“Rejecting Evidence Gathered from Tests: A Bomb Under the Table”

I am pleased to warmly invite you to attend Dr. Howard Wainer’s presentation on Tuesday, October 29, at noon. The presentation, titled “Rejecting Evidence Gathered from Tests: A Bomb Under the Table,” will explore key issues surrounding standardized testing in college admissions.

Dr. Wainer is a leading figure in contemporary psychometrics and educational statistics, with over 500 publications in peer-reviewed journals and 27 books. His research has significantly shaped testing and assessment practices both in the United States and internationally. For example, his book Differential Item Functioning (1993) led to the mandated screening of public testing programs for potentially biased items in the U.S. and other countries. Additionally, Computerized Adaptive Testing: A Primer (1990, 2000) provided the theoretical foundation for the development and implementation of large-scale, personalized assessment systems.

During his presentation, Dr. Wainer will also introduce his 27th book, Testing and the Paradoxes of Fairness (co-authored with D. Robinson), soon to be published by Cambridge University Press. Despite the long history of testing, he highlights that many unjustifiable claims about the properties and uses of tests still persist.

In his talk, he will present evidence to challenge three common misconceptions:

1. Coaching for the SAT provides a significant unfair advantage to affluent families – it doesn’t.
2. “Strivers” (students who outperform expectations based on their backgrounds) are better bets for admission than non-strivers with the same scores – they’re not.
3. Making tests optional yields academic benefits for the admitted class – it doesn’t.

Dr. Wainer has received numerous prestigious awards and honors, including election as a Fellow of both the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the American Statistical Association (ASA). He is a role model for conducting research and disseminating findings with remarkable efficiency.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Howard Wainer as the inaugural speaker for the new Departmental Research Seminars by the Department of Educational Studies.

Join Zoom Meeting
https:// lnkd. in/gxqsNGRY (Copy to your browser and remove spaces)
Meeting ID: 989 6724 3849
Passcode: Wainer2024