More Than 30 U of A Education Researchers Contribute Knowledge at AERA Conference

Research conducted by more than 30 University of Arkansas faculty, staff, students and alumni of the College of Education and Health Professions was featured at this year's annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in New York.

"The AERA annual meeting is an excellent opportunity for our faculty and students to share their academic work with the nation's best," said Michael Miller, dean of the College of Education and Health Professions. "We have faculty and students who present their research at a wide variety of professional and academic venues, but AERA is certainly one of the oldest and most well respected of these organizations. And, AERA is a fantastic conference for graduate students to present their emerging research projects."

The American Educational Research Association's more than 25,000 members are faculty, researchers, graduate students and other distinguished professionals with diverse expertise in education research. The association was founded in 1916 with the goal of improving the educational process by encouraging scholarly inquiry related to education and evaluation and by promoting the dissemination and practical application of research results.

Not all of the U of A researchers attended the meeting in person. The research projects and presenters:

• "Understanding LGBT Faculty Members' Job Satisfaction," Michael Hevel, associate professor of higher education; Kate Mamiseishvili, professor of higher education; Donghum Lee and Chas Thompson, graduate students in higher education.
• "Investigating Wording Versus Construct Effects for a Modified Perceived Stress Scale," Ronna Turner, associate professor of educational statistics and research methods; Ki Matlock Cole, U of A graduate now on the faculty of Oklahoma State University; Wallace Gitchel, U of A graduate now on the faculty of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
• "Differential Item Functioning Based on Gender and Item Directionality on the TIMSS Mathematics Confidence Scale," Jennifer Reimers and James Weese, graduate students in educational statistics and research methods; Ronna Turner.
• "Data Use Among Principals and Teachers: Divergent Paths or Common Ground?" Ed Bengtson, associate professor of educational leadership; Kara Lasater, assistant professor of educational leadership; Waheeb S. Albiladi and William S. Davis, graduate students in curriculum and instruction.
• "The Effects of the Louisiana Scholarship Program on Student Achievement After Three Years," Jonathan Mills, research associate; Patrick Wolf, Twenty-First Century Chair in School Choice.
• "Educational Attainment Effects of Public and Private School Choice," Leesa Foreman, graduate student in education reform.
• "The Effect of Multiple Arts Experiences on the Social/Emotional Outcomes of Urban Students," Jay Greene, Twenty-First Century Chair in Education Reform; Heidi Erickson, Angela Watson, and Molly Beck, graduate students in education reform.
• "Testing Measurement Invariance in Multilevel Data With Unequal Within-Level and Between-Level Factor Structures," Lihua Yang, graduate student in educational statistics and research methods; Xinya Liang, assistant professor of educational statistics and research methods; Wen-Juo Lo, associate professor of educational statistics and research methods.
• "Teacher change in Instructional Practice: Examining Teachers' Developing Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Practices," Eva Diaz, research associate with Project RISE; Diana Gonzales Worthen, director of Project RISE; Janet Penner-Williams, associate professor of educational leadership.
• "Endrew v. Douglas: Beyond De Minimis Progress for Students With Autism," Cynthia Dieterich, Sacred Heart University; Suzanne Kucharczyk, assistant professor of special education; Kevin Brady, associate professor of educational leadership.
• "Responses to Item Wording on Stress and Anxiety Scales for Adults With Disabilities," Ronna Turner, Wallace Gitchel, Ki Matlock Cole.
• "Socratic Circles in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Social Studies Classrooms: Evidence From Practice," Hayriye Kayi Aydar, University of Arizona; Jason Endacott, associate professor of social studies education; Chris Goering, associate professor of English education.
• "Facilitating Student-Centered Learning via Teacher Reflections About Desired and Current Constructivist Practices," Freddie Bowles, associate professor of foreign language education and 10 people from other universities and a public school district.
• "Detecting Measurement Bias Using Regularized Structural Equation Modeling," Xinya Liang.
• "Special Education Longitudinal Enrollment Study for Louisiana Public Charter Schools," Patrick Wolf, Shannon Lasserre-Cortez, American Institutes for Research.
• "Using Practice, Feedback, and Relational Framing to Develop Students' Concept-Mapping Skills," Kevin Roessger, assistant professor of adult and lifelong learning; Barbara J. Daley and Duaa Amr Hafez, both of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
• "Sharing 'Best Practices' in Faculty Advising in Online Doctoral Programs Through Online Communities of Practice," Kevin Brady.
• "A Note on Incremental Fit Indices for Structural Equation Models," Akihito Kamata, Southern Methodist University; Xinya Liang.
• "A Linear-Linear Growth Model With Individual Change Points: The Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Solutions," Ping Zhang of Walmart; Qingyang Zhang, an assistant professor of mathematics; Wen-Juo Lo.

Conra Gist, an assistant professor of childhood education, chaired a symposium titled "Growing and Sustaining Black Teachers: Examining the Intersection of Identity, Professional Development, and School Context." She also presented a paper titled "What Do We Mean by 'Grow Your Own?' Exploring Differences Across Programs."

Hevel chaired a symposium on "New Perspectives on the History of Being a College Student."

Bob Maranto, Twenty-First Century Chair in Leadership and the editor of the Journal of School Choice, participated in a roundtable titled "Meet Journal Editors."