Chair, Research and Evaluation Methodology Program
Associate Professor of Education
School of Education, Room 211
University of Colorado at Boulder
249 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309
Phone: 303-492-6320
Fax: 303-492-7090
E-mail: derek.briggs@colorado.edu

Derek Briggs is chair of the Research and Evaluation Methodology Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he also serves as an associate professor of quantitative methods and policy analysis. In general, his research agenda focuses upon building sound methodological approaches for the valid measurement and evaluation of growth in student achievement. His daily agenda is to challenge conventional wisdom and methodological chicanery as they manifest themselves in educational research, policy and practice.

Examples of his research interests related to educational assessment include (1) the use (and misuse) of developmental score scales to model growth in student learning, (2) creating psychometric models that facilitate diagnostic inferences about hypothesized student learning progressions. Examples of research interests in applied statistics include the critical analysis of the statistical models used to make causal inferences about the effects of teachers, schools and other educational interventions on the growth of student achievement. He is widely recognized for his evaluations of the effects of test preparation on college admissions exam performance.

Dr. Briggs is a member of the American Educational Research Association, the National Council for Measurement in Education and the Psychometric Society. Some of his notable publications include “Preparation for college admissions exams” (Report Commissioned by the National Association of College Admissions Counselors); “The impact of vertical scaling decisions on growth interpretations” (Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice); “Diagnostic Assessment with Ordered Multiple-Choice Items,” (Educational Assessment); “Generalizability in item response modeling” (Journal of Educational Measurement); “Meta-Analysis: A Case Study,” Evaluation Review.

Education:
PhD Education, University of California, Berkeley 2002
MA Education, University of California, Berkeley 1998
BA Economics, Carleton College 1993