Leah W. McGuire
Educational Psychology
157 EdSciB
56 East River Rd
Tel:612-626-7622
lwmcguir@umn.edu
Ph.D., University of California Berkeley, 2010
My research interests include growth modeling within the item response theory (IRT) framework and explanatory item response models (EIRM). I also work collaboratively with content-area specialists on designing and revising instruments using information from item response models. For instance I have previously worked on designing instruments to measure statistical reasoning in middle school students, revising depression questionnaires to improve cross-cultural validity, and developing assessments for struggling readers. I have also found many interesting opportunities for collaboration in my new position at the University of Minnesota. Currently I teach courses in measurement, IRT, and performance assessment (co-taught with Michael Rodriguez). I also hope to teach new courses on instrument development and IRT in the near future.
Courses I teach
EPSY 5221 Principles of Educational and Psychological Measurement
EPSY 8290 Special Topics Seminar on Item Response Theory
EPSY 8224 Performance Assessment Design and Analysis
Publications
Wilson, M. , McGuire, L.W. Estimating the Latent Growth Item Response Model. Presented at the International Conference on Outcome Measurement, Bethesda, MD, Sept., 2010.
Wilson, M., Zheng, X., McGuire, L.W. A Latent Growth Item Response Model. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychometric Society, Athens, GA, July 2010.
Walker, L., Wilson, M. Learning Progressions in Data Modeling. Presented at the Graduate Student Poster Session of the LEAPS conference, Iowa City, IA, June 2009.
Walker, L.,Schwartz, R., Dray, A., Torres, Irribarra, D.T., Full, M.C., Wilson, M. Coordinating Data Modeling Constructs. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, April 2009.
Walker, L.Wilson, M. Cross-Cultural Item Shift. Presented at the 3MC Conference, Berlin, Germany, June 2008.
Yen, S., Walker, L. Multidimensional IRT Models for Composite Scores. Proceedings from the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education. Chicago, IL, 2007.