Nidhi Kohli, assistant professor in quantitative methods of education in the Department of Educational Psychology, has had research published in three highly regarded journals this year. These studies, published in the Journal of School Psychology, Psychological Methods, and Psychometrika, focus on the development and application of statistical models to examine nonlinear patterns of change in individual behavior over time.

“I’ve always been interested in development. I haven’t experienced a constant rate of change in my own learning; we all learn at different rates,” she said.

Dr. Kohli’s Psychological Methods and Psychometrika articles explore the estimation of nonlinear functions to track student development that exhibits distinct phases of growth. Her School Psychology article, co-authored by associate professor in school psychology, Dr. Amanda Sullivan, applies this research to study differences in mathematics achievement trajectories for students with or without learning disabilities.

“What if a child doesn’t behave like the majority?” said Dr. Kohli, “If we can predict when students are ready for the next phase, we can time our interventions to ensure students get the most out of their education.”