Events

1. 7th IEA International Research Conference

(24 – 25 June 2019)

• Members of the Embracing Heterogeneity Project attended the 8th IEA International Research Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The week started with 4 pre-conference workshops. Professor Leslie Rutkowski co-taught the workshop “Multilevel Modeling with IEA Data” with Dr. Maria Magdalena Isac from the International Large-Scale Assessments Unit of the Italian Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI). Professor David Rutkowski co-taught the workshop “Using large-scale assessment data to inform policy and practice” with Dr. Sabine Meinck. Members of the project also held a symposium entitled, “The future of international assessment? The promise and challenge of a multistage design in IEA studies,” which was chaired by Professor Leslie Rutkowski. Professor Dubravka Svetina, Dr. Yuan-Ling Linda Liaw and Montserrat Valdivia presented papers discussing issues pertaining to multistage testing in an ILSA context. Professor Leslie Rutkowski and project partner, Dr. Andres Sandoval also presented at the symposium on IEA Compass: Briefs in Education series which was chaired by Professor David Rutkowski. PhD candidate, Kondwani Kajera Mughogho presented his poster which was received the Constantinos Papanastasiou Memorial Award for the best poster contribution.

2.  2019 Comparative and International Education Society (CIES)

(14 -19 April)

• Professor David Rutkowski attended the 2019 Comparative and International Education Society conference in San Francisco. Professor Rutkowski gave a presentation entitled: Improving International Achievement Estimation with Timing Data. (For more information about the Response Time Data project, please click here.)

3.   2018 Frontiers in Educational Measurement – Oslo, Norway

(11 – 13 September)

• The team, comprising Professor David Rutkowski, Professor Leslie Rutkowski, Dr. Yuan-Ling Liaw, Kondwani Mughogho and collaborators Dr. Maria Bolsinova and Dr. Jesper Tijmstra attended the 2018 Frontiers in Educational Measurement in Oslo, Norway. Professor David Rutkowski was part of the panel discussion. Professor Leslie Rutkowski, Dr. Yuan-Ling Liaw, Dr. Maria Bolsinova and Dr. Jesper Tijmstra gave presentations about the research they are working on. Kondwani Mughogho presented his poster.

4.  American Educational Research Association (AERA)/ National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), 2018 – New York, New York

(12 – 17 April)

• The team, comprising Professor Leslie Rutkowski, Dr. Yuan-Ling Liaw, and Professor Dubravka Svetina presented several papers. At the AERA meeting, Professor Leslie Rutkowski gave the AERA Division D Awardee presentation together with Dr. Matthias von Davier for their 2014 co-edited book (together with Professor David Rutkowski), Handbook of International Large-Scale Assessment (Chapman & Hall).li>

5. Report release and panel discussion for International Education Assessments: Cautions, Conundrums, and Common Sense (National Academy of Education).

(April 6, 2018)

• Professor Leslie Rutkowski was part of an invited panel where she gave commentary on the National Academy of Education’s report. A link to the report, videos, and presentations can be found here: https://naeducation.org/ilsa-report-release-agenda/.

6. The International Meeting of the Psychometric Society (IMPS) in Zurich, Switzerland.

(18-21 July 2017)

• Some members of the Embracing Heterogeneity Project attended the International Meeting of the Psychometric Society (IMPS) in Zurich, Switzerland. The team, comprising of Prof. Leslie Rutkowski and Dr. Tyler Matta together with colleagues from IPN – Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education at Kiel University, Dr. Alexander Robitzsch and Simon Grund held a symposium entitled, “Missing Data in Large-Scale Educational Assessments,” which was chaired by Dr. Tyler Matta.

7.   Seminar: A Call for a Measured Approach to Reporting and Interpreting PISA Results – University of Bath, United Kingdom.

(17 July 2017)

• In this presentation, David discussed the influential position of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and several methodological areas that demonstrate the need for caution when using and interpreting PISA results. Drawing on the work of the project (specifically the paper Bridging Validity & Evaluation to Match ILSA Claims and Country Aims) David showed how countries could better engage with the developers of ILSAs to better understand how they can make the most of their participation without falling into the trap of making unwarranted claims with the results.

8.  7th IEA International Research Conference

(26-30 June 2017)

• Members of the Embracing Heterogeneity Project attended the 7th IEA International Research Conference in Prague, Czech Republic. The week started with 4 pre-conference workshops. Dr. Leslie Rutkowski co-taught the workshop “Multilevel Modeling with IEA Data” with Agnes Stancel-Piatak from the IEA. Members of the project also held a symposium entitled, “Embracing Heterogeneity in International Large Scale Assessments,” which was chaired by Dr. David Rutkowski. Dr. Andres Sandoval, Dr. Leslie Rutkowski, Dr. Maria-Elena Oliveri presented papers discussing how we can better account for cultural differences in ILSAs. Dr. Yuan-Ling Linda Liaw presented a new R package that was developed under the project.

9. Micro-Analytic Methods in Large-Scale Educational Assessment Seminar

(12-13 June 2017)

• Dr. Bryan Maddox spent two days in Oslo. During his stay, he facilitated  a seminar, Micro-Analytic Methods in Large-Scale Educational Assessment, at the University of Oslo. This seminar introduced ‘micro-analytic’ methods in large-scale educational assessments, their application in testing and underlying theory. The focus of the seminar was on the use of micro-analytic methods in international large-scale assessments (ILSAs).

10. CIES: Atlanta

(05-09 March 2017)

• Members of the Embracing Heterogeneity Project had three presentations at this years CIES annual meeting (http://www.cies2017.org/cies-2017/). Dr. David Rutkowski, Dr. Leslie Rutkowski, and Dr. Andres Sandoval each presented papers discussing how we can better account for cultural differences in ILSAs.

11.   Visit from Dr. Eugenio Gonzalez from ETS

(06 – 08 February 2017)

• Dr. Gonzalez spent three days in Oslo. During his stay, he facilitated the  a course, Introduction to International Assessment Databases at the University of Oslo. On the third day, Dr. Gonzalez was given a tour of the r package that is currently under development; the lsasim package, which enables researchers to generate data for conducting research on many aspects of large-scale assessments.

12.   Visit from collaborator, Dr. Andres Sandoval from the University of Bath

(11 November 2016)

• Dr. Sandoval spent two intense days working with the team on a project that examines data from three international studies (PISA, TERCE, and TIMSS), to explore both across and within county data consistency on select background scales. The three assessments were purposely chosen as they represent three different models of international assessment. Our initial findings from the meeting suggest that the analyzed background scales are not fully equivalent in any of the three studies, and therefore comparisons across countries should be done with caution. The team is currently working on finalizing the results and plans to have a full paper completed by Summer of 2017.

13.   Visit from collaborator, Dr. Maria Elena Oliveri from ETS

(24 – 26 October 2016)

• Dr. Oliveri spent three days with the Embracing Heterogeneity research group to develop a model for valuing participation in international large-scale assessments. The resultant model, currently being written up for a scientific outlet, brings together ideas from evaluation theory and validity theory to provide stakeholders with a tool for systematically understanding intended and unintended consequences of participation.

12. Visit from expert advisor, Dr. Matthias von Davier from ETS

(14 October 2016)

• In addition to giving a high-profile talk on the newest innovations in PISA, Dr. von Davier lent his measurement expertise as an external advisor. As the first such meeting in support of our Embracing Heterogeneity project, we shared our overarching research idea as well as work in progress.