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Lydia Bradford

IPR Postdoctoral Fellow

IPR Postdoctoral Fellow

PhD, Measurement and Quantitative Methods, Michigan State University

 Contact: lydia.bradford@northwestern.edu

View CV

 

Lydia Bradford is a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Beth Tipton at the Statistics for Evidence-Based Policy and Practice (STEPP) center. She holds a Ph.D. in Measurement and Quantitative Methods from Michigan State University where her dissertation provided a latent state-trait model for investigating mediation with multiple time points in a three-level model. Currently, she is working with Beth Tipton as part of the evaluation team to investigate the effectiveness of a culturally responsive project based learning high school science curriculum in the rural south, Culturally Responsive Crafting Engaging Science Environments (CR-CESE).

Her research focuses on statistical approaches for moderation and mediation analysis in education. Her work focuses on different hierarchical and structural equation models, as well as issues of bias and power in complex designs, based on her experience with multiple cluster randomized control trials in education. Her research aims to improve experimental designs, explore machine learning applications for educational data, and investigate trade-offs in complex research models.

Selected publications:

Bradford, L. 2023. Use of machine learning to score teacher observations. In X. Zhai & J. Krajcik (Eds.), Uses of artificial intelligence in stem education. Oxford University Press.

Schneider, B., I. Chen, L. Bradford, and K. Bartz. 2022. Intervention initiatives to raise young people’s interest and participation in stem. Frontiers in Psychology 13.

Krajcik, J., B. Schneider, E.A. Miller, I.-C. Chen, L. Bradford, Q. Baker, K. Bartz, C. Miller, T. Li, S. Codere, and D. Peek-Brown. 2023. Assessing the effect of project-based learning on science learning in elementary schools. American Educational Research Journal 60(1): 70–102

Schneider, B., J. Krajcik, J. Lavonen, K. Salmela-Aro, C. Klager, L. Bradford, I.-C. Chen, Q.  Baker, I. Touitou, D. Peek-Brown, R. Marias Dezendorf, S. Maestrales, and K. Bartz. 2022. Improving science achievement—is it possible? evaluating the efficacy of a high school chemistry and physics project based learning intervention. Educational Researcher 51(2): 109–21.