Siren Spring 2014

7/22/2019 Siren Spring 2014

1/12

1stPlace: Jeb Puryear , University of North Texas

Advisor: Tod Kettler

Title: Metacognition and Creativity: A Develop-

mental Perspective

2nd

Place: Alexandra Vuyk, University of Kansas

Advisor: Dr. Thomas KrieshokTitle:Overexcitabilities or Openness to Experience?

1st Place: Enyi Jen - Purdue UniversityAdvisors: Dr. Sidney Moon and Dr. Marcia Gentry

Title:Retrospective Perceptions of Graduates of a Self-

Contained Programs in Taiwan for High School Students

Talented in STEM

2nd

Place: Jason MacIntoshPurdue UniversityAdvisor: Dr. Marcia Gentry

Title:Designing, Piloting, Evaluating, and Revising Concept-Ba

STEM Curricula for High Ability Elementary Students

INSIDE

THIS

ISSUE:

A Letter from

the Chair:Jill Adelson

Committee

2

Elections

A call fornominations

3

Program ChairUpdate

4

R & E

Committees

5

In theSpot-light

6 & 7

AERAInformation

8 & 9

SummerLearning

Opportunities10 & 11

Membership

GraduateResearch Gala

Call forSubmissions

12

SIRENSignificant Information for the Research and Evaluation NetwoS P R I N G 2 0 1 4V O L U M E 6 , I S S U E 1

2013 Graduate Student Research Gala WinnersWinners of the 2013 graduate student research competition were

announced last fall at the annual conference. Please extend yourcongratulations to the following:

Doctoral-level, In-progress Research

Doctoral-level, Completed Research

Celebrating our Up-and-Coming Researchers


2/12

P A G E 2

Sincerely,

Jill

Letter from the Research & Evaluation

Network Chair

Jill Adelson

Many thanks to all who attended the R&E business meeting and committee meetings at the2013 Convention this past November! At the Convention, we continued a lot of important R&E

work, which continues to be conducted throughout the year. We are continuing that work and pre-

paring for the 2014 Convention. As always, I would like to extend an enormous THANK YOU to all

of our offices, committee chairs, and committee members. I will not detail all of the accomplish-

ments of our committees, as they have each detailed them in their brief reports in this newsletter.

This year, R&E has decided a change in our officer terms. The Chair/Chair-Elect office will

continue to be elected through NAGC, and per NAGC guidelines, that term begins on September 1.

However, although other new officers will be elected in the summer/early fall, their term will not

begin until the END of the Convention. This allows some time for overlap and transition of officers

and also allows officers to see through the work they have been doing throughout the year in prepa-ration for the Convention. On that note, please consider nominating a colleague or yourself to serve

as an NAGC officer/committee chair. The Chair Elect nominations are due through NAGC, and after

that election is complete, we will send out a call for nominations for all of our positions (which have

a 2-year term). More information can be found in the elections section of this newsletter.

It is difficult to wrap my head around the fact that this is my last time writing the letter from

the Chair for the R&E Network. It has been a great two years, and I have had the opportunity to

work with many great people in the Network. For the next newsletter, Megan Foley Nicpon will

have transitioned from Chair-Elect to Chair. I have thoroughly enjoyed our partnership as Chair and

Chair-Elect the last two years, and I am excited to see where she leads the Network in the upcoming

two years. If you have any ideas for the R&E Network, please feel free to email me at

[email protected].

Research & EvaluationNetwork

Letter from the Chair

Jill Adelson

Up-Dates from R & E Committees

The Research and Evaluation Graduate Student Committeehas communicated on a monthly ba-

sis via Google hangout, email, or phone. We have made great progress on our Journals and Confer-

ences project, and it is anticipated to be completed by May 2014. Also, we have created a list of

survey questions to be uploaded to Survey Monkey. The purpose of the survey is to conduct a needs

assessment for graduate students in the Network, or possibly all graduate students.

Mid-Career and Beyond Scholars Committee:We have gotten feedback from committee members on next steps. We have pulled together an ex-

haustive list of senior people and will be setting up brief interviews with folks in an attempt to get a

handle on the "why nots" and what might R&E do to "entice" more active and sustained involve-

ment.

Awards Committee:There were 15 dissertations submitted for the Dissertation Award. All dissertations are currently

being reviewed. The call for submissions for the Graduate Research Gala has been announced (for

details, please see Graduate Student Research Gala athttp://www.nagc.org/
mailto:[email protected]://www.nagc.org/ResearchEvaluationNetwork.aspxhttp://www.nagc.org/ResearchEvaluationNetwork.aspxmailto:[email protected]


3/12

P A G E

V O L U M

I S S U E

Elections

Are you interested in becoming involved?

NAGC is currently seeking nominations for R&E Chair Elect. This person serves 2 years as Chair Elect, 2 years asChair, and then 2 years as Past Chair. They will work closely with Megan Foley Nicpon, 2014-2016 R&E Chair, during

their first two years in preparation for their term as Chair. For more information, please see http://www.nagc.org/

index.aspx?id=2506.If you have questions, please email Jill, 2012-2014 R&E Chair, at [email protected].

Nominations are due April 7, and the term begins September 1.

We are currently seeking nominees for our internal elections as well. All positions are two-year terms, beginning at the

end of 2014 Convention (although elections will be completed in time for a transition period). If you are interested in

running for any of these positions, please send a 250 word bioto Megan Foley-Nicpon, the R&E Chair Elect, at megan

[email protected] July 1, 2014.

Asst. Program Chair: Aids the program chair in duties and coordinates the Research Gala. Then in

year 2, becomes the Program Chair. The Program Chairoversees the recruitment and assignment of

reviewers, coordinates with the Program Committee to make decisions about the preliminary recom-

mendations for the R&E program, and communicates with the National Office

related to the program-related questions.

Awards Co-chair: The Awards Co-Chair is elected in the summer/fall of year

0. The first year (Fall year 0), the awards co-chair helps the current chair with

the Research Gala. In year 1, the awards co-chair organizes the Research Gala,

which culminates with the Gala in November of year 1. Then in winter/spring

of year 2, the co-chair organizes the Dissertation Awards.

Secretary: Takes minutes at all Business and Executive Committee meetings

and oversees the Membership Committee, whose charge is to help recruit and

retain members. This committee sends out emails to new and lapsed R&E

members, develops membership materials (such as the Did You Know? Materi-

als), and brainstorms and implements member benefits and new initiatives toretain and recruit members.

Communications Chair:Oversees the Communications Committee, which publishes the newsletter

twice a year and manages the website, Facebook page, and any other communications-related initia-

tives.

We also will be appointing (or re-appointing) chairs for our ad-hoc committees. If you are interested in being consid-

ered for one of these positions, please send a brief bio and explanation of why you would like to chair the committee to

Megan Foley-Nicpon at [email protected] September 1, 2014.

Graduate Student Committee Chair: Oversees the Graduate Student Committee, which helps with graduate student

initiatives and helps develop further graduate student offerings.

Publications Committee Chair: Oversees the Publication Committee, which decides whether we should pursue a Net-

work publication and, if so, what the publication should be. The chair oversees the choice of authors/editors as well as

the negotiations with NAGC and the publisher.

Mid-Career and Beyond Scholars Committee Chair: Oversees the Mid-Career & Beyond Scholars Committee,

whose charge is to find ways to increase R&E involvement by and benefits for scholars who are mid-career and

beyond.

Call for Nominations
http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=2506http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=2506mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=2506http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=2506


4/12

P A G E 4

The 2013 NAGC conference was a big success for the Research and Evalua-tion Network! We had a dynamic program of 32 individual and combined sesions, one Signature Series session, and 7 poster sessions. The Research

Crackerbarrel and Gala were a huge success, and we had two fantastic Supe

Sunday sessions! One was co-sponsored with the STEM Network and dis-

cussed math and science education for gifted children, and the second ad-dressed great ideas of giftedness.

A big thank you to the senior scholars who participated in the Research

Crackerbarrel! Drs. Carolyn Callahan, Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, Del Siegle

and Frank Worrell for sharing their expertise and time with promising young

scholars!

We also want to thank those who participated in the two Super Sunday ses-sions- Drs. Matt Makel, Cheryll Adams, Jonathan Plucker, Lisa Jensen Shef-

field, Rena Subotnik, Sidney Moon, Paul Olszewski-Kublilius, and Ann Robinson. It was a terrific conference and thanks to all who helped make it possi

ble.

The 2014 conference in Baltimore is shaping up to be another fantasticone! We will again be hosting the Research Crackerbarrel and Research

Gala, where graduate students and early scholars can learn about conductingresearch and showcase their research experiences. We are confident both

events will be well-attended by our membership!

The Super Sunday Sessions for this year are still in development, but expectto see one session that honors the life and work of Dr. Jim Gallagher. We

would love your input on the second Super Sunday session. Look for anemail soon soliciting idea!

Program Chair Update-Submitted by Karen Rambo-Hernande

Baltimore 2014


5/12

P A G E 5

V O L U M E

I S S U E 1

Research and EvaluationCommittees

Awards Committee

Chairs: Lisa Foster [email protected]

Kate Snyder [email protected]

This committee helps judge the Research Gala and the Dissertation Award. This committee also determines

whether we will offer additional awards, and if so, what the criteria should be. Additional judges can be re-

cruited from outside the committee to help judge the Research Gala and the Dissertation Awards. The chair

of the awards committee (an elected position) serves as the chair of this committee.

Communications Committee

Chair: Janette Boazman [email protected]

This committee helps the communications chair (an elected position) with the newsletter, the web, and any

other communications related initiatives (such as listservs, etc.). The chair of the Communications Committee

is an elected position, Communications Chair.

Graduate Students CommitteeChair: Cindy Massicotte [email protected]

This committee helps with graduate student initiatives and helps develop further grad student offerings. The

chair of the Graduate Students Committee is an appointed position.

Membership Committee

Chair: Hope Wilson (secretary) [email protected]

This committee helps to recruit and retain members. They send out emails to new and lapsed R&E members

and develop membership materials and public relations material. In addition, they brainstorm and implement

member benefits and new initiatives to retain and recruit members. The chair of the membership committee

is the R&E Secretary.

Publications CommitteeChair: Bronwyn MacFarlane [email protected]

This committee decides whether to pursue a network publication, and if so, what the publication should be.

The committee oversees the choice of authors/editors as well as the negotiations with NAGC and the pub-

lisher. Committee members may average approximately one hour of service each month.

Strategic Initiatives Committee

Chair:Nielsen Pereira (treasurer) [email protected]

This committee is in charge of new initiatives, particularly ones that make use of financial resources, and will

work with NAGC to garner money for strategic initiatives that have any sort of cost. The chair of the commit-

tee is the R&E treasurer.

Mid-Career Scholars Committee (ad hoc)

Chair: Tonya Moon [email protected]

This committee is charged with finding ways to get mid-career scholars more involved in the Network and

with thinking of ways to meet their needs.

Other officers:

Chair: Jill Adelson [email protected]

Chair-Elect: Megan Foley Nicpon [email protected]

Past Chair: Betsy McCoach [email protected]

Program Chair Karen Rambo-Hernandez [email protected]


6/12

P A G E 6Enyi Jen

Purdue University

Research & Evaluation

Network

In the Spotlight

Retrospective Perceptions

of Graduates of a Self-Contained Programs inTaiwan for High School

Students Talented in STEM

This retrospective, qualitative study was

designed to investigate perceptions of the learning ex-periences of STEM talented male students who stuied

in a self-contained, single-gender, gifted program in a

general education high school in Taiwan. Twenty-four

participants who had graduated from the high school

gifted program in 2008 participated in this study. While these partici-

pants completed an anonymous survey and participated in one-on-one

interviews in 2012, 14 of them had graduated from university, while the

other 10 were still in university. Overall, these participants provided

positive opinions about the self-contained gifted program although afew reported that they were unable to learn so many science related-

subjects simultaneously at a fast pace, suggesting that such a pro-

gram needs to be differentiated.

These participants identified the most valuable learning

experience as the Independent Study (IS) course. They reported that the

IS course influenced their choice of college major and positively affected

their studies in their senior year of college. The only part of the IS course

that participants perceived negatively was that they needed to put extra

effort and time into accomplishing the IS project since the IS course was

a specially designed course that was different from the regular courses and

their past learning experiences. Social effects of the program varied. Majority

of these participants had positive perceptions of their peer relationships in the

program, while only few participants had positive perceptions of their peers

outside the program, and half of the participants reported they had few

friends outside of the program. Based on these findings, several suggestions

were made: program developers need to be sure to have support systems in

place for students who are overwhelmed by the challenges of a self-containedprogram; inclusion of IS components may be particularly important for gifted

high school students in Asian countries; and program developers and teachers

in programs for academically gifted students need to consider how to provide

direct instruction in personal and social skills, such as personal decision-

making, time management, interpersonal skills, and conflict resolution to

promote academic success, project management skills, and social/emotional

development.

In the SpotlightEnyi Jen


7/12

P A G E 7

The first doctoral seminar in my concentration was

one focused on creativity and problem solving. I have al-

ways been fascinated by the differences in ability levels

students exhibited in these areas. Discussing the nature of

creativity led to some enriching in-class conversations as

well as a number of ongoing exchanges outside of the

classroom. For me, the debates on the nature of creativity

always boiled down to two things: 1) the eminence issue and some intrinsic

trait in people that helped them generate ideas or 2) some evaluation of

creative products. In my mind, the first is analogous to the issue of gifted-

ness (whether it is a fixed construct and whether the gifted child para-

digm is sufficient). None of that sits well with me. The second crea-tivity issue, a focus on products, isnt practical either because, to the

educator in me, its not focused on an effort to be predictive unless,

of course, youre one that believes causes can come before effects. As

I stewed on what was missing, I started thinking about all the reading I

had done on Piaget and Vygotsky with respect to cognitive develop-

ment. I started piecing together the idea that what was missing was a

discussion of what goes on in the chasm between underlying idea-

tional skill and the expression of a creative product. By combining the

belief in a cognitive/creative overlap and an evaluative/reflective as-

pect to creativity, I was left thinking metacognitive function could po-tentially serve a mediator/moderator in the ideation/production connection.

A chapter in 1989sHandbook of Creativitywas the clincher. In the piece,

Bonnie Armbruster systematically highlighted metacognitive aspects in the

creative process and called for research in the area. Twenty-five years later,

the literature remains scant. The research in-progress for which I won my

award was initially focused creative writing students, but has now ex-

panded a general undergraduate population. I am using a measure of idea-

tion (Runco Ideational Behavior Scale) along with a measure of production

(Creative Behavior Inventory) as indicators of creativity. Using thesemeasures in conjunction with the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, I

am investigating what goes on inside the sifter of the creative mind look-

ing for potential interaction effects. At this point, I am planning my disser-

tation as a follow-up that takes into account personality factors as well (e.g.

openness, extroversion) as part of a broader structural equation model. Ul-

timately, I see myself working to develop instruments incorporating these

ideas that educators can use to identify creative potential in students.

In the Spotlight

V O L U M E 6 ,

I S S U E 1

Research & Evaluation

Network

In the Spotlight

Metacognition and

Creativity: ADevelopmental Perspective

Jeb PuryearUniversity of North Texas

Jeb Puryear


8/12

P A G E 8 AERAPhiladelphia

April 3April 7, 2014

Conference Theme:

The Power of Education Research forInnovation in Practice and Policy

We live in exciting times in education research, where every day new ground is being forged in re-

search design, methodology, instrumentation, and assessment. Questions regarding how people learn,

what should be taught by whom, and to what ends remain at the core of our field, enveloped in a

cloud of new ideas and technologies. In our rapidly changing world it is clearly time to take stock

of the value of education research, of how it has spurred innovation, and of its problems and the po-

tential solutions it can provide for improving the learning and well-being of children and adults. The

theme for the 2014 Annual Meeting aims to encourage submissions that link the possibilities of edu-

cation research, recognizing how evidence of varying types can be used for tackling persisting issues

in education and for their innovative resolution.

The Research on Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent Special Interest Group of the American Educa-

tional Research Association is looking forward to the annual conference to be held in Philadelphia,

PA April 3-7, 2014. Our business meeting will feature Dr. Walter Barbe and Dr. Joseph Renzulli

reminiscing on the early days of gifted education research. In addition, the SIG is sponsoring 18 pa-

pers in 4 paper sessions, 17 papers in roundtable sessions, and 5 posters at the conference. For more

information, contact Dr. Betsy McCoach ([email protected]).


AERAResearch on Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent SIG Sessions

Chronological List of Events

Philadelphia 2014

Session Type/Title Lead Authors Day Time Location

Roundtable Session 6:

Educational Policy in Rela-tion to Giftedness, Creativity,and Talent

Bland; Foreman;

Chandler;Plunkett

Friday

April 4

8:15-

9:45

Convention

Center,400 Level,Terrace IV

Paper session:Acceleration and Under-achievement in Giftedness,

Creativity, and Talent

Smeets; Fong:

McClarty; Siegel

Friday

April 4

10:35-

12:05

Convention

Center, 100Level, 107B

Poster Session 5:New Research in Giftedness,Creativity, and Talent

Yi; Cross;

Rubenstein; Wilson

Friday

April 4

12:25-

1:55

Convention

Center, 200Level, Hall E

Symposium:

Race, Masculinity, and thePursuit of Academic Excel-

lence: Educating GiftedBlack Males

Discussant:

Donna Ford

Winsler; Davis;McGee; Rose

Friday

April 4

2:15-

3:45

Convention


News from the ROGCT SIG of AERASubmitted by Hope E. Wilson,

University of North Florida
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


9/12

P A G E 9

Research on Giftedness,

Creativity, and Talent

SIG

V O L U M E 6 ,

I S S U E 1

Session Type/Title Lead Authors Day Time Location

Paper session:

Research on Creativity Withan Advanced Population.

Olthouse; Miller;

Acar; Cho

Saturday

April 5

8:15-

9:45

Convention


Symposium:

Perspectives on the Role ofand Relationship Between

Gifted Education in Re-search and in K-12 Schools

McBee; Peters;Olszewski-Kubilius;Plucker

SaturdayApril 5

2:45-4:15

ConventionCenter, 100Level, 107B

Business Meeting:

Research on Giftedness,Creativity, and Talent SIG

Business Meeting and Guest

Speakers. Reflecting on theHistory of Gifted Education:

A Conversation with Barbeand Renzulli

Chair: Betsy

Mccoach

Saturday

April 5

6:30-

8:00

Convention


Roundtable Session 18Instrumentation and Identifi-cation in Giftedness, Crea-tivity, and Talent

Nguyen; McBee;

Alimin; McIntosh

Sunday

April 6

10:35

-12:05

Convention

Center, 400Level,Terrace IV

Paper Session:Papers dealing with perfec-tionism, self-concept, and

problem behaviors in gifted,talented, and highly creativechildren.

Preckel; Wu;Madura; Szymanski

SundayApril 6

12:25-1:55

ConventionCenter, 100Level, 107B

Paper Session:Gifted, Creative, and Tal-ented Students From Multi-

cultural/International Popu-lations

Wilson; Perez;

Baudson; Jen;Pereira; Yakavets

Sunday

April 6

4:05

5:35

Convention


Roundtable Session 25

Programs for the Gifted,Creative, and Talented

Esposito; Missett;

Cho, Zayac; Brigh-ton

Monday

April 7

10:35

-12:05

Convention

Center, 400Level,Terrace III

Roundtable Session 27

Psychosocial Topics in Gift-edness, Creativity, and Tal-

ent

Barber; Makel;

Chancey; Neumann

Monday

April 7

12:25

-1:55

Convention

Center, 400Level,

Terrace III


10/12

P A G E 1 0 Summer Learning Opportunities


DATA ANALYSIS TRAINING INSTITUTE OF CONNECTICUT (DATIC)

University of Connecticut

http://www.datic.uconn.edu/

R Project for Statistical Computing

June 4, 2014Instructors: Tania B. Huedo-MedinaThis one-day workshop will introduce R project for Statistical Computing. We will explain the particularities of R com

pare to the mainstream commercial packages, and we will present the more than 5,000 free packages that R has to runstatistical analysis and create publication quality graphics. At the end of the workshop the participants should be able tomanage data, perform basic statistics and graphics, and generalize these skills to use R packages that will allow them to

run more advanced statistical analyses.

Meta-Analysis Using R

June 5-6, 2014

Instructors: Tania B. Huedo-MedinaOver the past 40 years, research exploring the links between biological, psychosocial, behavioral, and educational factohas grown exponentially. Understanding and reporting these interrelated factors that underlie individual variability will

result in the most accurate evidence-based knowledge over time and across a variety of populations and interventioncharacteristics. To summarize these large masses of evidence, meta-analytic methods have seen sharply increased use

across sciences, including many topics ranging from medical to social and behavioral sciences. As a consequence, thestatistical techniques to conduct meta-analysis have been extended and improved intensely in the last 10 years to suppoan efficient and valid practice of meta-analysis. This workshop is a comprehensive introduction to those advanced stattical methods that have been developed recently in meta-analysis. At the end of the two days, you will be able to runmeta-analytic methods under different statistical approaches that can capture and test complex models using meta-

analysis.

Dyadic Analysis

June 9-13, 2014

Instructors: David A. Kenny and Tessa V. WestThe workshop on dyadic data analysis will focus on data where both members of a dyad are measured on the same set variables. Among the topics to be covered are the measurement of nonindependence, the actor-partner interdependence

model, the analysis of distinguishable and indistinguishable dyads, mediation and moderation of dyadic effects, and ov-time analyses of dyadic data. The software package used in the workshop will be SPSS, but there will be discussion ofother packages (e.g., HLM) and structural equation modeling. Although the workshop does not require any prior knowedge or experience with multilevel modeling, participants are expected to have a working knowledge of multiple regres

sion or analysis of variance as well as SPSS.

Structural Equation Modeling

June 16-20, 2014

Instructor: D. Betsy McCoachThis introductory workshop on Structural Equation Modeling covers basics of path analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and latent variable modeling. Using AMOS Graphics, participants will learn how to build, evaluate, and revise stru

tural equation models. Although the workshop does not require any prior knowledge or experience with SEM, partici-pants are expected to have a working knowledge of multiple regression, as well as some experience using a statistical

software program such as SPSS.

Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM)

June 23-27, 2014

Instructor: D. Betsy McCoach, & Ann A. O'ConnellEach HLM workshop covers basics and applications of miltilevel modeling with extensions to more complex designs.Participants will learn how to analyze both organizational and longitudinal (growth curve) data using multilevel model

ing and to interpret the results from their analyses. Although the workshop does not require any prior knowledge or ex-perience with multilevel modeling, participants are expected to have a working knowledge of multiple regression as weas SPSS (or SAS). Analyses will be demonstrated using the software HLMv7. Instruction will consist of lectures, com-

puter workshops, and individualized consultations. The workshop emphasizes practical applications and places minima

emphasis on statistical theory.


11/12

P A G E 1 1

V O L U M E 6 ,

I S S U E 1

Texas A&M University

Summer Statistical Workshopshttp://ssw.tamu.edu/Workshops

Meta Analysis

Instructor: Victor WilsonThis four-hour short course will review basic methods for meta-analysis of research. Topics will include:

Problem finding and selection;Literature search procedures using electronic and branching library searches;

Search limitation strategies;Development of variables and coding menus as an interactive process;Basic computation and descriptive procedures;Homogeneity analysis using HLM and Q-statistics;Covariation of effects with categorical and interval study variables;Special topics:

missing data,multilevel models, andaggregating findings from previous meta-analyses.

Examples from the presenter's recent meta-analyses will be presented and discussed.

Instrument Development

Instructor: Jessica Yue

Instrument development demands for vigorous exertion. If undertaken with care and consideration, it can laythe foundation for the development of validity arguments relating to the inferences and decisions that are

based on construct measures. This 15-hour workshop will render you an overview of validity concepts andintroduce how instrument development efforts can be conducted to facilitate the development of validity

arguments. It also presents how analyses, especially those conducted within a Rasch measurement frame-work, can be used to provide evidence to support validity arguments that are founded during the instrumentdevelopment process.

Item Response Theory

Instructor: Roger MillsapThis course will provide an overview of item response theory (IRT) and its application in psychologicalmeasurement. We will begin with concepts and assumptions common to nearly all IRT models, such as theitem response function, local independence and dimensionality. We will then move to IRT models for binarytest items (e.g., items scored pass/fail), covering model specification, estimation and fit evaluation. Next, we

will discuss some IRT models for polytomous response formats (e.g., Likert items), again focusing on speci-fication, estimation and fit evaluation. Major applications of IRT in adaptive testing, test construction anditem bias analyses will be described. For software, we will alternate between the IRTPRO, BILOG, andMplus software programs. The course will be built around IRTPRO, but Mplus will be used for dimensional-ity work with some mention of BILOG.

Structural Equation Modeling

Instructor: Myeongsun YoonThis course introduces students to the major elements of designing and analyzing data using SEM and in-

cludes: review of data requirement for analysis; path analysis; assumptions; model estimation, evaluation andinterpretation; confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling analysis. Participants will useMplus as the primary statistical analysis computer program. The course will include both lecture and interac-

tive hands-on practice with data supplied by the instructor.

Hierarchical Linear Modeling

Instructor: Oi-Man KwokThis course will provide you with an introduction to the theory and application of hierarchical linear mod-els. Most data in the behavioral sciences has a multilevel structure, such as students nested within class-

rooms, patients nested within hospitals, participants nested within group treatment conditions and repeatedmeasures nested within individuals. The major goals of this course are to understand the concepts related tohierarchical linear models, to specify your own models and analyze the data using one of the HLM programs,and to interpret the statistical findings to lay persons. This course will use the HLM software program in-

cluding HLM and SPSS MIXED to perform the statistical analyses.



12/12

Graduate Student Research Gala

We Need graduate students.

We need researchers.

We need graduate students who are researchers.

We need YOU!

For information about how YOU can participate in the 2014National Association for Gifted Children Research andEvaluation Networks annualGraduate Student Research

Gala,

Contact:

Lisa Foster

[email protected]

Kate Snyder

[email protected]

P A G E 1 2

Calling AllGraduate Researchers

Did you Know the Research & Evaluation Net-

work of the NAGC has a

Facebook group?

We would love to have you as a friend in our Facebook group.

One of the R&E Communications Committee goals for the

coming year is increase the sharing of

information, develop

collaborative connections,

and celebrate accomplish-

ments through this social

media format. Our network

group is growing and we

welcome you to join. To be a

part of our group search for

NAGC Research and

Evaluation Network You

will see a Join Group but-

ton below the picture bar on

the right hand side. Clicking

the Join Group

button sends a message that you want to join. A group adminis-

trator will then review and accept the request. We look forward

to seeing you on Facebook

Join us on Facebook

V O L U M E 6 , I S S U E 1

As of February 1st we had 727 total members in the Research and Evaluation Network.

This continues our tradition of strong membership numbers. Last year at this time, wehad 739 members.

We are also continuing the tradition of sendingDid You Know?documents to our mem-

bership each month. These documents summarize recent research concerning topics ofinterest to gifted education researchers. Be sure to check out the NAGC website to find

the most recent documents including Diverse Learners and Teachers of the Gifted. Spe-cial thanks to our membership committee members: Arlene Puryear, Cindy Gilson,

Janette Boazman, Kelly Kearney, Matthew Makel, Micah Bruce-Davis, Shawn Cherry,and Susan Nikakis.

Membership Committee

Documents

Siren Spring 2014