Attracting Students to the Field of Measurement

Abstract

To address the shortage of professionals in measurement, it is essential that we make young career‐seekers aware that measurement is an option as a profession. In this paper, we discuss how creating a strong pipeline of students into our field involves personal interactions between faculty representing the graduate programs in measurement and undergraduate students, in addition to the equally important task of educating instructors of undergraduates about our field. We describe advertising strategies that, in our experience, catch and hold the attention of undergraduates, resulting in many of them investigating graduate training in measurement. After attracting students to the field, we must engage them in practice, enabling them to build an identity as a measurement professional. In general, we believe that although it is possible to attract some students via non‐personal advertising strategies (e.g., articles, websites), measurement professionals must personally reach out to young people to connect them with the field.

Teaching Introductory Measurement: Suggestions for What to Include and How to Motivate Students

“…In their article on recruitment and retention in this issue, Finney and Pastor (2012) argue that we must exert as much effort in retaining students in measurement programs as we do in recruiting them if we are to maintain a vibrant workforce in this field. Doing so requires that we use course materials that will foster students' interest in measurement issues.…”

A Longitudinal Analysis of Doctoral Graduate Supply in the Educational Measurement Field

“…The effective development and use of educational assessments within the United States is dependent on having a highly trained workforce of educational measurement specialists. However, over the last 20 years, the measurement community has warned that there is a significant shortage of well‐trained graduate students to fill the measurement positions created by the increased demand for educational testing in accountability, admissions, credentialing, and formative assessment contexts (Brennan, 2004; Finney & Pastor, 2012; Patellis, Kolen, & Parshall, 1997; Sireci, 2000). As noted by Brennan (2004), this shortage results in “…persons filling the positions [that] do not always have the qualifications and experience required to do the job well…” (p. 22).…”