Expert Panelists
To assist the EVEA partners in their efforts to develop arguments and instruments,
a team of Expert Panelists convenes periodically to review project progress and
outputs and provide guidance. Our team of experts comprises some of the nation’s
pre-eminent authorities in the fields of assessment, validity theory, and second
language acquisition. As these fields of educational focus do not often interact
or overlap, the sheer convergence of these authorities, and the potential for cross-pollination
among them, is itself another exciting outcome of this project.
The EVEA Expert Panel includes the following members:
Jamal Abedi, Ph.D., is a Professor at the School of Education
of University of California, Davis and a research partner at the National Center
for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST). Abedi's research
interests include studies in the area of psychometrics and test and scale development
focusing on the validity of assessment and accommodation for English language learners
(ELL) and research on the opportunity to learn for ELLs. Dr. Abedi has developed
a culture-free instrument for measuring creativity, which has become translated
into a number of languages and administered in several countries.
Derek Briggs, Ph.D., is chair of the Research and Evaluation
Methodology Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he also serves
as an associate professor of quantitative methods and policy analysis. Dr. Briggs’
research agenda focuses upon building sound methodological approaches for the valid
measurement and evaluation of growth in student achievement. Examples of his research
interests in the area of educational measurement include (1) characterizing the
gap between validity theory and practice in the context of high-stakes standardized
testing, and (2) developing and applying psychometric models to assess learning
progressions.
Frances A. Butler, Ph.D., is an Independent Educational
Consultant in Language Assessment. Previously, Dr. Butler was a Senior Research
Associate and Language Testing Specialist for 15 years at the National Center for
Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing in the Graduate School of
Education and Information Studies at UCLA. Her most recent research efforts have
focused on the articulation of Academic English for broad application—curriculum,
assessment, and professional development—in school settings. Known for her research
in language testing, she has consulted on and directed language testing projects
for such diverse organizations as the Los Angeles Unified School District, the California
Department of Education, the Educational Testing Service, the Egyptian Ministry
of Education, and the Kayenta Unified School District on the Navajo Reservation
in Arizona.
Laurene Christensen, Ph.D., is a Research Associate at the
National Center on Educational Outcomes. In this position, she works with states
to improve outcomes for students with disabilities and English language learners,
particularly in the area of assessment accommodations. Recent projects at NCEO have
involved analyzing issues that have emerged from the federal standards and assessments
peer review. Dr. Christensen has expertise in large-scale assessments, school accountability,
English language learners, language acquisition, research design, and transition/postsecondary
issues. Dr. Christensen is the author of a number of publications on accommodations
for students with disabilities. She has also written and published materials on
assessment issues for English language learners, both with and without disabilities.
Charles DePascale, Ph.D., is a Senior Associate with the
National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, which provides consulting
services to help states and districts foster higher student achievement through
improved practices in educational assessment and accountability. Previously he has
served as principal psychometrician for the student assessment unit of the Massachusetts
Department of Education; his work in recent years has focused on the design and
use of large-scale assessments, and providing technical assistance to multi-state
collaborative programs such as the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP)
and the ADP Algebra II Test consortium.
Scott Marion, Ph.D., is the Vice President of the National
Center for the Improvement in Educational Assessment, Inc. Dr. Marion’s current
projects include evaluating the technical quality of state alternate assessment
systems, exploring the instructional usefulness of interim assessment approaches,
and helping states design valid accountability systems. He also serves on the U.S.
Department of Education’s National Technical Advisory Committee and was previously
the Director of Assessment and Accountability for the Wyoming Department of Education,
where he was responsible for overseeing the Wyoming Comprehensive Assessment System.
Theodora Predaris is an ESL specialist with over 30 years
experience in the field. Ms. Predaris’ past work includes seven years at the National
Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (NCELA; formerly NCBE), and she has
spent the past two decades in the Fairfax County Public Schools System, for which
she has served as Director of ESOL services since 2004.
Katherine Ryan, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the
Educational Psychology Department at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign
since 1999. Dr. Ryan specializes in educational evaluation and the intersection
of educational accountability issues and high stakes assessment; her work has examined
both evaluative capacity building and monitoring issues involved in test-based educational
accountability.