Assessment & Measurement PhD Program Faculty and Students Present Research in Greece
College of Health and Behavioral Studies
Dr. Sara Finney (Professor for the Assessment & Measurement PhD program), Riley Herr (1st year Assessment and Measurement PhD student) and Mara McFadden (2nd year Assessment and Measurement PhD student) shared their empirical research at the 19th Annual International Conference on Psychology in Athens, Greece. They presented in sessions with colleagues from Canada, China, France, Greece, Israel, Spain, Turkey, and the UK. In addition to networking with international colleagues, Mara, Riley, and Sara engaged in educational experiences where they learned about the historic city of Athens and its contribution to the scholarly pursuit of knowledge.
Dr. Finney presented the results of an evaluation of a three-day professional development offered by the Center for Assessment and Research Studies (CARS) for higher education professionals. The three-day professional development resulted in significant and practical changes in professionals’ knowledge related to program theory, implementation fidelity, and the use of assessment results for program improvement. Materials related to this intervention were freely shared with the audience to advance outcomes assessment processes and the use of results on other campuses or non-profits.
Mara McFadden summarized the results of five studies that examined the effectiveness of priming examinees to give good effort on low-stakes tests. This work included the first three publications of the priming effect, which Mara conducted during the first three years of her graduate studies (including her first-year apprentice project and her thesis). Given the effectiveness of this intervention, low-stakes testing at JMU has been enhanced and this intervention can be applied to any low-stakes testing context.
Riley Herr presented work conducted with Dr. Paul Mabrey as part of her graduate assistantship in the office of Student Academic Success (Student Succes & Analytics team). This work included a quasi-experimental study that examined the effectiveness of a suspension alert system on short-term academic outcomes. Specifically, Riley employed a regression discontinuity design to evaluate if first-year students placed on academic probation or given a suspension alert (based on their first-term GPA) perform differentially during their subsequent semester. Results indicated that students who were given a suspension alert during their first semester (i.e., obtained a GPA < 1.5) demonstrated meaningful improvement (on average) compared to students who were placed on academic probation (i.e., obtained a GPA >1.5 < 2.0) with respect to next-term GPAs. Much of this research was completed when Riley was enrolled in the PhD program’s course on Quasi-experimental Research Methods.
Mara, Riley, and Sara want to thank the Center for Assessment and Research Studies (CARS), the Assessment & Measurement Ph.D. program, the office of Student Academic Success, and the Office of Student Awards, Initiatives & Research (STAIR) at JMU for supporting their dissemination of this good work to a global audience.
