch, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Date: Sunday, April 19, 8:00 am–12:00 pm

Fee: $55 

Location: Fairmont, Third Level - Chancellor
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PDC23: Writing Up Findings: An Introduction to Crafting the Qualitative Research Report Narrative
The goal of this course is to conceptualize writing with qualitative data as storytelling. Participants will learn the key elements of story present in qualitative data, including narrative, plot, characters, setting, theme, and conflict. By the end of the course, participants will be able to identify different report styles, identify characteristics common to the different styles, and write a qualitative research report in one or more of the styles. In this course participants will examine and use narrative devices inherent to the writing of qualitative research. Participants will engage with transcripts from an extant research study and cast analyzed data into different report styles, using rhetorical structures common to the different styles associated with the various qualitative research designs. The course is designed for advanced graduate students and early career scholars interested in qualitative research. Participants should have a working knowledge of qualitative research, have completed at least an introductory course in the field, and have experience reading, coding, and writing from transcripts. They will be tasked with a short writing assignment before the course. Participants should bring laptops and be prepared to write and share what they have written with other participants. Instructors: Claire C. Major, The University of Alabama; Karri A. Holley, The University of Alabama

Date: Sunday, April 19, 8:00 am–12:00 pm

Fee: $55 

Location: Fairmont, Third Level - Regent
PDC24: Textbook Writing: The Integration of Scholarship and Teaching
The course is suitable for anyone interested in textbook writing including attendees who would like to know more about textbook writing, are contemplating writing a text, or are currently writing one as well as experienced authors who want to hone their textbook writing skills. Emphasis will be on practical information and advice, including addressing participants' specific questions/concerns. Topics include: reasons for writing a textbook, textbook writing as scholarship, personal/professional prerequisites, how to decide whether to write a textbook, writing a textbook proposal and sample chapters, contacting publishers, negotiating a favorable contract, the nitty-gritty of writing (including translating classroom teaching into textbook pedagogy), working with coauthors, managing the production of your book, dealing with publishers, alternatives to traditional publishing, and author survival skills.  Instructors: Michael D. Spiegler, Providence College

Date: Sunday, April 19, 1:00 pm–5:00 pm

Fee: $55 

Location: Fairmont, Third Level - Regent
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PDC25: Hierarchical Linear Modeling with Large-Scale International Databases
Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) has rapidly grown in popularity as the method of choice for analyzing data that is hierarchically structured, or nested. Data from large-scale international studies (PIRLS, PISA, and TIMMS) are very well suited for HLM analyses, as the sampled students are nested within classrooms and/or schools and nested within countries. These databases are unique in terms of the kind of data they contain and the methodological aspects of the databases that a researcher needs to understand (e.g., sampling weights and multiple achievement values) in order to use HLM with the databases. Instructors will teach participants how to do HLM with data from large-scale international studies. The target audience includes graduate students, emerging researchers, and continuing researchers who have at least a basic level of proficiency using HLM software and who wish to learn how to do HLM using data from three large-scale international studies, including PIRLS, PISA, and TIMSS. Participants should bring their own laptop computer with HLM 7 loaded onto it. Following this presentation will be a hands-on demonstration focused on the preparation of an international dataset for analysis with HLM. Participants will be able to access course material ahead of time. Instructors: David Miller, American Institutes for Research; Andres Sandoval-Hernandez, International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement; Leslie Rutkowski, Indiana University; Anna Katyn Chmielewski, University of Toronto; Francis Howard Lim Huang, University of Missouri - Columbia

Date: Sunday, April 19, 1:00 pm–5:00 pm

Fee: $95 

Location:  Fairmont, Third Level - Crystal
PDC26: Social Networks Models in Education Research
This course will introduce participants to social network analysis and social network statistical models using the open source software R. The course will be divided between lecture and group/individual hands-on practice with data analysis. The course is open to anyone with an interest in social network modeling although experience with R or some other command line software is useful. Prerequisite knowledge about regression or any other statistical models will be useful. 


 Instructors: Brian W. Junker, Carnegie Mellon University; Andrew C. Thomas, Carnegie Mellon University; Tracy Sweet, University of Maryland - College Park

Date: Sunday, April 19, 1:00 pm–5:00 pm

Fee: $95 

Location: Fairmont, Second Level - Ambassador
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PDC27: Sensitivity Analysis: Quantifying the Discourse about Causal Inference
Course participants will learn how to quantify concerns about causal inferences due to unobserved variables or populations. Participants will learn how to calculate the correlations associated with an unobserved confounding variable or the amount of one’s sample that would have to be replaced to invalidate an inference. The instructors will present a general framework for characterizing the robustness of inferences from randomized experiments or observational studies. Calculations for bivariate and multivariate analysis will be presented in SPSS, SAS, and Stata, with an excel spreadsheet for other applications. Additional topics include a typology of thresholds for making inferences, null hypotheses of non-zero effects, evaluating thresholds relative to characteristics of observed variables or populations, and extensions to non-linear models. The format will be a mixture of presentation, individual exploration, and group work. The course is aimed at graduate students and professors who are comfortable with basic regression and multiple regression. Instructor: Kenneth Frank, Michigan State University

Date: Sunday, April 19, 1:00 pm–5:00 pm

Fee: $95 

Location: Fairmont, Second Level - Gold

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