AERC Welcomes: Dr Catherine McClellan
AERC is delighted to welcome Dr. Catherine McClellan. Catherine is working with AERC as Enterprise Fellow, teaching into the Master of Evaluation as well as leading AERC research projects.
Catherine is an experienced scientist with diverse background from the complex psychometrics of the National Assessment of Educational Progress to the design of the video scoring for the Measures of Effective Teaching study. Catherine has particular expertise in the training and monitoring of raters/observers of complex performance assessment outcomes, the design and creation of monitoring systems to assure quality control of scored data, and applications of item response theory to sparse data designs.
Prior to joining the AERC team, Catherine was the Assessment & Psychometric Research division director and Deputy CEO at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), overseeing research, assessment development, psychometrics, and marking as well as leading methodology and research projects. While at Educational Testing Service, Catherine was the psychometrics director for the US national assessment NAEP as well as director of human marking. She currently serves as a member of the Measurement Advisory Group for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) as well as a board member of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) in England.
Catherine’s background spans educational survey assessments at the state, national, and international levels through individual proficiency examinations for purposes including course completion, university admissions, college credit, and professional licensure. She has completed evaluations for a range of clients, including the US National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY), Vanderbilt University. Catherine received her Ph.D. in Research Evaluation and Methodology from the University of Florida. Her research specialty over the last 15 years has been primarily on how people evaluate complex performance assessment tasks, with a focus on teacher effectiveness and video scoring. In all her work, she brings a strong focus on the application of research and evaluation techniques to solve practical problems in educational measurement.
We welcome Catherine to the team look forward to working together.