CRESST Co-Director Li Cai Among the Scientists Honored by President Obama

Today, President Obama met with a group of leading American scientists and engineers in the East Room of the White House to thank them for their research and encourage them to keep up the good work. Among those honored were CRESST Co-Director and UCLA Associate Professor Li Cai.

Before meeting with the President, Science and Technology Advisor John Holdren conferred the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) to the 96 outstanding researchers including Dr. Li Cai. 

Click here to view Associate Professor Li Cai (center) receiving his Presidential Early Career Award from John Holdren (right) with Institute of Education Sciences Director John Easton (left).  

Plan Offered for Validating Assessments

"…assessments are not valid or not; rather evidence of validity must be established in the context of specific interpretations and uses of test scores," say Joan Herman and Kilchan Choi in a new CRESST article.

The two researchers share a general plan for validating assessments through expert reviews and empirical studies. 

Click here to download "Validation of ELA and Mathematics Assessments: A General Approach." 

Click here to read a related CRESST report by Eva Baker and Robert Linn, "Validity Issues for Accountability Systems."

Does the Type of Feedback in Instructional Games Effect Performance?

A new random assignment study helps to answer the question, "does the type of feedback that students receive effect their performance on a math computer game?" The findings may surprise you. 

Click here to download a copy of CRESST Report 817, "Examining Feedback in an Instructional Video Game Using Process Data and Error Analysis."

Study conducted by Rebecca E. Buschang, Deirdre Kerr, and Gregory K.W.K. Chung. 

President Obama Names CRESST Co-Director Li Cai as Early Career Award Recipient

President Obama has announced that UCLA Associate Professor Li Cai was named as a Presidential Early Career Scientist for 2012.

An associate professor in UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies and Co-Director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing, Professor Cai was the sole recipient from the U.S. Department of Education. He was honored for his early contributions to improved measurement methods, particularly in the area of statistical computing. 

Click here for a complete media release. 

Co-director Li Cai Shares at Major Conference

CRESST Co-director Li Cai recently shared new statistical developments in item response theory at the International Meeting of the Psychometric Society in Lincoln, Nebraska. His presentations and co-presentations are available below. 

Empirical Histogram Bifactor Analysis

When Local Independence Diagnostics Mislead

Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro Estimation of Ramsay-Curve IRT Model

Latent Variable Normality Diagnostic in Item Response Theory

A Tucker-Lewis Index for Item Response Theory

New CRESST Resource Paper Explores Ontologies

The latest CRESST Resource Paper written by CRESST Director Eva Baker explores the use of ontologies as a valuable learning and assessment tool. 

"An ontology represents a multi-dimensional depiction of how learning is defined and through what knowledge and skills it develops," writes Eva Baker, "and also provides an organizational scheme for integrating expectations, mapping progress, and coordinating learning resources and supports."

Click here to download a copy of CRESST Resource Paper 13, "Ontology-Based Educational Design: Seeing is Believing."

CRESST Partners with Beijing Normal University

CRESST Director Eva Baker and Co-director Li Cai recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Professor Dong Qi from Beijing Normal University and its National Assessment of Educational Quality (NAEQ) center. 

The memo signed by the three noted professors establishes an innovative foundation for information sharing by the two leading research organizations.

Click here for a comprehensive summary of the agreement.

Click here for more photos of the signing. 

Click here for photos of CRESST Co-director Li's presentation in Beijing.

JOAN HERMAN TO SHARE RESULTS FROM NEW NRC REPORT

CRESST Director Joan Herman was part of the committee that authored a new National Research Council report, Education for Life and Work: Developing Transferrable Knowledge and Skills in the 21st Century. The new report, to be released on Tuesday, July 10, 2012, is a synthesis study that helps to define key skills that are often called deeper learning, 21st Century skills, or college and career readiness skills. 

Together with fellow NRC committee member David Pearson, Joan Herman will be sharing the report findings with California's Intersegmental Coordinating Committee on Wednesday, July 11th. 

Click here for more information about the NRC report and its committee. 

Joan Herman Shares CRESST Assessment Research at CCSSO

At the recent Council of Chief State School Officers' National Conference on Student Assessment, Dr. Joan Herman shared CRESST efforts to build multi-purpose tools that support the transition to the Common Core State Standards. 

Click here to download Joan Herman's presentation, "CRESST Integrated Literacy Assessments."  

Eva Baker Keynotes World Education Symposium

CRESST Director and President of the World Education Research Association Eva Baker recently shared her innovative vision of learning and assessment at the First World Future Education Symposium 2012. CRESST Director Li Cai is also sharing his research in Beijing. 

Click here for a copy of Dr. Baker's presentation, The Future of Learning and Assessment in a Changing World. 

Click here for a copy of Dr. Baker's keynote speech with the same title.