National Academies Press: OpenBook

Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners (2011)

Chapter: Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
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Appendix B
Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff

Alan M. Zaslavsky (Chair) is professor of statistics in the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School. His statistical research interests include surveys, census methodology, small-area estimation, official statistics, missing data, hierarchical modeling, and Bayesian methodology. His research topics in health care policy focus on measurement of the quality of care provided by health plans through consumer assessments and clinical and administrative data. Currently, his major projects include survey implementation for the Medicare system, methodology for surveys in psychiatric epidemiology, and studies on determinants of quality of care for cancer. Other research interests include measurement of disparities in health care, and privacy and confidentiality for health care data. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association. He received an A.B. from Harvard College, an M.S. from Northeastern University, and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


Jamal Abedi is professor of education in the School of Education at the University of California at Davis. Previously, he was a faculty member at the Graduate School of Education of the University of California at Los Angeles and director of technical projects at the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing. His research interests include psychometrics and test and scale development. He also conducts research on the use of latent-variable modeling to assess the validity and reliability of performance-based assessment measures. His recent work includes validity studies for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), focusing on the impact of language background on students’ performance and the dimensionality of NAEP mathematics subscales. He has also developed a culture-free instrument for measuring creativity, which has become translated into a number of languages and

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
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administered in several countries. He holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Vanderbilt University.


Frank Bean is chancellor’s professor in the School of Social Sciences and director of the Center for Research on Immigration, Population, and Public Policy at the University of California at Irvine. Previously, he served as Ashbel Smith professor of sociology and public affairs and director of the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin. He has been a visiting scholar at the Australian National University, the American Academy in Berlin, and the Russell Sage Foundation, as well as distinguished senior visiting fellow at the College Consortium for International Studies and the Center for U.S.-Mexico Relations at the University of California at San Diego. His current research focuses on the implications of U.S. immigration policies, Mexican immigrant incorporation, the implications of immigration for changing race/ethnicity in the United States, the determinants and health consequences of immigrant naturalization, and the development of new estimates of unauthorized immigration and emigration. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a Ph.D. from Duke University.


David Francis is Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Houston and a recipient of the university’s Teaching Excellence Award. His areas of quantitative interest include modeling of individual growth, multilevel and mixture modeling, structural equation modeling, item response theory, and exploratory data analysis. His current research includes work supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders, the Texas Education Agency, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He is a fellow of Division 5 (measurement, evaluation, and statistics) of the American Psychology Association. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology from the University of Houston.


Edward Haertel is Jacks Family professor and associate dean for faculty affairs at the School of Education at Stanford University. His research centers on policy uses of achievement test data; the measurement of school learning; statistical issues in testing and accountability systems; and the impact of testing on curriculum and instruction. He has been closely involved in the creation and maintenance of California’s school accountability system both before and after passage of the No Child Left Behind Act and has served on advisory committees for other states and for testing companies. In addition to technical issues in designing accountability systems and quantifying their precision, he is concerned with validity arguments for high-stakes testing, the logic and implementation of standard setting methods, and comparisons of trends on different tests and in different reporting metrics. He has served on numerous

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
×

state and national advisory committees related to educational testing, assessment, and evaluation, including the committee responsible for the 1999 revision of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and is a member of the National Academy of Education. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.


David Hubble is a senior statistician at WESTAT with extensive experience in designing, planning, and conducting demographic surveys and census evaluations at the U.S. Census Bureau. At WESTAT, his work has involved the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, and other survey design and technical assistance projects. His work covers many aspects of survey implementation, including survey design, sampling frame creation, sample selection, data collection methods, missing data mitigation, weighting procedures, estimation techniques, variance estimation, methodological investigations, and experimental designs. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in statistics, both from Boston University.


Judith A. Koenig (Costudy Director) is a senior program officer with the Board on Testing and Assessment of the National Research Council (NRC). She has worked on a number of projects related to assessing English language learners, as well as an evaluation of the assessments used by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, a project to recommend standards for the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, and a report on methods for calculating dropout and graduation rates. Prior to joining the NRC, she was a senior research associate with the Association of American Medical Colleges where she directed operational programs for the Medical College Admission Test and led a comprehensive research program on the examination. She has a B.A. in special education from Michigan State University, an M.A. in psychology from George Mason University, and a Ph.D. in educational measurement, statistics, and evaluation from the University of Maryland.


Rebecca Kopriva is a visiting professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, working with the Wisconsin Center on Educational Research. Previously, she was on the faculty at the University of Maryland, where she served as director for the Center for the Study of Assessment Validity and Evaluation (CSAVE) in the College of Education. At CSAVE, her work focused on improving the quality and accuracy of data about students and schools, with a particular focus on addressing ways large scale psychometric theory and practice can be improved to better incorporate the needs and strengths of diverse student populations. Prior to that position, she served as director of student assessment for the state of Delaware. Much of her research focuses on the issue of assessing English language learners, and she recently served as consultant on the English Language Development Assessment on the validity of the assessments. She holds a Ph.D. in applied statistics and research methods from the University of Northern Colorado.


Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
×

Robert Linquanti is project director for English Learner Evaluation and Accountability Support and senior researcher for the Regional Educational Laboratory West and the California Comprehensive Center at WestEd. He specializes in assessment, evaluation, and accountability policies and practices and systems for English language learners. He regularly serves as a consultant on the assessment of English language learners and accountability policy and practice issues to the Council of Chief State School Officers; the 23-state World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment Consortium; the U.S. Department of Education; and the National Assessment Governing Board. He leads WestEd’s multiyear collaboration with the California Department of Education and regional service providers to deliver technical assistance for school districts identified under Title III as needing to improve educational services and outcomes for English language learners. He holds a B.A. in English and Spanish literature and linguistics from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an M.P.A. in public policy analysis from Columbia University.


Helen Malagon is the interim director of Bilingual and Migrant Programs for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington State. In this capacity, she directs and manages all aspects of the state’s Transitional Bilingual Instruction Program, Title III, and Title I Part C-Migrant Education. Her primary responsibility is to interpret state and federal legislation as it pertains to English language learners and migrant programs and to monitor school districts for compliance with state and federal requirements. She also leads the state’s Bilingual Education Advisory Committee, whose role is to provide guidance to the state regarding the needs of English language learners. Previously, she was the coordinator for curriculum and instruction with the High School Equivalency Program for migrant students at the University of New Mexico and director of the Title VII programs for Native Americans in Nebraska and in South Dakota.


Catherine Neff is coordinator of the Title III/English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program for the South Carolina Department of Education. In this position, she interprets federal statutory and regulatory requirements relative to the administration and implementation of Title III at both the state and local levels and administers Title III grants and monitors districts for compliance with Title III law. She also provides professional assistance to districts in serving the needs of limited English proficient and immigrant students and their families and provides statewide assistance to ESOL teachers, mainstream teachers of ESOL students, and administrators in the development and implementation of services for English language learners. She serves on the Hispanic Advisory Board for the South Carolina Commission on Minority Affairs and is a member of Clemson University’s Hispanic Task Force. Previously, she administered a credit recovery program for high school at-risk students and English language learners in Salinas, California.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
×

P. David Pearson is dean of the Graduate School of Education and professor of language and literacy, society, and culture at the University of California at Berkeley. His research interests include practice and policy in literacy instruction and assessment. Previously, he was dean of the College of Education of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he also codirected the Center for the Study of Reading, and the John A. Hannah distinguished professor of education at Michigan State University. He has served as president of the National Reading Conference and on the boards of directors for the International Reading Association, the National Reading Conference, and the Association of American Colleges of Teacher Education. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and a recipient of the William S. Gray Citation of Merit from the International Reading Association, the Oscar Causey Award for Contributions to Reading Research from the National Reading Conference, and the Alan Purves Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. He holds a B.A. in history from the University of California at Berkeley and a Ph.D. in education from the University of Minnesota.


Thomas Plewes (Costudy Director) is a senior program officer for the Committee on National Statistics of the National Research Council, and he served as study director for the Panel to Review Research and Development Statistics at the National Science Foundation. Previously, he was associate commissioner for employment and unemployment statistics of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and he served as chief of the U.S. Army Reserve. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association and was a member of the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology. He has a B.A. in economics from Hope College and an M.A. in economics from the George Washington University.


Charlene Rivera was the founder and is the executive director of the George Washington University’s Center for Equity and Excellence in Education (CEEE). The CEEE’s goal is to advance education reform in a way that supports equity while enhancing the achievement of all students. The portfolio of work carried out by the center includes policy research in areas such as the assessment of English language learners, providing technical assistance in education reform to state departments of education, districts, and schools and conducting program evaluations for school districts. She has published extensively on the issue of assessing English language learners and led a project that generated tools for policy makers, educators, and community members to help English learners reach high academic standards. She currently serves on the technical committee for the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment Consortium that is developing English language proficiency tests for 10 partner states. She is formerly a teacher for the Boston Public Schools. She holds an Ed.D. from Boston University.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. Allocating Federal Funds for State Programs for English Language Learners. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13090.
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As the United States continues to be a nation of immigrants and their children, the nation's school systems face increased enrollments of students whose primary language is not English. With the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the allocation of federal funds for programs to assist these students to be proficient in English became formula-based: 80 percent on the basis of the population of children with limited English proficiency1 and 20 percent on the basis of the population of recently immigrated children and youth.

Title III of NCLB directs the U.S. Department of Education to allocate funds on the basis of the more accurate of two allowable data sources: the number of students reported to the federal government by each state education agency or data from the American Community Survey (ACS). The department determined that the ACS estimates are more accurate, and since 2005, those data have been basis for the federal distribution of Title III funds.

Subsequently, analyses of the two data sources have raised concerns about that decision, especially because the two allowable data sources would allocate quite different amounts to the states. In addition, while shortcomings were noted in the data provided by the states, the ACS estimates were shown to fluctuate between years, causing concern among the states about the unpredictability and unevenness of program funding.

In this context, the U.S. Department of Education commissioned the National Research Council to address the accuracy of the estimates from the two data sources and the factors that influence the estimates. The resulting book also considers means of increasing the accuracy of the data sources or alternative data sources that could be used for allocation purposes.

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