Internships & Fellowships



         The following information is maintained by the The Graduate Student Issues Committee (GSIC). 
          If you would like to have your internship or fellowship listed here please contact our GSIC co-chair:
          Delwin Carter: delwincarter@ucsb.edu
          This list will be compiled as internships become available for 2020!


Graduate Student Internships

Internships are a valuable way to link your academic experience with the professional arena. Below is a list of internships that will allow students to go beyond the classroom and conduct practical research with a mentor from a testing company or research agency.


Graduate Student Fellowships

Fellowships provide structured work experience and professional development that include intensive training and experiential learning. Below is a list of fellowships that provide support to the fellow's growth and opportunities to explore a particular field of measurement.

Cognia Psychometric Externship

Cognia Psychometric Externship
Position Summary

Cognia (formerly Advanced Education | Measured Progress) is offering a unique externship program for students interested in psychometrics or educational measurement. Cognia will grant up to two (2) externships for students currently working toward their Ph.D. in psychometrics. The program is designed to help students gain in-depth knowledge and understanding of how the theory and practice of psychometrics interact in the activities of Cognia psychometricians, while not having to relocate.

During the 30-week program, the primary focus will be on accomplishing a research project culminating in an NCME or AERA proposal. The research area can be almost any in educational measurement. Areas of research in the past have included: equating, parameter drift, dimensionality estimation, skills diagnosis, standard setting, response time modeling, vertical scaling, and multistage testing.

In general, externs will work closely with our team of psychometricians to further their understanding of how the discipline of psychometrics is applied in a customized educational assessment environment. The program is scheduled to run from January 6, 2019, to July 31, 2019. Externs would work on projects 8-10 hours per week (some weeks more, some less). The program would cover 3 trips to Dover, NH (at program start on January 6, spring break, and a trip for the final presentation in the last week of July). All transportation costs, lodging, and meals will be covered during the trips. Between trips, externs will work with a mentor via Skype. Extern will be loaned a Cognia laptop to facilitate access to Cognia psychometric resources.

Deadline for application: December 11, 2019 - please submit application with two professional or educational references.

Cognia will pay $8000 over the 30-week period covering the externship.

Eligibility

Eligible candidates will be enrolled in a doctoral program (i.e. psychometrics, educational measurement, or appropriate discipline) of a fully accredited university/college, with at least two (2) years of full-time postgraduate study leading toward a Ph.D.


Anyone interested in this program should apply via the Cognia Career Center no later than Wednesday, December 11, 2019

 

Educational Testing Service (ETS)

2020- Educational Testing Service Internship

Interns in this eight-week program participate in research under the guidance of an ETS mentor. Each intern is required to give a brief presentation about the project at the conclusion of the internship. The internship is carried out in the ETS offices in Princeton, N.J. This year, projects may be conducted in the following research areas:

Research Area 1: English Language Learning and Assessment

Research Area 2: Career and Technical Education

Research Area 3: Teacher Diversity and Quality

Research Area 4: Design and Validity for Digital Assessment

Research Area 5: Modeling and Analyzing Examinee Response Processes

Research Area 6: Statistical and Psychometric Foundations

Research Area 7: Group-Score Assessment

Research Area 8: Applied Psychometrics

Research Area 9: Human and Automated Scoring

  • The application deadline is February 1, 2020.
  • Applicants will be notified of selection decisions by March 31, 2020.
  • Eight weeks: June 1, 2020–July 24, 2020
  • $6,000 salary
  • Transportation allowance for relocating to and from the Princeton area
  • Housing will be provided for interns commuting more than 50 miles
  • Current full-time enrollment in a relevant doctoral program
  • Completion of at least two years of coursework toward the doctorate prior to the program start date

For more information please view the ETS Internship Announcement.

 

American College Testing (ACT) Psychometric Intern

ACT Psychometric Research Intern

Overview

ACT is a nonprofit organization helping people achieve educational and workplace success. Our programs are designed to boost lifelong learning in schools and workplaces around the world. Whether it's guiding students along their learning paths, enabling companies to develop their workforce, fostering parent, teacher, and counselor understanding of student progress, guiding job seekers toward career success, or informing policymakers about education and workforce issues. ACT is passionate about making a difference in all we do.

Responsibilities

Position Objective: Conduct a study to investigate the usage of item latency information in detecting aberrant testing behaviors in computer-based tests.

Typical job activities include:

  • designing a research study

  • writing programs and conducting research

  • summarizing the results

  • writing research reports

  • presenting the outcome of the research and submitting a proposal based on the study to NCME/AERA

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

Education: Currently enrolled purusing a graduate degree in educational measurement, statistics, advanced statistics or a related field.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

  • knowledge and research experience in different statistical models

  • computer programming skills in SAS, R, and/or Python

  • good writing skills

For more information please see the job posting.

American College Testing (ACT) Internship: Survey, Validity & Efficacy Research

ACT Survey, Validity & Efficacy Research Intern

Overview

ACT is a nonprofit organization helping people achieve educational and workplace success. Our programs are designed to boost lifelong learning in schools and workplaces around the world. Whether it's guiding students along their learning paths, enabling companies to develop their workforce, fostering parent, teacher, and counselor understanding of student progress, guiding job seekers toward career success, or informing policymakers about education and workforce issues. ACT is passionate about making a difference in all we do.

Responsibilities

Position objective: The summer intern will provide support in furthering ACT’s understanding of the environmental factors that influence students’ attitudes toward, decision-making about, and usage of test preparation. This work will help us better articulate the key levers in test preparation usage through a literature review and with the implementation of a research study. The results of this work will be used as the foundation to investigate the impact of the introduction of modular testing and superscoring on test prep. Co-authorship of publications and submissions to national conferences will also be considered.

Description of type of work/area of focus: The summer intern will capitalize on ecological factors (e.g., systems theory and thinking) in program evaluation to better understand test preparation use. Work will focus on studying ecological factors (e.g., the application of systems theory) in understanding current research on test preparation followed by the design and implementation of a pilot study. The study will help ACT to understand the environmental factors that influence students’ attitudes toward, decision-making about, and usage of test preparation. Work will include: a) the documentation of methodological approaches, b) a framework that applies these methodological approaches to test preparation, c) the implementation of a pilot study that applies this framework, and d) a write-up of findings from the pilot study. A paper will be written that synthesizes this work. Submission to national conferences will also be considered.

Typical work-related activities will include:

  • Conducting a review of the literature on topics of focus

  • Provide support in designing and implementing a study (e.g. development of interview protocols or surveys)

  • The analysis of pilot study data

  • Participate in regular meetings with supervisors

  • Present findings to technical and non-technical audiences

  • Coauthor papers

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:Candidates should be currently enrolled in a doctoral graduate program in program evaluation or in social science (e.g., education, psychology, sociology) research program. Completion of two years of graduate school at time of internship required.

Experience Requirements/Preferences: Currently enrolled in a relevant doctoral program with program evaluation and research design training. Prior experience conducting evaluation/research preferred.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:Knowledge of and experience in program evaluation and/or systems theory, research methods (mixed methods preferred) and good professional writing/presentation skills are required

For more information please see the job posting.

American College Testing (ACT) Assessment Transformation Internship

ACT Assessment Transformation Internship

Overview

ACT is a nonprofit organization helping people achieve educational and workplace success. Our programs are designed to boost lifelong learning in schools and workplaces around the world. Whether it's guiding students along their learning paths, enabling companies to develop their workforce, fostering parent, teacher, and counselor understanding of student progress, guiding job seekers toward career success, or informing policymakers about education and workforce issues. ACT is passionate about making a difference in all we do.

Responsibilities

Position Objective: A successful intern will learn about methods for studying the comparability of paper and online assessments and develop statistical analysis programs to examine mode comparability. Through this work, the intern will gain experience with common psychometric analyses supporting large-scale assessment programs. The intern will work with Assessment Transformation staff to write an AERA or NCME proposal describing recent mode comparability studies for the ACT.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications: Currently pursing a graduate degree in educational measurement, psychometrics, educational statistics, educational psychology or a related field.

Experience Requirements/Preferences: Two years of doctoral studies in a relevant field

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

  • classical test theory

  • item response theory

  • equating

  • statistical analysis and programming

  • data visualization

  • technical writing

  • teamwork

For more information please see the job posting.

ETS Post Doctoral Fellowship 

ETS Post Doctoral Fellowship

Description

Individuals who have earned their doctoral degree within the last three years are invited to apply for a rewarding fellowship experience which combines working on cutting-edge ETS research projects and conducting independent research that is relevant to ETS's goals. The fellowship is carried out in the ETS offices in Princeton, N.J. This year we are seeking applicants with experience in the following areas:

  • Applied Psychometrics
  • Artificial Intelligence Based Automated Scoring
  • Modeling and Scoring Item Responses from Interactive and Simulation-Based Assessments
  • Modeling of Response Processes and Response Times
  • Psychometric Issues in Adaptive Testing Designs
  • Statistical and Psychometric Foundations
  • Statistical and Psychometric Issues in Group-Scored Assessments
Program Goals
  • Provide research opportunities to individuals who hold a doctorate in the fields indicated above
  • Enhance the diversity and inclusion among underrepresented groups in conducting research in educational assessment and related fields
Important Dates
  • March 1, 2020 — deadline for preliminary application
  • April 15, 2020 — deadline for final application materials
Duration of Program

The fellowship is for a period of up to two years, renewable after the first year by mutual agreement.
Compensation

  • Competitive salary
  • $5,000 one-time relocation incentive for round-trip relocation expenses
  • Employee benefits, vacation, holidays and other paid leave in accordance with ETS policies
Eligibility
  • Doctorate in a relevant discipline within the past three years
  • Evidence of prior independent research

 For more information please visit the ETS Post Doctoral Fellowship announcement.

ETS Harold Gulliksen Psychometric Research Fellowship 

ETS Harold Gulliksen Psychometric Research Fellowship

Description

During the summer, selected fellows are required to participate in the Summer Internship Program in Research for Graduate Students, working under the guidance of an ETS mentor. During the subsequent academic year, fellows study at their universities and carry out research under the supervision of an academic mentor and in consultation with their ETS mentor.

Program Goals

The goal of this program is to increase the number of well-trained scientists in educational assessment, psychometrics and statistics.

Important Dates
    • December 31, 2019 — Deadline for receipt of preliminary application materials
    • January 15, 2020 — Applicants are notified of preliminary application decision
    • February 14, 2020 — Deadline for receipt of final application materials
    • March 31, 2020 — Award recipients are notified
Duration of Program

Appointments are for one year.
Award Value

Each fellow's university receives the following:

  • $20,000 to pay a stipend to the fellow
  • $8,000 to defray the fellow's tuition, fees and work-study program commitments
  • A small grant to facilitate work on the fellow's research project

Selected fellow must participate in the Summer Internship Program in Research for Graduate Students. The fellow will receive the following:

  • $6,000 salary
  • Transportation allowance for relocating to and from the Princeton area
  • Housing will be provided for interns commuting more than 50 miles
Eligibility

At the time of application, candidates must be enrolled in a doctoral program, have completed all the coursework toward the doctorate, and be at the dissertation stage of their program. Dissertation topics in the areas of psychometrics, statistics, educational measurement or quantitative methods will be given priority. At the time of application, candidates will be asked to provide a statement describing any additional financial assistance such as assistantship or grant commitment that he/she will have during the fellowship period.


For more information please visit the Harold Gulliksen Psychometric Research Fellowship announcement.