Hello everyone,
We hope you are all staying healthy and safe. We missed getting to be together in person at the conference this past April, but are looking forward more than ever to being able to work with you once it is safe to do so.
The impact of COVID-19 has been far-reaching, impacting the measurement field in many ways. Beyond our health, we all experienced schedule disruptions and a (possibly tumultuous) transition to remote learning and working. As graduate students, this likely altered your daily routines and the social interactions that can make graduate school easier and more enjoyable.
In other aspects of the measurement field, K-12 education was severely impacted by social distancing, with remote learning becoming the new norm, at least for the time being. Spring assessments were cancelled in many states and leaders in education as well as the measurement field are working to determine what K-12 education will look like in the fall. Remote learning and online assessments are more important than ever when people are not permitted to be together in classrooms or to take tests.
At our last GSIC meeting we discussed ways that we could attempt to replicate the in-person gatherings we look forward to at the conference, specifically the graduate student social event. We understand the importance of being able to see peers from different institutions at that event, and we hope to find a way to virtually be together soon.
If you are looking for ways to keep up to date on your research skills this summer, the podcast Quantitude has some interesting episodes that you might enjoy! Specifically, episode 4 addresses challenges and provides advice to graduate students.
One last note - the GSIC committee had some changes in members at the time of the conference in April. The two co-chairs (and authors of these newsletters) for this year are Maura O’Riordan from University of Massachusetts Amherst and Scott Holcomb from University of North Carolina Charlotte. We look forward to working with many of you in the upcoming year!
Maura & Scott