News@NCME

Annual Meeting

ITEMS Portal

NCMEntoring

NCME SIGMIEs

Become a Member

Past News

Empowering Insights in Educational Measurement

Welcome to News@NCME, your dedicated source for the latest developments, insights, and discussions in the world of educational measurement. As a vibrant community of professionals, educators, researchers, and students, we are committed to advancing the field through sharing knowledge, fostering collaboration, and celebrating achievements.

At News@NCME, we understand the importance of staying informed and connected. Our platform offers a dynamic range of articles, updates, and resources tailored to enrich your understanding and engagement with educational measurement. Whether you are delving into complex research, seeking best practices, or exploring innovative approaches, our content is curated to support your journey.

We invite you to explore our latest news, participate in upcoming events, and engage with our diverse community. Your insights and contributions are what make NCME a leading voice in educational measurement. Let's continue to learn, share, and grow together.

Editor of News@NCME: Cheng Hua, Ph. D., University of Montevallo

 

NCME President: Dr. Andrew Ho

Harvard Graduate School of Education

Bird with Tree

President's Message

                        Updated in April 1st, 2025

Dear NCME Colleagues:

Although this month remains in my presidency, this is my last News@NCME update as president. It has now been almost a year since I established the themes that have guided my term: Continuity, Unity, and Service. I am proud to have upheld these themes, and I am prouder still to have seen all the ways that our members have enacted these themes as values, through their scholarship, their work, and their actions.

1) One of the highlights of my year was witnessing our community’s support of their fellow members in response to ongoing cuts and uncertainty by the U.S. Executive Branch. After our board took unanimous action last month to establish and personally fund travel grants for affected members, members of our community joined us as individuals, with matching support from philanthropic organizations like the Spencer Foundation and measurement organizations like NBME. Thanks to your support, members will be able to join us and contribute scholarship and professional insights that we would otherwise lose. This reminds me that any current uncertainty and loss is temporary, and that through this great organization our expertise, networks, and profession will endure and thrive. Links remain to contribute to this cause through our mission fund and apply for funding to attend our annual meeting this month. I encourage both.

2) As our number of registrants for our annual meeting continues to outpace prior years, our social media committee has been reminding me that our slate of training sessions and additional activities are excellent, including opportunities to learn both cutting edge techniques and foundational competencies that represent the best of our field. In case you missed it, it is easy to adjust your registration to sign up at this link. There is a first-time opportunity for everyone. For me, it will be joining the NCME Fitness Run/Walk for the first time. I hope to see you there for a lovely jaunt around Sloan Lake on Saturday morning, April 26. I will also host the first-ever “informal presidential closing reception” that afternoon, so please make sure to stick around!

3) One of the most important decisions that I believe we make in our lives is how we volunteer ourselves to others, how we dedicate our time and expertise without financial compensation. Hundreds of our members serve this great organization, and through your service we advance our common mission, “to advance theory and applications of educational measurement to benefit society.” Now is the time of year when we refresh roughly 1/3 of memberships on our hard-working committees, and our special interest groups (SIGIMIEs) can also rotate in their leadership. I strongly encourage members to volunteer their time to serve each other and our field. In uncertain times, it is important to uphold our institutions. I hope you will join me to volunteer, united, in service, for NCME.

On this note, I would like to thank News@NCME Editor Cheng Hua, who has graciously curated this space for me and for our community to share knowledge and opportunities through my presidential year. Thank you, Cheng.

Andrew Ho, President

National Council on Measurement in Education

Register now

for the 2025 NCME Annual Meeting

The NCME Annual Meeting will take place at the Hilton Denver City Center in Denver, CO from April 23-26, 2025. It is an excellent opportunity to present and hear about new research on important topics, to hear different perspectives on timely issues, to network with others in the measurement field, to encourage industry and member engagement, and to connect with others who share your enthusiasm and concern about issues in our field.

National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) will be hosting our 2025 Annual Meeting in conjunction with the 2025 AERA Annual Meeting. AERA is providing registration and housing support to registrants for the NCME Annual Meeting. AERA and NCME member and non-member registrants can register for both meetings separately or jointly. Information on hotel bookings at conference rates is provided in an email after registering for one or both conferences.

For questions about your registration, contact the AERA Annual Meeting Registration team via email at registration@aera.net or call at (202) 238-3200, option 3 to talk to a registration team member. 

PLEASE NOTE: Please allow one (1) week after renewing your membership to register for the Annual Meeting. An updated NCME membership list is provided to AERA every week.

Lead Through Service:  

Become the Next Editor-in-Chief of JEM 

For the past 60 years, the Journal of Educational Measurement has been the premier scholarly publication in psychometrics. The journal advances the science of educational measurement by presenting new contributions to measurement theory and improving the application of measurement theory in a variety of educational settings.  

The Editors-in-Chief of JEM are leaders in the field and have earned the respect and admiration of their colleagues. In fact, of the 21 professionals who have volunteered their time and expertise to serve as the Editor-in-Chief of JEM, 12 have gone on to serve as NCME President and 7 have won NCME Career Achievement Awards. 

 

What does the Editor-in-Chief do? 

Plenty! The Editor-in-Chief reviews submitted manuscripts, solicits reviews from experts, and ultimately makes the final decision on which manuscripts will be published in JEM. Through these editorial decisions the Editor-in-Chief helps to guide the direction of the journal and the field as a whole. In addition, the EIC is entitled to publish one special issue on a topic of their choosing. 

Will anyone help me? 

So many people! The Editor-in-Chief may choose to select Associate Editors who will help to synthesize reviewer feedback and recommend editorial decisions. In addition, the EIC may appoint members to the JEM Editorial Board who can be relied upon to provide timely and thorough reviews. Finally, the EIC is entitled to a small stipend for administrative support. 

Should I Apply? 

Probably! There are no specific prerequisites for the Editor-in-Chief of JEM. That said, applicants should have an established record of expertise on a broad domain of topics. In addition, the best candidates will have experience as a member of an Editorial Board, Associate Editor, or Editor for another journal.  

Great! How do I apply? 

It’s Easy! Please send your Curriculum Vitae accompanied by a cover letter explaining your relevant experience and vision for JEM to Jerome Clauser and Hong Jiao, co-chairs of the NCME Publications Committee (ncmepubs@gmail.com). Letters of recommendation are welcome, but not required. 

Please submit materials by January 31, 2025, with appointment expected in early 2025. The appointed individual will shadow the current EIC throughout 2025, and would begin their three-year term as Editor-in-Chief from January 2026. 

Call for Authors to Publish in ITEMS!

Do you want to share your expertise with a broader audience in an interactive format? Are you interested in publishing in Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice? If so, consider developing an ITEMS module!

What Are ITEMS Modules?
ITEMS modules are instructional resources designed to introduce key topics in educational measurement. With our user-friendly templates, you can get started without needing special instructional design skills or prior teaching experience.

Benefits of Developing an ITEMS Module:

  • Self-Paced Publication Cycle: Complete the process in less than a year.
  • Publication in a Reputable Journal: Gain visibility in Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice.
  • Enhance Communication skills: Improve your communication and instructional skills by creating a module on a topic of your interest.
  • Support Colleagues and Learners: ITEMS serves as a freely accessible learning resource for a diverse audience, including practitioners, graduate students, scholars, and the public. You can help them become familiar with important topics!

Topics:
ITEMS are currently open to any topics related to educational measurement. Preferred topics may include, but are not limited to, process data, learning analytics, machine learning techniques in educational measurement, and advanced psychometric methods for evaluating bias and fairness. This is a fantastic opportunity for graduate students and early career professionals eager to share emerging topics in educational measurement!

 

If you’re interested, please fill out the following form: Click Here

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!

 

Stella Kim

stella-kim@charlotte.edu

Incoming Editor, Instructional Topics in Educational Measurement Series

NCME launches Presidential Task Force on Educational Measurement and Civil Rights

          On May 30, the Presidential Task Force on the Role of Educational Measurement in the Protection and Advancement of Civil Rights held its inaugural meeting. The Task force, which was announced in March by Immediate Past President Michael Walker, will be chaired by Dr. Britte Haugan Cheng (Menlo Education Research, LLC).

          Cheng is joined on the Task Force by Co-chairs Dr. Sarah Beach (Education Rights Institute, University of Virginia School of Law), Dr. Juan D’Brot (Center for Assessment), and Dr. Howard Everson (Graduate Center, City University of New York). The eleven other Task Force members represent university faculty, graduate students, departments of education, school districts, consulting firms, testing organizations, and other nonprofits. Together, they will:

  • Look at the history of educational measurement in civil rights litigation and document the good and the bad.
  •      Identify specific elements of civil rights protections that may possibly be supported by educational measurement.
  •        Look at educational measurement programs at the federal, state, and local levels that claim to capture educational progress and document what purposes they serve fairly.
  •      Address common misunderstandings that get in the way of good legislation, policy, and practice that could ensure equal rights.
  •      And finally, write a report that reflects the consensus of the field of educational measurement, and indicating areas where greater understanding and consensus-building may be needed.

        The Task Force plans to involve other NCME members as well as representatives from different communities who interact with educational measurement in various capacities. 

        President Andrew Ho attended the inaugural meeting to offer his congratulations on the start of this important work. He encouraged the Task Force to present its findings at the 2025 Annual Meeting. Task Force members appreciated his remarks. “President Ho’s comments set a lovely stage for our conversation,” said Cheng afterward. She added, “I am excited and honored to be working on this task force with so many great people.”

        “I am thrilled to be working with the Task Force, and I can’t wait to get started,” said Walker. “I am confident that the final product will be a valuable asset for test score users.”

Upcoming Events

The biggest test-equating study in the world … Ever!

The NCME Contemporary Issues in Scaling, Linking & Equating SIGIMIE is hosting an upcoming event that delves into the complexities of test equating—a critical process in educational measurement that ensures scores from different assessments can be meaningfully compared.

Equating often relies on common items across tests to align scores taken by different groups of students. While numerous equating techniques exist in the psychometric literature, there is little consensus on which methods yield the most accurate results under varying conditions.

To address this challenge, researchers conducted the largest empirical study of equating methods to date. Analyzing data from 1,000 real assessments, they systematically compared over fifty equating techniques. The study simulated real-world scenarios by breaking each test into overlapping forms and assigning students to different conditions. The researchers examined the impact of factors such as anchor test length, sample size, and group ability differences, assessing how well each method recovered the "true" score relationships.

Findings from this extensive study suggest that just six equating methods consistently provide strong performance across diverse testing conditions.

This session, presented by Tom Benton and Matthew Carroll of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, will provide a deep dive into the study’s methodology, key findings, and practical implications for practitioners in the field.

Event Details:

📅 Date: March 26, 2025

⏰ Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM (ET)

📍 Location: Online (Zoom)

🔗 Join Here: Zoom Link

Note: The views expressed in this presentation are solely those of the presenters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NCME or the SLE SIGIMIE committee. The session is intended to foster open discussion and critical thinking in the field of psychometric research.

Don't miss this opportunity to gain evidence-based insights into best practices for test equating.

NCME Committee Updates

Educational Resources

Review the Meeting Recording: NLP for Enhancing Student Learning Outcomes

On May 8, 2024, Rose E. Wang from Stanford University presented on "Natural Language Processing for Improving Student Learning Outcomes," organized by the NCME Artificial Intelligence in Measurement & Education (AIME) SIGIMIE.

Dr. Wang highlighted her empirical language-based approach using NLP to enhance educational language at scale. She discussed Bridge, a method using cognitive task analysis to translate expert thought processes into decision-making models for remediation. Bridge-guided large language models (LLMs) outperformed novice tutors and LLMs alone in blind tests.

Dr. Wang also introduced Tutor CoPilot, a real-time decision aid using Bridge, which showed promising results in an ongoing randomized trial. Students working with Tutor CoPilot-equipped tutors reported significantly more positive tutoring experiences.

A recording of the event is available for those who missed it or wish to review the content. Access the meeting recording here.

Mastering the Job Market: A Guide for Educational Measurement Graduates on Resumes, Networking and Interviews

Effective job hunting for graduate students in Educational Measurement involves strategic preparation, from leveraging internships at organizations like Cognia, NCSBN, and ACT, to honing interview skills and managing a robust online presence. This guide offers comprehensive insights into creating impactful resumes, utilizing recommendation letters, and maximizing LinkedIn profiles and personal websites for academic and professional success. Embrace the journey with resources and tips to navigate the unique academic job market, underpinned by a systematic approach that mirrors the precision of your field. For further details on each aspect of your job search, click here.

NCME Announces Updated Listings of Graduate Programs in Educational Measurement

The National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) has updated its comprehensive listing of educational measurement graduate programs, a crucial tool for guiding students and connecting employers with potential candidates. Originally established in 1990, the latest 2019 revision continues to catalog programs across the United States and Canada, aiding in the growth and recruitment in this critical educational sector.

Download the Program Book.

Call for Papers - CEJEME Journal
 

CEJEME Special Issue on AI and Machine Learning in Measurement

The Chinese/English Journal of Educational Measurement and Evaluation (CEJEME) is issuing a CALL FOR PAPERS for the upcoming special issue on AI and machine learning in measurement.

CEJEME is a newly established, bilingual journal of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), co-sponsored by Beijing Normal University, China (ISSN: 2837-0899). CEJEME publishes articles on cutting-edge topics in educational measurement, evaluation, and policy. The journal aims to cater to a broad, applied audience and provides a platform for intellectual exchange on a wide range of methodological, ethical, and policy issues within an international and technology-driven context.

Each article is published online in two languages (Chinese and English) at no expense to the authors and is freely available to the public. All published articles have DOIs and are therefore immediately visible in the research publication ecosystem. Manuscripts can be submitted in either Chinese or English and are peer-reviewed in the language of submission. We guarantee a peer-review decision within four months from the date of submission.

You may browse all past issues on the CEJEME journal website, for example, the inaugural issue and issues published last year.

Special Issue on AI and Machine Learning in Educational Measurement

CEJEME is inviting submissions of articles that discuss topics related to AI and/or machine learning in educational measurement. We welcome a variety of article types, including typical research papers, commentaries, software exchange notes, or other innovative formats.

Please complete the Form of Interest by July 31, 2024 to provide brief information on your intended submission. We will reach out to invite full paper submissions by August 5, 2024. Full paper submissions are due October 14, 2024. The special issue will be published online by the end of December 2024.

We look forward to receiving your form of interest for this special issue of CEJEME. For further information on this special issue or your questions, please feel free to contact the co-editors, Dr. Yi Zheng at yi.isabel.zheng@asu.edu or Dr. Okan Bulut at bulut@ualberta.ca.

Past entries of the of the news letter can be viewed here. 

To be continued...

About NCME

Explore the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), a community dedicated to advancing educational measurement theory and practice; learn more about our mission and goals.

Suggest News

If you have a newsworthy topic to share, don't hesitate to get in touch with News@NCME at news@ncme.org.