ERME Newsletter

Graduation

ERME would like to congratulate the following students for graduating from the ERME Program within the past year: PhD. (*click on name for dissertation defense title) Chen An Estimating the Effectiveness of City Connects on Middle School Outcomes

Summer 2015

In This Issue Graduation

Note From the Department Chair

Department News

TIMSS and PIRLS update

Professional Accomplishments

Personal Accomplishments

Deadlines & Fall Semester Schedule

August 31: Classes begin September 2: New Student Orientation1-3 pm September 7: Labor Day - No classes September 9: Last date for graduate students to drop/add in UIS

Jiefang Hu Teacher Evaluation Based on an Aspect of Classroom Practice and on Student Relationship Analysis Between Student Learning Achievement: Objectives and Value-Added Modeling Joshua Littenberg-Tobias Teaching Citizens: Exploring the Relationships Between Teacher Professional Learning, Interactive Civics, and Student Achievement on NAEP Civics Katherine Shields Institutional Moderators of the Relationship between College Remediation and Degree Attainment Julia Rollison Methodological Decision-Making in Evaluation: An Examination of Implications of Using a Stage of Change Outcome Variable M.Ed. Emily Atkinson Margeau Frigon Johanna Gubler Santander Yajuan Hou Loucia Jose Peiyan Liu Vanessa Olivacce Quan Yuan

Note from the Department Chair Hi everyone: I hope you are doing well and getting a chance to enjoy some summer vacation time--especially a few days off for the docs preparing for their August comps . A lot has happened in the past year--as you'll see in thisNewsletter. I want to point out a few particularly important developments: a. our department self-study was completed last fall and the external reviewers visited during the winter and we received their report in the spring. We are very pleased with the report because it supports the proposals and initiatives we suggested in the self-study. b. through the self-study we proposed a Certificate in Institutional Research (Dr Mike Russell is the director) and a Master of Science in Applied Statistics and Psychometrics (Dr Henry Braun is the director). Both initiatives have been extremely well received and our current count of incoming masters students (both MEd and MS) is 23 students! c. another well-received initiative on our part was the creation of the new Mixed-Methods course developed by Dr. Saenz. The inaugural spring class was so popular across the other LSOE

September 20: ERME/C&I potluck (current students, alumni, and faculty should have received the invitation via email on 7.13.15) October 12: Columbus Day - No classes

departments (and the university) that we will now offer it every spring. d. other proposals and initiatives are now in the planning stages. For example, how to offer a Research Consulting Lab/Workshop that was piloted this past year and was well received by students and faculty across LSOE. In other news, I will be on leave this coming spring and Dr Laura O'Dwyer will serve as Acting Chair during that period. My leave necessitated some curriculum and scheduling changes so we welcome the addition of Dr Susan (Gilmor) Lyons, Dr Marji Warfield, and Ryan Auster (ERME doctoral candidate) as part-time faculty for this coming year. It is nice to have the Newsletter up and running again and we hope to send issues out on a more regular basis now--so please stay part of the broad ERME community and share with us items/pictures of interest in your lives and professional roles! Sincerely, Larry

Some photos of ERME travels this Spring/Summer. Can you guess any of the locations? Answers to be revealed in next issue!

Department News

ERME New Offerings

The ERME Department is pleased to introduce two new programs this fall: a master of science (M.S.) degree in applied statistics and psychometrics and a course of study that leads to a certificate in institutional research (IR). The new curricula will train and prepare students for careers in the rapidly expanding worlds of data and research. To learn more about these program, visit: ERME new offerings

Alumni Panels The ERME Alumni Panels were held on Friday, May 8th. Panel members were:

PhD Alumni Panel Sarah Enterline Vice President of Research and Evaluation at K12 Insight Jessica Greene Director, Institutional Research & Assessment at BC

Ismael Carreras Client- Facing Marketing Scientist at Maguire Associates Craig Hoyle Senior Research Associate at Education Development Center M.Ed Alumni Panel Nina Zockoff Culbertson Senior Research Associate at Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy Samantha Ricker Research & Development Associate at Edumetrics Julia Casasanto-Ferro Researcher at American Institutes for Research Ben Sexton Founder at Sexton Prep and Tutoring We would like to thank our dedicated alumni for taking time out of their busy schedules to share candid advice with our current students!

AERA/NEERO Recap The Annual Meeting of American Education Research Association (AERA) took place in Chicago, Illinois on April 16-20. Many ERME faculty, students, and alumni presented their research at the AERA conference. For a listing of this year's conference presentations, please view: ERME at AERA 2015 booklet

Also, many ERME faculty, students and alumni attended the New England Educational Research Organization (NEERO). For more information, please view the 2015 NEERO program

Update your Information ERME students and alumni-- I've created a google form to better streamline the process of updating the website and newslettercontent. Please use the form (http://goo.gl/forms/1WGC4fUpdG) for any of the following updates:

1. new email address 2. newsletter submissions (next newsletter will come out late Oct/early Nov) 3. new job title/description 4. new location

If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email.

Thank you!

Jillian Gomolka

TIMSS and PIRLS update

TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center is pleased to announce ePIRLS, an innovative, computer-based extension of PIRLS in 2016. ePIRLS measures how well fourth graders in participating countries read and comprehend online information in an environment that looks and feels like the Internet. It was developed in response to the increasing emphasis of online informational reading in curricula around the world.

In Spring 2015, 13,700 students from 15 countries took part in the ePIRLS field test. Update by: Shirley Goh

Professional Accomplishments

Faculty Dr. Henry Braun Braun, H. (2015) The relationship of problem solving in technology- rich environments to literacy and numeracy: Insights from PIAAC. Braun, H. (2014) Merits of international assessments. Quality Assurance in Education, 22(4), pp. 332- 334. (2014). Dr. Nathaniel J. S. Brown Brown, N. J. S., Afflerbach, P. P., & Croninger, R. G. (2014). Assessment of critical-analytic thinking. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 543-560 Dr. Zhushan "Mandy" Li Bottema-Beutel, K. & Li, Z. (2015). Adolescent judgments and reasoning about the exclusion of peers with social disabilities. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2348-7 Li, Z. (2015). A generalized formula for the power of the MantelHaenszel test for differential item functioning. Applied Psychological Measurement. Dr. Larry Ludlow Ludlow LH, & Klein, K (2014). Suppressor variables: The difference between "is" versus "acting as". Journal of Statistics Education, 22(2), 1-28. Sinnema C, Robinson V, Ludlow LH, & Pope D. (2015). How effective is the principal: Discrepancy between teachers' and principals' perceptions of principal effectiveness. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability. DOI 10.1007/s11092-014-9209-y Nezhnov P, Kardonova E, Vasilyeva M, & Ludlow LH. (2015). Operationalizing level of academic mastery based on Vygotsky's theory: The study of mathematical knowledge. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 75 (2), 235-259. Dr. Laura M. O'Dwyer O'Dwyer, L. M., & Bernauer, J. A. (2014). Quantitative research for the qualitative researcher. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. O'Dwyer, L.M., Wang, Y., & Shields, K.A. (2015) Teaching for Conceptual Understanding: A Cross-national Comparison of the Relationship between Teachers' Instructional Practices and Student Achievement in Mathematics. Large Scale Assessment. Dulaney, A., Vasilyeva, M., & O'Dwyer, L.M. (2015). Individual

differences in cognitive resources and elementary school mathematics achievement: Examining the roles of storage and attention. Learning and Individual Differences. 37, 55.63.

Alumni Yun Xiang ( PhD 2009) is the Director of Institutional Research Office at Becker College. Also, she recently published "Propensity Score Stratification Using Examine Charter School Achievement Effects" in Journal of School Choice.

Rachel Kay ( PhD 2011) started working at MIT as the Director of Admissions Research and Analysis in January 2015.

Nina Zockoff Culbertson ( MEd 2011) accepted the Visiting Fellow position with Education Pioneers for the summer. This fellowship(http://www.educationpioneers.org/what-we-do/programs/graduate-school-fellowship) brings together current graduate students and those working full time to develop diverse leaders in the field of education.

Todd Reeves ( PhD 2011) had a paper accepted into publication: Reeves, T. D., & Honig, S. L. (2015). A classroom assessment data literacy intervention for pre-service teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 50, 90-101.

Yves Salomon-Fernandez (PhD) has been named Interim President of Massachusetts Bay Community College, and will assume the new post on August 17th.

Current Students Andrea Humez ( ERME PhD) presented parts of her dissertation research at the Spring Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) and New England Educational Research Organization (NEERO) conferences, and co authored presentations for the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) research session and AEFP conferences. Ryan Auster ( ERME PhD) won the "Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award" for his teaching efforts in Intermediate Statistics.

Personal Accomplishments

Baby Announcements

ERME PhD student Apryl Clarkson (Holder) and her husband Ben are happy to announce the arrival of their healthy and happy baby girl Charlotte Anita Clarkson! She was born on Monday, May 25th , weighing 9 lbs 4 oz, and measuring 20.5 in! Mom and dad are tired but in love.

Rachel Kay (PhD 2011)'s son turned two in June!

Wedding Announcements ERME PhD student Clair Johnson writes, "I am happy to announce that I successfully tied the knot with Joe Maffei on September 27, 2014 in New Jersey. In March we relocated to San Diego, and have been enjoying a very sunny married life on the west coast (literally and figuratively!)."

ERME PhD Alum (2015) Chen An said, "I got married and successfully defended my dissertation in May 2015. Thank you so much for the support and encouragement from ERME fellows and faculty members!"

ERME PhD student Caroline Vuilleumier and her husband Derek Welch were married in August 2014 in Ridgefield, CT. They met as undergraduates at BC, and many fellow Eagles were in attendance on the big day. Caroline and Derek will be honeymooning in New Zealand this January.

Marathon Announcements Jillian Gomolka (ERME MEd student) ran the Boston Marathon this April. With the support of friends, family, colleagues, and her network, she was able to raise $5,522 for the Traveling Programs at the Museum of Science. Ryan Auster (ERME PhD student) also successfully completed the Boston Marathon this year under the Museum of Science's Team as well. He has run with the team for the past three years, and has raised more than $11,000 for the Museum of Science's Traveling Programs Department in the process. He writes, "As a researcher at the Museum, it's nice to see that money go to good use."

Contact ERME at Boston College

Dr. Larry Ludlow, larry.ludlow@bc.edu, Department Chair Jillian Gomolka, jillian.gomolka@bc.edu

formatting by Yuhwa Hong, ERME student

Boston College, Lynch School of Education

Campion Hall, Room 336 140 Commonwealth Avenue

Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 617-552-2072 www.bc.edu/erme