A growing number of mathematics education researchers today are using various psychometric models to measure mathematical knowledge and learning by students and teachers.
As part of this work, researchers are raising fundamental questions about what mathematical knowledge is important to measure, which psychometric models work best in different contexts and whether new psychometric models are needed for measuring mathematical knowledge that counts.
These are just a few of the questions that several dozen mathematics education researchers, psychometricians and mathematicians from across the country will discuss in a conference supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation and hosted by UGA’s College of Education Sept 25-27 in Atlanta at the Westin Hotel in Buckhead.
The conference is entitled “An Interdisciplinary Conference on Assessment in K-12 Mathematics: Collaborations between Mathematics Education and Psychometrics.”
It will deepen understanding among mathematics education researchers, psychometricians and mathematicians of the range of possibilities for and the inherent challenges in pursuing research at the intersection of mathematics education and psychometrics.
Furthermore, there is an urgent need to build capacity for conducting such interdisciplinary research, according to Andrew Izsák, associate professor of mathematics education and coordinator of the conference.
The conference will provide a much-needed opportunity for mathematics education researchers, psychometricians and mathematicians to answer three of these questions:
- What opportunities do current and emerging psychometric models afford and how can they be used for measuring mathematical knowledge?
- What mathematical knowledge is important to measure and how much of that knowledge can be measured using current psychometric models and testing methods?
- What new psychometric models might be needed for measuring mathematical knowledge?
- In particular, conference participants will identify how future research at the intersection of mathematics education and psychometrics can be strengthened, thus providing a foundation for next generation, transformative assessments that are valid and reliable.
In addition to Izsák, several UGA faculty members will play central roles in the conference including:
- Allan Cohen, professor of educational psychology and director of the Georgia Assessment Center;
- Jeremy Kilpatrick, UGA Regents Professor of mathematics education;
- Jonathan Templin, associate professor of educational psychology; and
- Sybilla Beckmann, professor of mathematics.