The 2020 IMPS Conference
The IMPS 2020 will be held at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, USA, from July 14 to July 17, with preconference short courses on July 13. The local hosts are Hong Jiao from University of Maryland, College Park, Qiwei (Britt), He from Educational Testing Service (ETS), and Frank Rijmen from Cambium Assessment. The conference is organized by the local hosts together with Daniel Bolt, 2019 President-Elect and 2020 President of the Psychometric Society and a program committee.
The University of Maryland, College Park, is the flagship institution of the State of Maryland (www.umd.edu). It provides affordable access to education, performs groundbreaking research, offers services to individuals and communities, and supports economic and workforce development. ETS is the world’s largest private nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization, who sets the world standard for educational measurement research and analysis, innovative product development, and original policy studies to support and advance learning worldwide (www.ets.org). Cambium Assessment is one of America’s leading K-12 educational assessment entities. As a part of Cambium Learning Group, it brings together advanced K-12 assessment services with research-based, individualized instruction and a belief that every student has untapped potential (www.cambiumlearning.com).
The preconference workshops provide attendees with the opportunity to learn about tools and methods that have proved to be of growing interest in psychometrics. Beyond the workshops, during the regular days of the conference, there are several special sessions that highlight current topics. The list of keynote and invited speakers can be found at the website at https://www.psychometricsociety.org/content/imps-2020-speakers.
The University of Maryland is located in College Park, a small city that can be explored by participating in historic walking tours and using miles of interconnected hiker–biker trails connected to Washington, D.C. Easily accessible by metro, bus, or other public transportations, Washington, D.C., can be reached within 30 min from the conference venue.
Lodging and Travel: The Society provides hotel and group discount information on their website as IMPS 2020 approaches; attendees will be responsible for arranging their own accommodations ahead of time. Transport around the area is possible using public transportation such as metro and bus. Three large airports serve the Washington metro area: The Baltimore Washington International Airport, the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and Washington Dulles International Airport. To learn more about the transportation to and from the campus, visit: https://globalmaryland.umd.edu/offices/transportation. Attendees may wish to add another day to their trip in order to have time to explore the many attractions of D.C.
Human Development and Quantitative Methodology Department at UMD
There is a strong connection between the Psychometric Society and the Human Development and Quantitative Methodology (HDQM) Department at UMD. As one of the world’s leading centers for research on child development, educational psychology, and cutting-edge psychometric and statistical methods, the department was and is a home to researchers who contributed over decades to the society and its journal, Psychometrika. The department’s mission is to advance knowledge and practice in these areas of study through innovative teaching and research. The department’s graduate programs prepare students for careers in academic and non-academic environments, including research and industry settings. The department also offers unique undergraduate programs, including a dual-certification major in early childhood/early childhood special education and a major and a minor in human development. The program offers exciting courses on topics such as how children learn, prosocial behavior and moral development, sociocultural contexts of development, educational neuroscience, advanced courses on cutting-edge psychometric methods, and sophisticated approaches to data analysis.
Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation Program at UMD
The College of Education has long provided instruction in quantitative research methods. The Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation (EDMS) program was established as its own department around 1972 and continued on in this administrative structure over the next
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years. In 2011, the College of Education reorganized and the EDMS Department became one of three program areas within the then, newly formed, Human Development and Quantitative Methodology (HDQM) Department. Throughout its history, EDMS has engaged in the dual roles of professional training and service to the college, and broader, University of Maryland academic community.
In its first role, EDMS has provided training at the master’s and doctoral levels for students planning to pursue careers in quantitative areas related to applied statistics, measurement, and evaluation. The major program in EDMS had, and still has, a total of approximately 40–50 full- and part-time students. The number of fulltime faculty in EDMS has fluctuated from six to eight.
EDMS Faculty
EDMS faculties are recognized scholars in various facets of latent variable statistical models, whether it is item response theory, psychometrics, latent class analysis, mixture models, longitudinal data analysis, or structural equation modeling. EDMS is also unique in its geographic location, situated at the East Coast of the USA near the nation’s capital, centrally located for scholars from the USA and Europe. This unique location also puts EMDS (and UMD of course) in a position that allows students to reach out to several large research, testing, and evaluation institutions for internships and subsequent employment, and the proximity to D.C. but also other cities on the east coast allow scholars to establish working relationships to colleagues in academia, the government, and applied research organizations. Thus, EDMS is well positioned in its composition and its location to serve as a focal point for psychometric research and for supporting applications in the field.
Our faculty include award-winning mentors, fellows in leading national associations, and editors/editorial board members on such leading journals as Psychometrika, Journal of Educational Measurement, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practices, Applied Psychological Measurement, Educational and Psychological Measurement, International Journal of Testing, Frontiers in Psychology (Quantitative Psychology and Measurement section), Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives, Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, Multivariate Behavioral Research, Psychological Methods, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, and AERA Open.
The EDMS program hosts Maryland Assessment Research Center (MARC) and the Center for Integrated Latent Variable Research (CILVR). The MARC provides support to the range of assessment activities in the State, the region and nation by conducting basic and applied research to enhance the quality of assessment practice and knowledge. To accomplish its purposes, MARC houses expertise in assessment design, development, implementation, analysis, reporting and policy issues as well as the technical aspects of the quantitative theories that form the foundations of measurement. The center has organized 19 annual conferences on cutting-edge topics in measurement and assessment including technology-enhanced innovative assessment, the applications of artificial intelligence to assessment, value-added modeling and growth modeling, data analytics and psychometrics, validity, test fairness, and alternate assessment. Edited books were published based on the conference presentations from nationally and internationally recognized leading experts in the field. CILVR is a center whose goal is to serve as a national and international focal point for innovative collaboration, state-of-the-art training, and scholarly dissemination as they relate to the full spectrum of latent variable statistical methods.
EDMS Degrees
EDMS offers the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree within the HDQM department. The PhD degree program is research-oriented with the primary objective of training graduate students for scholarly research activities directed mainly toward the generation and dissemination of new knowledge in quantitative methodology. Additionally, the doctoral program is designed to qualify individuals to teach courses at the university level in applied measurement, statistics, and evaluation, to provide leadership in the conduct of research studies, and to serve as applied statistics, measurement, or evaluation specialists in school systems, industry, and government.
EDMS offers the Masters of Science (M.S.) degree within the HDQM Department. The M.S. degree program is largely a course-taking degree and is designed to provide balanced intermediate-level graduate training in quantitative methods for students preparing for a variety of positions in government, educational institutions, and private industry. As mentioned above, the proximity to Washington, D.C., provides opportunities for students to engage in a variety of academic and professional experiences.
The EDMS program offers a 5th year M.S. degree program for undergraduates interested in quantitative methods. This allows highly motivated undergraduates the chance to develop their skills in quantitative methods and complete both the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in just 5 years. This degree prepares one for careers that include statistical data analysis, developing survey and testing instruments, designing research studies, performing quantitative analysis, evaluating educational programs, psychometric analysis of assessment results, conducting marketing studies, and conducting surveys.
Students who are enrolled in another graduate program at the University of Maryland can opt to apply to enter the EDMS Graduate Certificate program. This program allows students to obtain skills and knowledge to have a quantitative specialization that they may use with their content area of interest. Certification will appear on the student’s official UMD transcript.
Other EDMS program information such as currently enrolled graduate students, EDMS-sponsored workshops, a listing and description of EDMS courses, and many other useful tidbits of information can be found by perusing the EDMS website at https://education.umd.edu/measurement-statistics-evaluation-program.
We hope to see you at the IMPS hosted at UMD!
Hong Jiao, Qiwei He, & Frank Rijmen
