Pearson’s participation at AERA and NCME

As I read the latest TMRS Newsletter, I was reminded of my first days at Pearson. Back then, the department, lead by Jon Twing, consisted of 5 other staff. We were called psychometricians and we worked closely together across operational testing programs.

The department grew rapidly after that. As part of that growth, Jon and I created the Researcher-Practitioner model as an ideal. Under the Researcher-Practitioner Model, practice informs research and research supports practice. The role of the psychometrician combines research and fulfillment. Our department would not have separate groups of staff to perform research and fulfillment functions. Instead, our department would use the same staff members to perform both activities. Each psychometrician would dedicate the majority of their hours to contract fulfillment and the remaining hours to research.

Many things have changed since those first days but some things remain the same. With more than 50 research scientists, we are still a close-knit group. But the label “psychometrician” has been replaced with “research scientist.” And we are still working toward the ideal of the Researcher-Practitioner. While we may not have achieved the ideal, the list of Pearson staff participating in the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the annual conference of the National Conference on Measurement in Education (NCME) in the latest TMRS Newsletter is proof that we are still active researchers. In Denver, Pearson staff provide 22 presentations at AERA and 15 presentations at NCME. In addition, Pearson research scientists will make three presentations at the Council of Chief State School Officers’ (CCSSO) National Conference on Student Assessment and will present at Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and the International Objective Measurement Workshop (IOMW).

Please review the research that Pearson research scientists will be presenting at these meetings that are listed in the newsletter. If you are interested in reading the conference papers, several are listed on the conference reports tab on the Research & Resources
page of the Pearson Assessment & Information website.


Paul Nichols, PhD
Vice President
Psychometric & Research Services
Assessment & Information
Pearson