Published: April 28, 2017
Jonathan Templin, KU

Professor Jonathan Templin has been selected for the inaugural Robert L. Linn Memorial Lecture Award, which was announced in April at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in San Antonio. 

The award was named in honor of "Bob" Linn who was an inspirational leader in the field of measurement and policy and professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California, Los Angeles for more than 40 years. The lecture, held alternately at CU Boulder and UCLA, was created by Linn’s wife Joyce Linn to honor early or midcareer scholars who exemplify insightful and interdisciplinary contributions to educational measurement and policy.

Templin is associate professor of research, evaluation, measurement, and statistics and educational psychology at the University of Kansas. His research focuses on the development of psychometric and general quantitative methods, as applied in the psychological, educational, and social sciences. 

  • Templin will deliver the inaugural Linn Memorial Lecture on Friday, September 29 from 10:00-11:30 a.m. in the Old Main Chapel at the University of Colorado Boulder.
  •  RSVP to educationevents@colorado.edu

His lecture titled, From Research to the Classroom (and Back): Bettering Assessment Practice and Policy, will review newer psychometric methods, both in theory and how they are currently used in practice, and set a vision for what could be possible for when the full benefits of both policy and psychometrics are realized.

Over the past three decades, rapid advances have been made in research on new psychometric methods for modeling, scoring, and reporting student assessment data. The research popularity of modeling paradigms such as diagnostic classification/cognitive diagnosis models suggests that such models may have value beyond the technical psychometric community. Until recently, however, much of the research progress has not been met by similar progress in assessment practice, perhaps in part due to policy limitations. With the passing and initial implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, policy and psychometric research seem aligned to allow for student assessments that simultaneously inform instruction and provide metrics for accountability. Further, having a direct link from research to practice better serves as a guiding force for new research, providing a focus to a research field that often yields esoteric results. 

Dr. Jonathan Templin has merited consideration for the Linn Memorial Lecture Award through his often groundbreaking research and scholarship, his strong service to the profession, and far-ranging instruction contributions, his energy and his desire to improve and advance lives though assessment and research blended with instruction and learning linked through cognitive diagnostic assessment - John Poggio, professor of educational psychology and research at the University of Kansas.