B
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND STAFF
COMMITTEE
James W. Pellegrino (Cochair) is liberal arts and sciences distinguished professor and distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He also serves as codirector of UIC’s Interdisciplinary Learning Sciences Research Institute. Dr. Pellegrino’s research and development interests focus on children’s and adult’s thinking and learning and the implications of cognitive research and theory for assessment and instructional practice. Much of his current work is focused on analyses of complex learning and instructional environments, including those incorporating powerful information technology tools, with the goal of better understanding the nature of student learning and the conditions that enhance deep understanding. A special concern of his research is the incorporation of effective formative assessment practices, assisted by technology, to maximize student learning and understanding. Increasingly, his research and writing has focused on the role of cognitive theory and technology in educational reform and translating results from the educational and psychological research arenas into implications for practitioners and policy makers. Dr. Pellegrino has served on numerous National Research Council (NRC) boards and committees, including the Board on Testing and Assessment. He cochaired the NRC committee that authored the report Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment. Most recently, he served as a member of the Committee on Conceptual Framework for New Science Education Standards, as well as the Committee on Test Design for K-12 Science Achievement, and the Committee
on Science Learning: Games, Simulations and Education. He is a fellow of the American Educational Research Association, and a lifetime national associate of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 2007 he was elected to lifetime membership in the National Academy of Education. Dr. Pellegrino earned his B.A. in psychology from Colgate University and both his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.
Mark R. Wilson (Cochair) is professor of policy, organization, measurement, and evaluation in the Graduate School of Education at University of California, Berkeley. He is also the founder and director of the Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research Center. His main research areas are educational measurement, psychometrics, assessment design, and applied statistics. His current research is focused on (a) developing assessments and psychometric models for learning progressions, especially assessments that are technologically enhanced, and (b) rethinking the philosphical foundations of measurement in the social sciences. He is founding editor of the journal, Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, and has recently served as president of the Psychometric Society. Dr. Wilson has extensive experience with National Research Council projects. He served on the Committee on the Foundations of Assessment; the Committee on Development Outcomes and Assessment for Young Children; the Committee on Value-Added Methodology for Instructional Improvement, Program Evaluation, and Accountability; and the Committee on Best Practices for State Assessment Systems: Improving Assessment While Revisiting Standards. He chaired the Committee on Test Design for K-12 Science Achievement and currently serves on the Board on Testing and Assessment. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, and the American Educational Research Association, is a national associate of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 2011 was elected to membership in the National Academy of Education. Dr. Wilson has a Ph.D. in measurement and educational statistics from the University of Chicago.
Richard M. Amasino is Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) professor with the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research addresses the mystery of how a plant knows that it has been through a complete winter and that it is now safe to flower in response to the lengthening days of spring. Now, as an HHMI professor, the plant biologist plans to use plant genetics to involve undergraduates in original experiments and to develop appealing, accessible genetics-based teaching units for K-12 science. He has received numerous awards in biological science and was elected as a National Academy
of Sciences member in 2006. With the National Research Council, he is currently chair of Section 62: Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences, as well as a section representative for the 2012 NAS Class VI Membership Committee. Dr. Amasino received his B.S. in biology from Pennsylvania State University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in biology/biochemistry from Indiana University.
Edward H. Haertel is Jacks Family professor of education (emeritus) at the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. His research centers on policy uses of achievement test data, including examination of value-added models for teacher evaluation from a psychometric perspective. Dr. Haertel has been closely involved in the creation and maintenance of California’s school accountability system both before and after passage of the No Child Left Behind Act. In addition to technical issues in designing accountability systems and quantifying their precision, his work is concerned with validity arguments for high-stakes testing, the logic and implementation of standard-setting methods, and comparisons of trends on different tests and in different reporting metrics. He has served as president of the National Council on Measurement in Education and as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board. He is currently serving as chair of the Board on Testing and Assessment and previously was a member of the Committee on Review of Alternative Data Sources for the Limited-English Proficiency Allocation Formula under Title III, Part A, Elementary and Secondary Education Act. He has served on numerous state and national advisory committees related to educational testing, assessment, and evaluation, including the joint committee responsible for the 1999 revision of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. He currently serves on the technical advisory committee for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, funded by the Race to the Top initiative. He has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, and is a member of the National Academy of Education. Dr. Haertel holds a Ph.D. in measurement, evaluation, and statistical analysis from the University of Chicago.
Joan Herman is senior research scientist of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research has explored the effects of testing on schools and the design of assessment systems to support school planning and instructional improvement. Her recent work has focused on the validity and utility of teachers’ formative assessment practices in mathematics and science. She also has wide experience as an evaluator of school reform and is noted in bridging research and
practice. She is past president of the California Educational Research Association; has held a variety of leadership positions in the American Educational Research Association and Knowledge Alliance; is a member of the joint committee for the Revision of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Measurement; cochair of the Board of Education for Para Los Niños; and is current editor of Educational Assessment. Dr. Herman currently serves on the technical advisory committee for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top initiative. She has extensive experience serving on National Research Council projects. She is currently a member of the Board on Testing and Assessment (BOTA). She served as a member of the Committee on Test Design for K-12 Science Achievement, the Roundtable on Education Systems and Accountability, and the Committee on Best Practices for State Assessment Systems, and, most recently, chaired the BOTA workshop on 21st Century Skills. Dr. Herman received her doctorate of education in learning and instruction from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Richard Lehrer is professor of science education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Previously, he has taught in a number of different settings from high school science to the university level. He was also associate director of the National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement in Mathematics and Science as well as associate director of the National Center for Research in Mathematical Sciences Education. His research focuses on children’s mathematical and scientific reasoning in the context of schooling, with a special emphasis on tools and notations for developing thought. Dr. Lehrer has been on a number of National Research Council (NRC) committees covering K-12 science education and achievement, including the Committee on Test Design for K-12 Science Achievement. He is currently a member of the NRC study Toward Integrating STEM Education: Developing a Research Agenda. Dr. Lehrer received his B.S. in biology and chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in educational psychology and statistics from the University of New York at Albany.
Scott F. Marion is the vice president of the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, Inc., where his current projects include developing and implementing reform-based educator evaluation systems, designing validity evaluations for state assessment and accountability systems, including teacher evaluation systems, and designing and implementing high-quality, locally designed performance-based assessments. He also is a leader in designing approaches
for documenting evidence of student learning for teachers in nontested subjects and grades in valid and educationally supportive ways. He coordinates and/or serves on multiple state technical advisory committees, is the coordinator of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers assessment consortium technical advisory committee, and was a former member of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Technical Advisory Committee. Dr. Marion previously served on the National Research Council’s Committee on Value-Added Methodology for Instructional Improvement, Program Evaluation, and Accountability, and the Committee on Best Practices for State Assessment Systems. Prior to joining the Center for Assessment in early 2003, he was most recently the director of assessment and accountability for the Wyoming Department of Education. Dr. Marion regularly presents the results of his work at several national conferences (American Educational Research Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, and Council of Chief State School Officers) and has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. He is a member of his local school board in Rye, New Hampshire. A former field biologist and high school science teacher, Dr. Marion earned a B.S. in biology from the State University of New York and an M.S. in science education from the University of Maine. Dr. Marion received his Ph.D. in measurement and evaluation from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Peter McLaren is a science and technology specialist at the Rhode Island Department of Education, where he has participated in a number of activities related to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). He also codirects the administration of the New England Common Assessment Program science assessments and cofacilitates Rhode Island’s NGSS Strategic Leadership Council. Mr. McLaren is also past president of the Council of State Science Supervisors and currently serves as a member of the NGSS Writing Team for Achieve. Previously, he was a science teacher for 13 years at both the high school and middle school levels. As an educator, McLaren was recognized with the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award (2001) and as the Rhode Island Science Teacher of the Year (1995) by the Network of Educators of Science and Technology. McLaren has a B.S. in secondary education, and an M.A. in science education, both from the University of Rhode Island.
Knut Neumann is director of the Department of Physics Education at the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education and professor of physics education at the University of Kiel, Germany. Previously, he worked in the Research
Group and Graduate School Teaching and Learning of Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen, where he was a member of the group of researchers who developed what later became the assessment framework for benchmarking the National Education Standards for the science subjects in Germany. During his career, Dr. Neumann developed a special interest in assessment. He is currently involved with several projects focusing on the assessment of students understanding of core physics concepts (e.g., energy and matter) and practices (e.g., performing experiments), teachers’ professional knowledge (e.g., content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge), and vocational knowledge for physics-related vocations. The ultimate goals of his activities are the development and empirical validation of learning progressions for K-12 physics and, based on these learning progressions, the improvement of instructional quality in physics through teacher professionalization. Dr. Neumann studied mathematics and physics for the teaching profession at the University of Düsseldorf and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Education at Heidelberg.
William Penuel is professor in educational psychology and the learning sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Prior to this he was a director of evaluation research with SRI International’s Center for Technology in Learning. Dr. Penuel’s research focuses on teacher learning and organizational processes that shape the implementation of educational policies, school curricula, and afterschool programs. One strand of his research focuses on designs for teacher professional development in Earth science education. A second strand examines the role of research-practice partnerships in designing supports for teacher learning in school districts. A third strand focuses on the development of science-linked interests and identities among children and youth. He is currently on the editorial board for Teachers College Record, American Journal of Evaluation, and Cognition and Instruction. Dr. Penuel received his Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Clark University.
Helen R. Quinn is professor emerita of particle physics and astrophysics at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. She has taught physics at both Harvard and Stanford. Dr. Quinn is an internationally recognized theoretical physicist who holds the Dirac Medal (from the International Center for Theoretical Physics, Italy), the Klein Medal (from the Swedish National Academy of Sciences and Stockholm University) and the Sakurai Prize (from the American Physical Society). She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. She is a fellow and
former president of the American Physical Society. She is originally from Australia and is an honorary officer of the Order of Australia. Dr. Quinn is chair of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Science Education (BOSE). She served as a member of the BOSE study that developed the report Taking Science to School and led the committee for A Framework for K-12 Science Education, which are the basis of the Next Generation Science Standards that have now been adopted by multiple states in the United States. Dr. Quinn received her Ph.D in physics at Stanford in 1967.
Brian J. Reiser is professor of learning sciences in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. His research examines how to make scientific practices such as argumentation, explanation, and modeling meaningful and effective for classroom teachers and students. This design research investigates the cognitive and social interaction elements of learning environments supporting scientific practices, and design principles for technology-infused curricula that embed science learning in investigations of contextualized data-rich problems. Dr. Reiser is also on the leadership team for IQWST (Investigating and Questioning our World through Science and Technology), a collaboration with the University of Michigan, developing a middle school project-based science curriculum. He was a founding member of the first graduate program in learning sciences, created at Northwestern, and chaired the program from 1993, shortly after its inception, until 2001. He was coprincipal investigator in the National Science Foundation Center for Curriculum Materials in Science, exploring the design and enactment of science curriculum materials. His National Research Council work includes the recent Committee on a Conceptual Framework for New Science Education Standards and the committee that authored Taking Science to School. Dr. Reiser received his Ph.D. in cognitive science from Yale University.
Kathleen Scalise is an associate professor at the University of Oregon in the Department of Educational Methodology, Policy and Leadership. Her main research areas are technology-enhanced assessments in science and mathematics education, item-response models with innovative item types, dynamically delivered content in e-learning, computer adaptive testing, and applications to equity studies. She recently served as a core member of the methodological group for the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills project created by Cisco, Intel, and Microsoft; for the Oregon state task force, writing legislation for virtual public schools; as codirector of the University of California, Berkeley, Evaluation and Assessment Research Center, and for the U.S. Department of Education on the
Race to the Top Assessment Program competition. She has been a visiting scholar in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and a visiting scientist in the Department of Neuroscience at Columbia University in 2012-2013. She currently is on the expert’s group for the Program for International Student Assessment 2015, which has major domain focus in science education, as well as assessments in collaborative problem solving for the 2015 assessment cycle. She also served with the Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division of the California Department of Education for development of the state science framework. Dr. Scalise holds teaching credentials for K-12 physical and life sciences and has experience in middle and secondary science instruction as well as at the postsecondary and graduate education levels in measurement, statistics, instructional technology, and analysis of teaching and learning. Dr. Scalise received her Ph.D. in quantitative measurement at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2004.
Jerome M. Shaw is an associate professor of science education at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has more than 30 years of experience in education with a focus on understanding and improving science teaching and learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students. As a classroom teacher in California public schools, Dr. Shaw taught science at the elementary and secondary levels in mainstream, bilingual (Spanish-English), and structured English immersion classrooms. His research examines science teaching and learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students with an explicit focus on the relationship of assessment to this larger process. Conceptually, his research agenda explores the overlap among science teaching and learning, assessment of student learning, and equity and diversity issues in education. The unifying theme across these intersections is a focus on English-language learners. Operationally, his research program is organized along four strands: (1) clarifying the nature of the achievement gap, (2) identifying fairness issues posed by assessment practices, (3) developing new performance assessments, and (4) enhancing the ability of teachers to provide effective instruction and assessment. These strands, though distinct, are interrelated and complementary. He holds lifetime California teaching credentials for high school biology, Spanish, and social studies, as well as multiple elementary subjects coupled with a certificate of bilingual-bicultural competency. Dr. Shaw received a B.A. in Spanish, an M.A. in education, and a doctorate in science education, all from Stanford University.
Nancy Butler Songer is a professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the director of the Center for Essential Science, an interdisciplinary research center at the University of Michigan. Songer’s research examines science learning through the creation and evaluation of curricular and technological resources focused on the study of some of the most pressing environmental issues of our time, such as climate change and biodiversity, through the science and engineering practices of data analysis, argumentation, and the use of models to make predictions. Recognition includes fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and selection by the U.S. Secretary of Education for the Promising Educational Technology Award. In 1995, she received a National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellowship from President Clinton, the first science educator to receive this recognition. Prior to coming to Michigan in 1996, Dr. Songer earned an M.S. in developmental biology from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in science education from the University of California, Berkeley.
Roberta Tanner is a physics teacher at Loveland high school in Colorado. She has a keen interest in science and engineering education and a fascination with understanding how people learn. She taught physics, math, engineering, and other science courses for 21 years at a high school in the Thompson School District in Loveland, Colorado. Wanting to spur her students to higher levels of achievement, she brought advanced placement physics and integrated physics/trigonometry to the district and taught those for 15 years. She also designed and taught Microcomputer Projects—an award winning project-oriented microchip and electrical engineering course. In addition, she was privileged to work for a year as Teacher in Residence with the Physics Education Research group at the University of Colorado, Boulder. There she learned a great deal about how students learn. She also taught introductory physics at the University of Colorado. Tanner was honored with the International Intel Excellence in Teaching Award in 2004 and the Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence in 2011. She served 5 years on the Teacher Advisory Council, an advisory board to the National Academy of Sciences. She also served on a committee of the National Academy of Engineering, investigating the advisability of National K-12 Engineering Standards. Tanner completed her undergraduate work in physics and mechanical engineering at Kalamazoo College and Michigan State University. She earned her teaching certificate and a master’s degree in education at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Catherine J. Welch is professor with the Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations and Educational Measurement and Statistics Program
at the University of Iowa. In addition to teaching courses in educational measurement and conducting measurement-related research, Dr. Welch codirects the Iowa Testing Programs. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Iowa, she served as an assistant vice president with ACT, where she worked on a variety of assessment programs for over 22 years, predominantly with ACT’s Performance Assessment Center. At ACT, Welch worked with state and national education officials and measurement experts on a broad range of testing issues and became widely recognized as an authority on large-scale assessments. Her research interests include educational assessment, college readiness, validity evaluation, and educational measurement and statistics. Welch has served on the board of directors for the National Council on Measurement in Education, and she recently received the distinguished research award through the Iowa Educational Research and Evaluation Association. Dr. Welch received her M.A. and Ph.D. in educational measurement and statistics from the University of Iowa.
STAFF
Alexandra Beatty is a senior program officer for the Board on Testing and Assessment. Since 1996 she has contributed to many projects, including an evaluation of the District of Columbia Public Schools; studies of teacher preparation, National Board certification for teachers, and state-level science assessment; and the Committee on Education Excellence and Testing Equity. She has also worked as an independent education writer and researcher. Prior to joining the National Research Council staff, she worked on the National Assessment of Educational Progress and College Board programs at the Educational Testing Service. She has a B.A. in philosophy from Williams College and an M.A. in history from Bryn Mawr College.
Stuart Elliott is director of the Board on Testing and Assessment at the National Research Council where he has worked on a variety of projects related to assessment, accountability, teacher qualifications, and information technology. Previously, he worked as an economic consultant for several private-sector consulting firms. He was also a research fellow in cognitive psychology and economics at Carnegie Mellon University, and a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Judith A. Koenig is a senior program officer with the National Research Council’s Board on Testing and Assessment where, since 1999, she has directed measurement-related studies designed to inform education policy. Her work has included studies on the National Assessment of Educational Progress; teacher licensure and advanced-level certification; inclusion of special-needs students and English-language learners in assessment programs; developing assessments for state and federal accountability programs in K-12 and adult education; setting standards for the National Assessment of Adult Literacy; assessing 21st century skills; and using value-added methods for evaluating schools and teachers. Previously, from 1984 to 1999, she worked at the Association of American Medical Colleges on the Medical College Admission Test where she directed operational programs and led a comprehensive research program on the examination. Prior to that, she worked for 10 years as a special education teacher and diagnostician. She received a B.A. in special education from Michigan State University, an M.A. in psychology from George Mason University, and a Ph.D. in educational measurement, statistics, and evaluation from the University of Maryland.
Heidi Schweingruber is the deputy director of the Board on Science Education (BOSE) at the National Research Council (NRC). In this role, she oversees many of the projects in the BOSE portfolio. She also collaborates with the director and board to develop new projects. She codirected the study that resulted in the report A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (2012), which is the first step in revising national standards for K-12 science education. She served as study director for a review of NASA’s pre-college education programs completed in 2008 and codirected the study that produced the 2007 report Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8. She served as an editor on the NRC report Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths to Excellence and Equity (2009). She coauthored two award-winning books for practitioners that translate findings of NRC reports for a broader audience: Ready, Set, Science! Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science Classrooms (2008) and Surrounded by Science (2010). Prior to joining the NRC, she worked as a senior research associate at the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education where she administered the preschool curriculum evaluation program and a grant program in mathematics education. Previously, she was the director of research for the Rice University School Mathematics Project, an outreach program in K-12 mathematics education, and taught in the psychology and education departments at Rice University. She holds
a Ph.D. in psychology (developmental) and anthropology, and a certificate in culture and cognition from the University of Michigan.
Martin Storksdieck is the director of the Board on Science Education at the National Research Council (NRC) and the NRC’s Roundtable on Climate Change Education. He oversees studies that address a wide range of issues related to science education and science learning, and provides evidence-based advice to decision makers in policy, academia, and educational practice. His prior research focused on what and how we learn when we do so voluntarily, and how learning is connected to our behaviors, identities, and beliefs. This includes the role of personal perspectives in science learning, particularly related to controversial topics such as climate change or evolution, and how connections between school-based and out-of-school learning can create and sustain lifelong interest in science and learning. Storksdieck’s research also focused on the role of science-based professionals and science hobbyists in communicating their passions to a broader public. Before joining the NRC, he served as director of project development and senior researcher at the nonprofit Institute for Learning Innovation. In the 1990s, he was a science educator with a planetarium in Germany, where he developed shows and programs on global climate change; served as editor, host, and producer for a weekly environmental news broadcast; and worked as an environmental consultant specializing in local environmental management systems. He holds an M.S. in biology from the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg, Germany; an M.P.A. from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government; and a Ph.D. in education from Leuphana University in Lüneburg, Germany.
