Building Capacity for Educational Assessment Research in Geography

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This project will allow a mid-career principal investigator to acquire education research expertise needed to successfully conceive and execute fundamental research with the potential to meaningfully advance knowledge about psychometrics and large-scale data analysis as it relates to geography assessment. The principal investigator's individual professional development plan includes a mentor and advisory board members with expertise specific to this topic who will provide guidance and feedback throughout the award period. Specifically, the principal investigator will seek to increase capacity in the following areas: (1) large scale data operation; (2) defining and measuring geography constructs; (3) issues of sampling and population modeling; (4) item response theory; (5) statistical methodologies for analyzing clustered assessment datasets; (6) specialized software packages for analyzing data; (7) hierarchical linear modeling; and (8) cognitive diagnostic modeling relative to achievement testing. Activities in the professional development plan needed to gain required expertise to complete the pilot study will be obtained through subject-specific conferences, workshops, short courses, seminars, webinars, mentoring and networking. Guided by the psychometric measurement theory, the principal investigator will analyze geography data collected through the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) recent administrations to explain patterns of geographic learning among youth in diverse school communities. This analysis is important since NAEP data show that students from minority populations continue to score at or below basic in geography. Hence, the principal investigator will examine variability in geography achievement for all grade levels on which data are available relative to student background characteristics, school-level contextual attributes, and classroom opportunity to learn. Survey data from teachers and school administrators who participated in NAEP administrations will also be analyzed. Through this project, the principal investigator will gain expertise needed to plan, design, and conduct studies on educational assessment and measurement in the context of geography education and set the stage for future interventions to enable more minority students to achieve at higher levels in geography. The project is supported through the EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research competition that is designed to build individuals' capacity to carry out high quality fundamental STEM education research in STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.