Presenter: Sandra L. Christenson
Professor of Educational and Child Psychology
University of Minnesota School Psychology Program
When: February 25, 2008, 3:30 – 5:00
Title:  The Relevance of Family-School Connections for Positive Student Outcomes: Lessons Learned from Research and What It Means for Practice. 

This presentation is the third of the Creating Connections Series, sponsored by the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools.

Presenter: Barbara Byrne
Emerita Professor, School of Psychology
University of Ottawa
When: April 4th, 10 - 11:30
Where: MABL 270
Title: Testing for Measurement Equivalence across Multiple Cultures: Many Problems and Few Solutions

Abstract
A critical prerequisite to multigroup comparisons is knowledge that the assessment instrument is operating equivalently (i.e., it is invariant) across the groups of interest. More specifically, it is assumed that both the perception of item content and the dimensionality of the underlying construct are group-equivalent. Structural equation modeling provides the analytic means to testing for these equivalencies. When tests for invariance involve mono-cultural groups, procedures are relatively straightforward. However, when comparative groups represent different cultures, the process is much more complex and becomes increasingly so as the number of groups increases and the geo-cultural bases diverge. These complexities are reviewed and a modified approach to the usual tests for equivalence proposed when research involves large-scale studies of multiple cultural groups.

This presentation is part of the Department's Century Speaker Series

Presenter: Dr. Brent Bridgeman
Educational Testing Services
When: April 14th, 3 - 4:30
Where: TBA
Title: Test Time Limits as a Threat to Validity: A Tale of Accidental Discoveries, Unintended Consequences, and Counter-Intuitive Results.

This presentation is part of the Buros Center for Testing-Educational Testing Service Annual Lecture Series

Presenter: Dr. Jane Forman
Research Scientist
Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Clinical Management Research
Ann Arbor, Michigan
When:  April 11, 2008, 12:30-1:30
Where: Teachers College Hall 139
Title: Qualitative Research in the Health Sciences