Katie Merrick provides a student perspective to the marketing and communications team at the College of Education. She helps create social media posts, write weekly news articles, and share the many different stories of the College of Education.
Katie is currently working towards a B.A. in strategic communication from WSU’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. She is an active member of the WSU chapter of the Association for Women in Communications and currently serves as vice president of the club. She also works as a campus representative for Pearson Education.
Katie is a third generation WSU student and the granddaughter of a College of Education graduate.
What she lacks in professional experience she makes up for in enthusiasm. Education has always been important to her and she hopes to use this passion to share the great accomplishments of the College of Education.
Research shows that if students are engaged in learning activities they will learn better. We want to help English language students and teachers in both ESL and EFL contexts learn and teach more effectively, and you can help us by completing this survey about your own teaching or ask your students to complete it about their learning. The student and teacher versions of the survey have been translated into 10 languages so that you can choose a suitable version and answer the questions or guide your students to answer the questions as completely and specifically as possible. The findings of this study will lead to a learning model that could potentially benefit English language learners worldwide. In addition, the engagement principles discovered through this research may be adopted in other learning contexts for creating a more effective teaching/learning environment.
By taking this survey you agree that your answers can be used as data to help us create a task engagement model. We guarantee that your data will not be identified and cannot be traced to you; in other words, the data are anonymous. We appreciate your help!
Note: This survey is for English language teachers and learners. If you are not an English language teacher or learner, please do not take this survey. Also, the survey is password-protected; the password for student surveys is “students2018” and for teachers “teachers2018” (without quotes). We will be happy to provide you with the results when they are analyzed.
Farrey is the executive director of the Sports & Society program for the Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C. The program engages leaders and stakeholders to address challenges at the intersection of sports and society.
In his lecture, “How to Get a Game On,” he will examine the current landscape of youth sport, now a $15 billion industry dominated by travel teams. He will also discuss ways to sustain children’s interest in physical activity and share lessons on the creation of a movement that addresses a complex social problem in communities.
“Depending on who you talk to, young athletes today are either coddled or burned out,” said Scott Jedlicka, an assistant professor in the College of Education’s Sport Management program. “Tom Farrey’s work transcends that debate by instead emphasizing access to sport opportunities and habitual, lifelong physical activity as the central concerns of youth sport programs.”
Jedlicka said the lecture will appeal to athletes, coaches, parents, and youth sport administrators.
“It will also be geared toward people who are simply committed to helping young people succeed, even outside of sport,” Jedlicka said. “It will be a very inspiring way to kick off Homecoming Weekend in Pullman.”
Farrey’s 2008 book “Game On: The All American Race to Make Champions of Our Children” started a movement that culminated in the creation of Aspen Institute’s Project Play, an initiative that provides stakeholders with tools and opportunities to make sport accessible to all children, regardless of zip code or ability.
Hundreds of organizations, from grassroots providers to foundations to professional leagues, have used Project Play’s framework of eight strategies for the eight sectors touching the lives of children to introduce programs or shape their youth strategies.
Farrey’s broadcasting work earned him the 2014 Alfred I. duPont/Columbia University Award, the 2013 Edward R. Murrow Award, and two Emmy Awards. His reports have appeared on “Outside the Lines,” “SportsCenter,” “E:60,” “Good Morning America,” “ABC World News Tonight,” and “This Week.”
The Carol E. Gordon and Mary Lou Enberg Endowed Professional Series in Sport Studies is an annual public event that features sport industry experts sharing perspectives on their career experiences in an effort to inspire insight and foster dialogue about both recent and longstanding issues in sport.
Why do you want to become a teacher? I like being a role model and I have always worked with kids from babysitting to working at a summer camp to just being at home. I am the oldest child so it is great to have my younger siblings look up to me. It is also great when you realize what an impact that you have had on the kids that you work with which I have seen through working at the summer camp. I want to be able to impact my students in such a positive way that they have no choice but to look back and remember my positive influence on them and their peers.
What are you most passionate about when it comes to being a teacher?
I want to be someone that my students can turn to when they feel as if they have no one else because I had that and it made life quite a bit easier.
What or who inspired you to become a teacher?
My 5th grade teacher was always someone that I could turn to when things got difficult. She has had my younger siblings and has constantly been a huge support for my family. Now that I am in college, she is still keeping in touch with me and supporting me on my journey to become a teacher. I want to be that person for my students.
Megan Bang (Ojibwe and Italian descent) is an associate professor of the Learning Sciences and Human Development in Educational Psychology at the University of Washington. She teaches in the Teacher Education Programs and is affiliated faculty in American Indian Studies. She is the former Director of Education at the American Indian Center (AIC), where she served in this role for 12 years. In addition she was the counselor and GED instructor at the Institute for Native American Development at Truman College, a community college. She served on the Title VII parent committee for 6+ years for Chicago Public Schools. She is a former pre-school, middle-school, high-school, and GED teacher, youth worker, and museum educator. She has directed professional development programs with in-service and pre-service teachers, and after school programs in community-based organizations. She is currently the Director of Native Education Certificate Program at the University of Washington to support in-service, pre-service and informal educators working in and with Native communities.
Megan’s research is focused on understanding culture, cognition, and development broadly with a specific focus on the complexities of navigating multiple meaning systems in creating and implementing more effective learning environments with Indigenous students, teachers, and communities both in schools and in community settings. Her work focuses on decolonizing and indigenizing education broadly with a focus on “STEAM.” More specifically she works to create learning environments that build on Indigenous ways of knowing, attend to issues of self-determination and work towards socially and ecologically just futures.
Megan serves on several editorial boards including: Journal of American Indian education, Curriculum & Instruction, Mind, Culture, and Activity, and Curriculum Inquiry. She serves on the board of Directors for Grassroots Indigenous Multi-media and organization focused on Ojibwe language revitalization and Na’ah Illahee Fund an organization focused on empowering Indigenous women and girls.
Megan is the birth mother of three and has raised many of her nieces and nephews. She is a daughter, niece, sister, and partner as well.
ABOUT THE TALK
From Megan Bang: “This talk will focus on the role of Indigenous science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics education in bringing about just and sustainable futures that ensure the thriving of Indigenous communities. Indigenous peoples ways of knowing are based in relations with our homelandswaters and the relational responsibilities we have. While historically science and science education had been tools of colonialism and empire, decolonial landwater based education can transform the the pedagogical paradigms we utilize in educational spaces in ways the support thriving and resurgent Indigenous youth. In this talk I will share work in a ISTEAM programs with K-12th grade Indigenous youth that not only ensures they have opportunity to learn and continue Indigenous science – something Indigenous peoples have always done – but also achieve and appropriately utilize western science towards generative ends.”
The Learning and Performance Research Center (LPRC) offers psychometric, research methods, and statistical consulting services to faculty and graduate students, primarily in the behavioral and social sciences. Topics include the following:
Regression
Item Response Theory (IRT)
ANOVA and MANOVA
Mixture Modeling
Factor Analysis
Latent Class Analysis
Multi-Level Modeling
Power Analysis
Latent Growth Curve Modeling
Measurement
Longitudinal Modeling
Sample Design
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)
Weighting
Longitudinal SEM
Missing Data
Bayesian SEM
The LPRC will offer consulting in alignment with its overall research mission to provide leadership, training, consultation, and state-of-the-art solutions to challenging educational research questions at the university, state, national, and international levels. Consulting projects should lead to outcomes such as journal articles, grant proposals, theses, and dissertations according to the following guidelines. We also will have conversations with the parties for the appropriate role depending on the extent of our involvement, as described below.
Consulting Services
The LPRC offers an initial consulting session (1-hour) to faculty and graduate students to assess needs, time requirements, and initial advice. Depending on the specific project needs, outcomes, and consulting time available, additional sessions could be scheduled. Priority will be given to first sessions for faculty/students, and additional sessions will be scheduled based on consultants’ availability.
We can provide guidance (i.e., advice, references, software suggestions) to graduate students concerning their thesis or dissertation work with the outcome that students complete their work themselves. We do not design studies, analyze data, or write components of student’s work. Please rely on your committee for assistance with such tasks.
Consulting is not a tutoring service for students enrolled in courses. Please see your instructor for such assistance.
Appointments should be scheduled in advance for consulting services (no drop-in appointments).
Faculty and students in need of consulting for grant applications or other time-sensitive projects are encouraged to contact the LPRC well in advance (e.g., 6 to 8 weeks) of any deadlines. The LPRC will observe the “No Rush” policy of the college.
For projects requiring additional time, depending on level of involvement, we will negotiate with the parties for the appropriate fees or roles given the extent of our involvement, consistent with APA and WSU guidelines. Additional work can be done on the following basis:
Grant proposals: When LPRC faculty are included/named on the proposal (with funding), additional time can be invested as part of LPRC funding devoted to development of proposals.
Journal article submissions: When LPRC faculty are included as co-authors, additional time can be invested as part of faculty scholarship.
Extended consulting services without co-PI or co-author roles: The fee rate will align with the LPRC’s normal rates for consulting.
Why do you want to become a teacher? As a teacher you are able to be a positive influence for every student in your classroom. Being an advocate for education and a positive influence as an educator opens the door to so many student’s potential.
What are you most passionate about when it comes to being a teacher?
Being a positive influence to students has the possibility to change lives for the better. And being able to be a role model for students can make the small difference that they may need.
What or who inspired you to become a teacher?
Seeing the potential in students is inspiring as an educator. The glimpse of greatness in every young mind is the driving force behind being a teacher.
My research interests mainly lie in the investigations of the performance and utility of current and emerging psychometric frameworks that can provide formative and diagnostic information about student learning and achievement in various assessment settings. Particularly, I am interested in both methodological and applied aspects of (multidimensional) item response theory models, cognitive diagnostic models (CDMs), subscore reporting, differential item functioning (DIF), and large-scale assessment. I am also interested in applying statistical methods, such as missing data analysis, structural equation modeling, multilevel modeling, longitudinal modeling, and machine learning approaches in broad educational and psychological contexts. I am the director of the Large-Scale Data laboratory that is housed within the WSU Learning and Performance Research Center. Currently, I am serving as a statistical and methodological advisor of the Journal of School Psychology, an associate editor of Frontiers in Education – Assessment, Testing and Applied Measurement, and a consulting editor of the Journal of Experimental Education and Psych. I am also chairing the NCME Large-Scale Assessment (LSA) SIGIMIE.
QuantitativeMethods: Structural equation modeling, multivariate/multilevel modeling, longitudinal data analysis, machine learning applications in education research
Education
Ph. D., Inquiry Methodology, Indiana University Bloomington
M. S., Applied Statistics, Indiana University Bloomington
M. A., Language Testing, Beijing Language and Culture University
B. A., Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, Beijing Language and Culture University
Teaching
Measurement & Psychometrics
ED_PSYCH 511 Classical and Modern Test Theory
ED_PSYCH 577 Item Response Theory
ED_PSYCH 578 Advanced Item Response Theory
ED_PSYCH 579 Large-Scale Surveys in Education
Statistics & Quantitative Methods
ED_PSYCH 512 Data Management & Visualization
ED_PSYCH 508 Educational Statistics
ED_RES 565 Quantitative Research
ED_PSYCH 569 Multivariate Data Analysis
ED_PSYCH 576 Factor Analytic Procedures
Others
ED_PSYCH 574 Seminar in Educational Psychology
Selected Accomplishments
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Measurement & Psychometrics
Dai, S., French, B.F., Finch, W. H. (in press). DIFplus: An R package for multilevel differential item functioning detection. Applied Psychological Measurement.
Danielson, R.W., Gale, M.S., Dai, S., Seyranian, V., Heddy, B., Marsh, J., & Polikoff, M.S. (2023). The development and validation of the elementary activity interest measure. Journal of Experimental Education. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2023.2276933
Svetina Valdivia, D. & Dai, S. (2023). Number of response categories and sample size requirements in polytomous IRT models. Journal of Experimental Education. 92 (1), 154-185. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2022.2153783
Kehinde, O.J., Dai, S., French, B. (2022). Item parameter estimation for multidimensional graded response model under complex structure. Frontiers in Education – Assessment, Testing and Applied Measurement. 7, 947581. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.947581
Dai, S. & Svetina Valdivia, D. (2022). Dealing with missing responses in cognitive diagnostic modeling. Psych. 4(2), 318-341. https://doi.org/10.3390/psych4020028.
Dai, S., Vo, T., Kehinde, O.J., He, H., Xue, Y., Demir, C., & Wang, X. (2021). Performance of polytomous IRT models with rating scale data: An investigation over sample size, instrument length, and missing data. Frontiers in Education – Assessment, Testing and Applied Measurement. 6, 721963. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.721963
Wang, X., Svetina, D., & Dai, S. (2019). Exploration of factors affecting the necessity of reporting test subscores. Journal of Experimental Education,87(2), 179-192. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2017.1409182
Dai, S., Svetina, D., & Chen, C. (2018). Investigation of missing responses in Q-matrix validation. Applied Psychological Measurement. 42(8), 660–676. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146621618762742
Svetina, D., Feng, Y., Paulsen, J., Valdivia, M., Valdivia, A., & Dai, S. (2018). Examining DIF in the context of CDMs when the Q-matrix is Misspecified. Frontiers in Psychology (section Quantitative Psychology and Measurement), 9:696, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00696
Dai, S., Svetina, D., & Wang, X. (2017). Reporting subscores using R: A software review. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics,42(2), 617-638. https://doi.org/10.3102/1076998617716462
Svetina, D., Dai, S., & Wang, X. (2017). Use of cognitive diagnostic model to study differential item functioning in accommodations. Behaviormetrika, 44(2), 313-349. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41237-017-0021-0
Svetina, D., Valdivia, A., Underhill, S., Dai, S., & Wang, X. (2017). Recovery of parameters in multidimensional item response theory models under complexity and nonormality. Applied Psychological Measurement, 41(7), 530-544. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146621617707507
Dai, S., Wang, X., & Svetina, D. (2019). The application of minimum discrepancy estimation in the implementation of diagnostic classification models. Behaviormetrika, 46, 453-481. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41237-019-00094-4
Statistics & Quantitative Methods
Education
Kangas, S., Dai, S., & Ardasheva, Y. (2023). The Intersection of language and disability: Progress of English learners with disabilities on NAEP reading. The Journal of Special Education. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224669231213054.
Zhang, X., Dai, S., Ardasheva, Y., & Hong, Y. (2023). Relationships among English language proficiency, self-efficacy, motivation, motivational Intensity, and achievement in an ESP/EAP Context. Journal of Psycholinguist Research. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-023-10034-9.
Ramazan, O., Dai, S., Danielson, R., Ardasheva, Hao, T., & Y. Austin, B., (2023). Students’ 2018 PISA reading self-concept: Identifying predictors and examining model generalizability for emergent bilinguals. Journal of School Psychology. 101, 101254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2023.101254.
Dai, S., Hao, T., Ardasheva, Y., Ramazan, O., Danielson, R., & Austin, B. (2023). PISA reading achievement: Identifying predictors and examining model generalizability for multilingual students. Reading and Writing. 36, 2763-2795.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10357-4.
Zhang, X., Dai, S., & Ardasheva, Y. (2020). Contributions of (de)motivation, engagement, anxiety in English listening and speaking. Learning and Individual Differences, 79, 1-13.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2020.101856.
Higheagle Strong, Z., McMain, E.M., Frey, K.S., Wong, R.M., Dai, S., & Jin, G., (2019). Ethnically diverse adolescents recount third-party actions that amplify their anger and calm their emotions after perceived victimization. Journal of Adolescent Research, 35(4), 461-488. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558419864021.
Psychology
Schmitter-Edgecombe, M., Luna, C., Dai, S., & Cook Diane. (2024). Predicting daily cognition and lifestyle behaviors for older adults using smart home data and ecological momentary assessment. The Clinical Neuropsychologist. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854046.2024.2330143.
Dai, S., Kehinde, O.J., Schmitter-Edgecombe, M., & French, B. (2022). Modeling daily fluctuations in everyday cognition and health behaviors at general and person-specific levels: A GIMME analysis. Behaviormetrika. 50, 563–583. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41237-022-00191-x.
Liu, Z., Roggio, R., Day, D., Zheng, C., Dai, S., & Bian, Y. (2019). Leader development begins at home: Over-parenting harms adolescent leader emergence. Journal of Applied Psychology,104(10), 1226–1242. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000402.
Kinesiology
Stewart, B.C., Dai, S., Havens, K., Eggleston, J.D., Bagwell, J., Deering, R.E., Little, E.E., & Catena, R. (2023). Determining fall risk change throughout pregnancy: The accuracy of postpartum survey and relationship to fall efficacy. Ergonomics. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2023.2296827.
Kloosterman, P., Walcott, C., Brown, N. J. S., Mohr, D., Perez, A., Dai, S., Roach, M., Wilson, L. D., & Huang, H. (2015). Using NAEP to analyze 8th grade students’ ability to reason algebraically. In Middleton, J. A., Cai, J., Hwang, S., (Eds.), Large-scale studies in mathematics education (pp. 179-208). New York. Springer.
Software Packages
Dai, S., Kehinde, O.J., French, B.F., Schmitter-Edgecombe, M. (2020). ROCpsych: Compute and compare diagnostic test statistics across groups. (R package version 1.3) [Computer software]. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=ROCpsych.
Dai, S., French, B.F., Finch, W. H. (2020). DIFplus: Multilevel Mantel-Haenszel statistics for differential item functioning detection. (R package version 1.1) [Computer software]. https://cran.r-project.org/package=DIFplus.
Dai, S., Wang, X., & Svetina, D. (2022). subscore: Subscore computing functions in classical test theory. (R package version 3.3) [Computer software]. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=subscore.
Dai, S., Wang, X., & Svetina, D. (2021). TestDataImputation: Missing item responses imputation for test and assessment data. (R package version 2.2) [Computer software]. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=TestDataImputation.
