Staff List: VIEW

Dr. Arthur A. Thacker, joined HumRRO in 1997. He is currently project director for HumRRO's contracts with the Kentucky Department of Education and the Illinois State Board of Education, as well as for subcontracts through CTB for the North Dakota Department of Education and through Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. He recently began directing HumRRO's efforts to investigate validity issues associated with Kentucky's alternate assessment as part of a federal General Supervision Enhancement Grant (GSEG) that funds similar research for a consortium of states. Those projects require that he regularly perform psychometric analyses and research as well as qualitative program evaluations, investigations of instructional practice, projects linking teacher practice with student performance, and alignment studies. He also serves as a team member on HumRRO's quality assurance projects associated with NAEP and the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Other recent projects completed by Dr. Thacker include a national NCLB impact study for the Center for Education Policy (CEP) as well as one for the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board (EPSB) linking teacher practices to state assessment scores. Some of Dr. Thacker's past projects involved working with The College Board to study the implementation of Advanced Placement programs in high schools and a program evaluation of Pacesetter Mathematics in middle and high schools. In addition, Dr. Thacker helped conduct several validity studies for the Idaho Department of Education related to test-to-standards alignment and students' opportunity to learn. Prior to coming to HumRRO, Dr. Thacker was a teacher in a large urban high school and also worked with the University of Louisville to implement the national Partnership for Reform in Science and Mathematics (PRISM), Secondary Mathematics Initiative (SMI) program.

Dr. R. Gene Hoffman holds a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Maryland. Dr. Hoffman began his career with HumRRO 25 years ago at Ft. Knox, Kentucky and he spent the first 15 years working on a variety of personnel selection and personnel training projects for the United States Army, many of which involved issues dealing with the measurement of human performance. Ten years ago Dr. Hoffman made a major career shift when he agreed to head up HumRRO's fledgling program in educational measurement. CLEAR was established with two employees in the Radcliff, Kentucky office, and the Kentucky Department of Education was the first client. Since that time, Dr. Hoffman has built CLEAR into an office of 11 staff members currently located in Louisville, KY. All of the CLEAR staff members are involved with state large-scale assessment system contracts or with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Most of the staff are employed full-time on educational assessment projects. CLEAR's growth in state large-scale assessment involvement has matched its growth in personnel. Recently, HumRRO was notified that CLEAR would begin final negotiations with its 12th state. In addition, CLEAR staff, including Dr. Hoffman, play major roles in HumRRO's quality assurance for the NAEP. The strength of Dr. Hoffman's leadership is through his technical ability. Since 1997, Dr. Hoffman has authored or co-authored 91 technical reports, 44 of which have been for the Kentucky Department of Education. These works run the gamut of research designs from qualitative case studies to technical psychometric reports. During this time, Dr. Hoffman has helped HumRRO strengthen its national reputation through his working relationships with every major testing company in the US. Dr. Hoffman and his CLEAR staff have come to be known as experts in the field who are reliable, creative problem-solvers that have a deep understanding of student assessment and the school accountability context in which these assessments reside.

Dr. Andrea Sinclair, joined HumRRO in 2003. Her quantitative and qualitative research experience and data analytic skills have been applied to government, military, private sector, and educational settings. Dr. Sinclair is involved with on-going validity research for the Kentucky Department of Education's large scale assessment and accountability system. Dr. Sinclair also conducts psychometric quality assurance investigations for several states' assessment and accountability systems. In addition, she develops data collection instruments and visits schools to conduct classroom observations and interviews with teachers and principals. Dr. Sinclair also conducts research related to the validity and reliability of selection, classification, and promotion systems in the government, military, and the private sector. For example, she has conducted task analyses for hundreds of occupations for the Department of Labor's Occupation Information Network (O*NET). She assisted in the development of a pilot job analysis and pilot promotion assessments for the Army, including the development of situational judgment tests (SJTs). She developed a modified Behaviorally Anchored Ratings Scale (BARS) for Proctor & Gamble to be used for evaluating the performance of interns. In addition, Dr. Sinclair directs the administration and analysis of HumRRO's annual internal work climate survey. Dr. Sinclair received her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Virginia Tech.

Ms. Lisa Koger has 11 years' experience in qualitative data collection and analysis. Her recent work includes site visit studies conducted for the California and Kentucky Departments of Education. The California study examined possible common factors between high schools whose English Learners and students with disabilities were passing the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) at higher than expected rates. The Kentucky study is longitudinal; it investigates the connection between schools' scores on the Commonwealth Accountability and Testing System (CATS, Kentucky's state tests) and their instructional practices, school climate and school learning environment. Ms. Koger has also observed test administrations in elementary, middle, and high schools for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), as part of HumRRO's quality assurance team, and she participated in studies for the College Board. In addition, she has developed interview protocols and analyzed data using a qualitative data analysis software program.

Yvette Nemeth joined the HumRRO staff in March 2007. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in industrial/Organizational Psychology with a focus on measurement issues. Dr. Nemeth has prior experience with organizational assessment including qualitative and quantitative analyses of an employee satisfaction survey and evaluation of structured interviews. She also has experience conducting neuropsychological evaluations. Her research has focused on the areas of selection validation, assessment centers, instrument development, and measurement equivalence/invariance utilizing both Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory. Dr. Nemeth has worked with the Florida, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Utah Departments of Education conducting scaling and equating of school assessments. She also conducted interviews and site visits of schools in Kentucky evaluating instructional practices and school learning environments.