David J. Francis - US grants

The objective of this proposal is to investigate new methodologies for the early detection and identification of reading disabled children. Current approaches to the identification of reading disabilities suffer from statistical and theoretical shortcomings which result in high rates of misclassification. In addition, such approaches, which compare indices of presumed ability potential and actual attainment, preclude early detection of reading disabilities. We propose a skill-based approach based on the growth of requisite precursor abilities underlying successful reading rather than attainment of designated levels of performance. Analysis of individual growth curves yields a quantification of learning that can form the basis for designating children at risk for reading difficulties, and provide an alternative to definitions based on ability potential/achievement discrepancies. To accomplish these objectives, we propose to study the development of precursors of reading and spelling in a broad based sample of kindergarten, first, and second grade children. We propose to use a modified longitudinal time-sequential design with N=900 children studied for one to three years and to assess the utility of using growth rates of reading and spelling precursors and related skills as predictors of growth and attainment in reading and spelling. Three specific aims are proposed addressing (a) reading precursors; (b) predictive utility; and (c) identification. We predict that: 1. Reading Precursors: Kindergarten children will differ in their growth and development of precursor skills, viz. orthographic and phonological awareness, and visual-motor integration. 2. Predictive Utility: The rate of development of the precursors will positively relate to the rate of development and the level of attainment of reading and spelling skill. In turn, individual growth rates in reading and spelling skills will predict performance on standardized tests of reading and spelling, and in-class performance. 3. Identification: The use of growth rates for skills and precursors will (1) allow for earlier identification of children at risk for poor academic outcomes and (2) lead to more stable predictions regarding future academic performance.

data collection methodology /evaluation; statistics /biometry

The objective of Project I (Measurement) is to develop and evaluate instruments used to measure oracy and literacy in Spanish and English in English-language learners. We propose a five-year study of 1600 children in grades K-3 who are English-language learners. Primary data collection will occur in the first two years. In subsequent years, efforts will be devoted to hypothesis-oriented analyses of the first two years of data collection, and the analysis of measurement-related hypotheses based on data collected in Project II (Development) of this program project. A cross-sectional design is proposed over t he same age range studied longitudinally in Project II (Development). The data collection scheme in Project I (Measurement) will allow efficient development of new tests and initial estimation of item parameters and test properties using a pool of subjects that span the age and ability range of Project II, but requiring only one year of primary data collection. This approach of superimposing a cross-sectional design over a longitudinal design allows us to assess potential effects of repeat testing (so called practice effects) in the longitudinal study. More importantly, Project I will permit identification of appropriate basal and ceiling rules for all tests, allow reduction in administrative time for all tests, thoroughly evaluate the psychometric properties of all tests without comprising domain coverage, and test specific hypotheses about the inter-relationship of the various constructs in English-language learners. Three specific aims are proposed: 1) language proficiency addresses the psychometric properties and construct validity of tests used to measure oracy, literacy, and literacy-related skills in English and Spanish in English language learners; 2) literacy-related skills addresses the nature of the constructs that underlie development of language and literacy skills in English and Spanish, and their interrelationships; 3) psychometric characteristics provides for instrument development and refinement through systematic evaluations of the reliability and validity of measures of oracy and literacy used across the program project. Altogether, Project 1 is central to the goals of the research program, providing tools and a hypothesis-oriented evaluation of these tools essential to the Projects II-V. In addition, Project I highly responsive to the overall goals of the RFA, responding to the call for improve measurement strategies and normative development studies of English-language learners.

The development and literacy skills in children who speak Spanish is a major problem for our society. The most pressing issue for research in this area is the language in the literacy development of English-language learning. The objective of this program project application is to identify the factors and conditions under which children who speak Spanish develop proficient literacy skills in English and Spanish. The central theme is that there is substantial variability in the development of literacy skills among English-language. Multiple factors and conditions at levels involving the child, teacher, and the context in which the child develops (school, family, community) account for this variability. In order to explain this variability, these factor and conditions must by language in literacy skill development. To address this objective and central theme, we propose a core longitudinal study from K-G3 of 1,440 children in 144 classrooms in schools from 3 geographic regions: urban Texas, border Texas, and urban California. These children will be selected from classroom representative of one of 4 language program models; (1) English language immersion; (2) early exit; (3) late exit; and (4) dual language. Five projects are proposed: 1) Project I (Measurement) addresses the development and evaluation of instruments for measuring oral language proficiency, literacy skills, and literacy-related skills in English and Spanish; 2) Project II (Development) proposes a 4-year longitudinal study (K-G3) of the growth of oral language proficiency, literacy skills, and literacy-related skills; 3) Project III (Instruction) provides for systematic observations of classroom instructional practices; Project IV (Intervention) evaluates the efficacy of early interventions for high risk English-language learners. Two Cores support the 5 projects: Core A (Administrative Core); and Core B (Data Management, Computer, and Statistics). Projects II-IV are based on the same core longitudinal sample and utilize the measures developed in Project I (Measurement). This synergistic, multi-site study addresses the primary focus of the RFA by systematically evaluating "the condition under which English-language reading and writing skills are most efficiently and productively developed in children whose first language is Spanish."

ABSTRACT NOT PROVIDED

0-11 years old; Achievement; Achievement Attainment; Address; Affect; Aptitude; Child; Child Youth; Children (0-21); Classification; Cognitive; Comprehension; Confidence Intervals; Data; Development; Disabled Persons; Disabled Population; Early Intervention; Early Intervention (Education); Exhibits; Handicapped; History; Human, Child; Incidence; Individual; Individual Differences; Instruction; Intercept; Intervention; Intervention Strategies; Intervention Studies; Investigation; Learning; Learning Disabilities; Learning disability; Longitudinal Studies; Measurement; Measures; Modeling; Monitor; Nature; Numbers; Outcome; People with Disabilities; Performance; Persons with Disabilities; Population; Rate; Reader; Reading; Reading Disabilities; Reading disability; Recording of previous events; Relative; Relative (related person); Research; Risk; SUBGP; Sampling; Schools; Sensitivity and Specificity; Severities; Students; Subgroup; Systematics; Testing; Texas; Time; Validity and Reliability; Vocabulary; Vocabulary Words; base; children; disability; disabled; disabled people; improved; interventional strategy; long-term study; neuroimaging; remediation; response; skills; youngster

a. Objectives Core B plays the role of the traditional Data Coordinating Center in multi-site clinical trials research. As such, Core B was designed to provide support to Cores A and C and Projects 1-4 in three broadly defined areas - Data Acquisition, Data Management and Communications, and Data Analysis. The specific objectives of Core B are to (a) facilitate acquisition of data and project specific data for Projects 1-4, (b) develop tools and procedures for ensuring and monitoring the accuracy and confidentiality of all collected data, (c) develop tools and procedures to aid the Principal Investigator, the Executive Committee, and the Scientific Advisory Board in providing scientific oversight and administration of the Program Project, (d) facilitate communication and sharing of data among investigators through state of the art computer networking, and (e) provide statistical support to investigators in the evaluation of Project 1-4 hypotheses.

Project 1: Classification and Definition of Learning Disabilities Based on Response to Instruction Models. The objective of Project 1 (Classification) is to systematically evaluate a set of classification and measurement issues that affect the identification of students as learning disabled (LD) in response to instruction (RTI) models. We propose three specific aims organized around the classification, measurement, and identification of LD. Specific Aim 1 (Assessment and Identification) addresses the development of an assessment battery that permits the identification of poor readers in the older grades. To implement RTI models, it must be possible to screen a school population, identify students at-risk for disability status, and monitor their progress. In Year 1, we propose a study of 800 students followed from the end of Grade 5 - beginning of Grade 6 in an effort to (a) identify the incidence and types of reading problems involving accuracy, fluency, and comprehension in a sample initially selected on the basis of poor performance on a comprehension test;(b) evaluate the stability of these types;and (c) determine whether abbreviated assessments at ah individual or group level can reliably identify poor readers in middle school. Specific Aim 2 (Reliability of RTI Models) addresses the nature and reliability of different criteria for identifying inadequate responders in different assessment domains (accuracy, fluency) and criteria (intercept, slope, absolute criteria). By utilizing the assessment data used to evaluate outcomes in Projects 2 (Early Intervention) and 3 (Remediation) at the beginning and end of intervention, and more frequent progress monitoring assessments from these Projects, we will define the number of students that meet different RTI criteria, examine overlap, and manipulate the effect of different cut points. Specific Aim 3 (External Validity of RTI Models) addresses the validity of classifications that emerge under Aim 2 using cognitive assessments obtained before and after Tier III interventions in Project 2 (Early Intervention) and Project 3 (Remediation). In addition, we will use the functional neuroimaging data from Project 4 (MSI) to further evaluate the external validity of RTI classifications based on variables not used to define the groups. RTI criteria will be compared to criteria generated by other proposed classification, including IQ-discrepancy, low achievement, and individual difference models. Altogether, we propose a thorough investigation of classification and definition issues involving LD and RTI that reflects our 25 year history of research on these issues and is integrated with the other projects and cores in the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities.

The objectives of Core C are to (a) facilitate acquisition of data and project specific data for Projects 1-4, (b) develop tools and procedures for ensuring and monitoring the accuracy and confidentiality of all collected data, (c) develop tools and procedures to aid the Principal Investigator, the Executive Committee, and the Scientific Advisory Board in providing scientific oversight and administration of the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities, (d) facilitate communication and sharing of data among investigators through state of the art computer networking, (e) provide statistical analysis of Project 1-4 hypotheses, and (f) collaborate with investigators in the conceptualization of and to conduct cross-project, integrative analyses from the current projects, as well as those that might involve data from the current projects and data collected in the prior award. Dr. David Francis, an experienced methodologist, is the Core Director. He will supervise all activities of Core C, working closely with other experienced methodologists (Stuebing, Cirino, Roberts) to establish data bases, supervise quality control, and perform statistical analyses. The resources of the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics (TIMES) are extensive and will be available to the Center. The Core has the capacity for sophisticated data management and complex statistical analysis, with an established track record in this area. All of the project publications reflect usage of Core C for data management and analysis over the past 5 years.

Most existing methodologies of functional data analysis are limited to data structured in one domain, such as time. Two-way structured functional data are indexed by two functional domains, such as space and time, and each domain has its own notion of regularity, such as smoothness or sparsity. Fully considering the two-way structure of the data will lead to more accurate analysis results. Recent work by the lead PI on two-way regularization has provided some preliminary results and a good starting point for investigating new methodology of dimension reduction, feature extraction, regression and classification for two-way functional data. This research team plans to further develop the methodology for two-way functional data in several important directions:(a) Develop a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space theory for two-way regularized singular value decomposition (SVD); (b) Develop novel dimension reduction methods for data that are indexed by general domains such as manifolds; (c) Develop dimension reduction methods that effectively analyze discrete two-way functional data; (d) Develop two-way regularization methods for solving the magnetoencephalography (MEG) inverse problem; (e) Develop new classifiers for diagnosis of mental disorders using dynamic MEG images as predictors; (f) Develop robust methods that are resistant to outliers. The success of the research will add a new dimension to functional data analysis and significantly enrich the field.

Two-way structured functional data arise in various disciplines, including medicine, social sciences, earth sciences, economics, and business. But few existing methodologies fully take into account the two-way structure of this type of functional data. The novel statistical methods developed in this research will provide valuable tools for efficient use of such data. They will provide better understanding of scientific, social and economic phenomena and make more accurate predictions. In particular, the two-way reguarlized SVD provides a new analysis of variance method for analyzing high throughput bioinformatics data and for discovering interactions among biomarkers and clinical variables that are associated with a disease phenotype. The new MEG inverse solvers will facilitate noninvasive presurgical mapping of functional areas of the brain. The new classifiers will help diagonosis and assessment of mental diseases using dynamic MEG images. The proposed activities involve training of Ph.D. students who participate in the proposed projects and mentoring of the female, junior statistician P.I. in a psychology department. Research results will be disseminated through collaborative work, academic presentations, and journal publications. Web pages will be created to enable quick access to user-friendly and accessible software implementations of new methods as well as technical reports and relevant references.

A Wilson, Core C (Data Management and Statistics) Summary The objectives of Core C are to (a) facilitate acquisition of shared data and project specific data for Projects 1- 5, (b) develop tools and procedures for ensuring and monitoring the accuracy and confidentiality of all collected data, (c) develop tools and procedures to aid the Principal Investigator, the Executive Committee, and the Scientific Advisory Committee in providing scientific oversight and administration of the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities (TCLD), (d) facilitate communication and sharing of data among investigators through state of the art computer networking and HIPAA Compliant shared, distributed workspaces, and data movement (e) provide statistical analysis and/or support to Projects 1-5, and (f) to collaborate with investigators in the conceptualization and execution of cross-project, integrative analyses from the current projects, including synergistic activities that might incorporate data collected in the prior TCLD awards. These objectives are organized into three specific aims targeting: (1) Data Acquisition; (2) Data Management; and (3) Data Analysis. Through these aims Core C seeks to enhance the scientific rigor and reproducibility of research throughout the center by providing investigators access to sustainable, cost effective, cutting-edge intellectual and technical resources, prioritizing quality control, scientific integrity, and productivity, and promoting advanced statistical approaches to individual study aims and interdisciplinary, cross-project synergies. Dr. David Francis, an experienced methodologist, is the Core Director. He will supervise all activities of Core C, working closely with other experienced methodologists (Taylor, Roberts, Cirino) to establish databases, supervise quality control, and perform statistical analyses. The resources of the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics (TIMES) are extensive and will be available to the Center. The Core has the capacity for efficient, high quality data acquisition, sophisticated data management, and complex statistical analysis, with an established track record in all three areas. The project publications that involve data listed in the current progress reports reflect usage of Core C for data management and analysis over the past 5 years.

The overarching theme of Project 1 (Integration) is integration, with the following objectives: (a) to continue research on the classification and identification of children with learning disabilities (LDs) using statistical simulation and real data (b) to extend this work to English learners (Els), and (c) to expand the use of meta- analysis and extend previous syntheses to co-morbid disabilities and to Els. The activities integrate research across projects, approaches, frameworks, settings, and populations. With this overarching purpose of Integration and these stated objectives, Project 1 has three specific aims. Specific Aim 1 (Classification and Identification) addresses the challenges inherent in the identification and classification of LDs, targeting a historical mismatch permeating the literature between approach (dimensional) and framework (categorical). Project 1 seeks to investigate the inherent nature of LDs as either dimensional or non-dimensional while moving beyond current approaches to identification to develop and evaluate new approaches that overcome the known problems with existing approaches. Aim 1 draws on simulated data and actual data from Projects 2- 4 in the prior and current awards, and Projects 1 (Classification) and 3 (Remediation) from the first award. New methods include (a) latent variable models appropriate for categorical and dimensional frameworks, and (b) a reframing of RTI in terms of expected magnitude of response to instruction, consistent with a dimensional view of LDs. We expect to find support for our reconceptualization of RTI in terms of expected magnitude of response that is consistent with ideas from personalized medicine as applied to student learning and instruction. In addition, application of these methods to a large sample of Els will address fundamental questions of how to identify LDs in Els with persistent academic difficulties. Specific Aim 2 (External Validity of Identification Methods) addresses the validity of the identification and classification methods developed and tested under Aim 1. Using data collected under Projects 2 (Attention), 4 (Neuroimaging), and 5 (Epigenetics), we will compare children from Project 3 (Intervention) identified using different methods under Aim 1 on measures of attention, written expression, math, and other domains, including measures of neural response and epigenetics. We will also work with Project 4 (Neuroimaging) to develop a measure of neural specificity to use in external validation of identifications and to characterize RTI. Specific Aim 3 (Synthesis) continues and expands our work on empirical synthesis from the previous five years. We propose to undertake meta-analytic work addressing (a) the history of LD identification drawing on our prior 100 year review (Scammacca, et al., 2016), (b) predictors of intervention response in comorbid disabilities; (c) cognitive similarities and differences between comorbid and singular disabilities, including multiple academic domains with and without ADD/ADHD; (d) expand previous meta-analyses on identification to synthesize the literature on identification of disabilities in children who are Els; and (e) to update the Grigorenko (2005) synthesis of the LD-genetics literature.