Detecting Intervention Effects Across Context: An Examination of the Precision of Cluster Randomized Trials

The Institute of Education Sciences has funded more than 100 experiments to evaluate educational interventions in an effort to generate scientific evidence of program effectiveness on which to base education policy and practice. In general, these studies are designed with the goal of having adequate statistical power to detect the average treatment effect. However, the average treatment effect may be less informative if the treatment effects vary substantially from site to site or if the intervention effects differ across context or subpopulations. This article considers the precision of studies to detect different types of treatment effect heterogeneity. Calculations are demonstrated using a set of Institute of Education Sciences funded cluster randomized trials. Strategies for planning future studies with adequate precision for estimating treatment effect heterogeneity are discussed.     

Challenges in Building Usable Knowledge in Education

The scientific rigor of education research has improved dramatically since the year 2000. Much of the credit for this improvement is deserved by Institute of Education Sciences (IES) policies that helped create a demand for rigorous research; increased human capital capacity to carry out such work; provided funding for the work itself; and collected, evaluated, and made available the results of that work through the What Works Clearinghouse. Major challenges still remain for education research, however. One challenge is dealing with the replication crisis that has plagued other scientific fields and is likely to be a problem in education science. A second challenge is better supporting the generalizability of education research. A third challenge is adapting our rigorous research designs to the increasing complexity of our interventions and our questions about the mechanisms by which these interventions achieve their effects. Promising approaches to meet each of these challenges are suggested.     

知识产权案件“三审合一”对企业创新质量的影响

提升创新质量是我国经济实现高质量发展的关键,知识产权案件“三审合一”改革是提高知识产权司法保护力度、促进知识经济发展的重要举措。本文以“三审合一”改革作为准自然实验,采用倾向得分匹配基础上的“渐进式”双重差分法（PSM-DID）实证评估以“三审合一”改革为代表的知识产权保护制度创新对企业创新质量的影响。结果表明：“三审合一”改革能够显著提升企业的创新质量,这一结论在考虑了识别假设条件和一系列其他可能的干扰因素后依然成立;分析师关注度与研发投入强度在“三审合一”对企业创新质量的促进过程中发挥部分链式中介作用;该促进作用对大型企业、非国有企业和非高技术企业创新质量更加显著。本文为“法与创新”领域提供了新证据,对探寻创新升级新路径以及知识产权司法保护模式改革具有一定参考价值。     

论人民陪审制的有效运行

陪审制度是国家审判机关吸收普通公民作为非职业法官参加审判案件的司法制度。具有民主价值、人权价值与公正价值．但由于我国立法、司法实践的缺陷，陪审制度逐渐沉寂。而完善及运用人民陪审制度具有现实意义。我国仍应该继续沿用参审制陪审模式，并应对陪审制的重要内容如立法依据、陪审员的资格、陪审员的选任、参审具体范围等进一步完善。     

中国革命和建设的风雨图——浅谈毛泽东诗词

毛泽东诗词的内容非常丰富,但大多数是反映革命战争题材的,本文从北伐战争、土地革命战争、抗日战争、全国解放战争以及社会主义革命建设各阶段来分析毛泽东诗词。     

Efficacy of the Check & Connect Mentoring Program for At-Risk General Education High School Students

Although graduation rates are rising, the high school dropout problem remains a national crisis, and evidence-based information about interventions for at-risk students is critically needed. Prior research shows that Check & Connect, an individualized mentoring program, has positive effects on school persistence and progression for students with disabilities. This study examined the efficacy of Check & Connect with general education students who showed early warning signs of risk for dropping out of high school in a large urban district. The sample included 553 students with the lowest predicted probabilities of on-time graduation based on attendance, behavior, and course performance in Grades 8 and 9. Students were randomly assigned to receive a Check & Connect mentor for three years, starting in the summer after Grade 9, or not. Findings suggest the program was implemented with fidelity, except with students who left district schools. Check & Connect did not have any statistically significant impacts on measures of engagement, academic progress, the likelihood of dropping out, or graduation. These results are discussed in the context of other literature on mentoring and dropout prevention.     

命题逻辑演绎推理在日常生活中的应用

命题逻辑是数理逻辑的重要组成部分，它的应用很广泛文章通过案件审理、人事和电路设计等方面的实例分析了怎样利用命题逻辑的演绎推理来解决日常生活中的一些问题．     

The power of ‘evidence’: Reliable science or a set of blunt tools?

In response to the increasing emphasis on ‘evidence‐based teaching’, this article examines the privileging of randomised controlled trials and their statistical synthesis (meta‐analysis). It also pays particular attention to two third‐level statistical syntheses: John Hattie's Visible learning project and the EEF's Teaching and learning toolkit. The article examines some of the technical shortcomings, philosophical implications and ideological effects of this approach to ‘evidence’, at all these three levels. At various points in the article, aspects of critical realism are referenced in order to highlight ontological and epistemological shortcomings of ‘evidence‐based teaching’ and its implicit empiricism. Given the invocation of the medical field in this debate, it points to critiques within that field, including the need to pay attention to professional experience and clinical diagnosis in specific situations. Finally, it briefly locates the appeal to ‘evidence’ within a neoliberal policy framework.     

Implementing randomised control trials in open and distance learning: a feasibility study

Randomised control trials (RCTs) are an evidence-based research approach which has not yet been adopted and widely used in open and distance education to inform educational policy and practice. Despite the challenges entailed in their application, RCTs hold the power to robustly evaluate the effects of educational interventions in distance learning and conclude on whether (or not) these interventions should be adopted and used extensively. The aim of this paper is to spark discussions around the use of RCTs in distance learning by illustrating their benefits and drawbacks including challenges in adopting RCTs in education. To achieve this aim, a RCT was implemented to examine whether a small-scale intervention in four language modules could improve attendance at an end-of-module speaking assessment, and in consequence, performance, completion and pass rates. Results raise the need for further research in order to identify what type of interventions should be designed and put into practice to elicit a positive impact on learners. The paper concludes with a discussion on why RCTs should be brought to the forefront as a viable method for the effective evaluation of the impact of open learning analytic interventions.     

Power Analyses for Moderator Effects in Three-Level Cluster Randomized Trials

Researchers are often interested in whether the effects of an intervention differ conditional on individual- or group-moderator variables such as children's characteristics (e.g., gender), teacher's background (e.g., years of teaching), and school's characteristics (e.g., urbanity); that is, the researchers seek to examine for whom and under what circumstances an intervention works. Furthermore, the researchers are interested in understanding and interpreting variability in treatment effects through moderation analysis as an approach to exploring the sources of the treatment effect variability. This study develops formulas for power analyses to detect the moderator effects in designing three-level cluster randomized trials (CRTs). We develop the statistical formulas for calculating statistical power, minimum detectable effect size difference, and 95% confidence intervals for cluster or cross-level moderation, nonrandomly varying or random slopes, binary or continuous moderators, and designs with or without covariates. We demonstrate how the calculations can be used in the planning phase of three-level CRTs using the software PowerUp!-Moderator.