William Romine Email and Phone Number

My work focuses on measurement of both cognitive and affective conceptual change in STEM disciplines with students in grades 6-16. This includes development and validation of tests and surveys and applying these in the evaluation of learning programs. For evaluation, I make use of experimental designs approved by the What Works Clearinghouse, including quasi-experiments, randomized controlled trials, and longitudinal studies. However, I am not simply interested in whether or not learning takes place, but also how learning happens. Going beyond simple confirmatory experiments, my students and I develop assessments that are based on learning theory, and often implement flexible measurement models including Rasch/Item Response Theory models, structural equation models, Bayesian networks, and clustering to provide validity evidence for our assessments as well as evidence for causal connections between instruction and learning. My work has advanced the field’s understanding of measurement and learning theory in STEM education, and is currently being applied towards evaluation of funded projects from the Department of Education (DOE), the Institute of Educational Sciences (IES), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).