The American Educational Research Association (AERA) recently announced that Eva L. Baker, professor in the divisions of Psychological Studies in Education and Social Research Methodology at the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at UCLA, has been chosen to become its president-elect.
The association represents approximately 22,700 educators who conduct research and evaluation in education. Baker's term as president will begin at the end of the association's 2006 annual meeting, after a year of service as president-elect. She succeeds Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Ladson?Billings assumes the president's office this year at the end of the 2005 annual meeting, taking place April 11 to 15 in Montreal.
"AERA will benefit substantially from Eva's expertise and leadership," said Robert Linn, a former association president and co-director of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing, housed at UCLA. "She has the right skills to help guide AERA’s future."
Director of UCLA's Center for the Study of Evaluation since 1975 and a National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing co-director since its beginning, Baker currently conducts research in the development of assessment and accountability models, as well as the design and validation of technology-based learning and assessment systems. Presently, she is helping to design sophisticated testing of performance assessment in large-scale environments for both military and civilian education. Products of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing's work, such as the Quality School Portfolio, are helping schools improve their achievement across the country.
"I am especially honored to be selected by my colleagues to lead AERA at the point when research is so important to schools," Baker said.
Influential in educational policy, Baker has testified before Congress on numerous accountability issues. She has chaired the National Research Council's Board on Testing and Assessment as well as the Assessment Task Force of the National Council on Education Standards and Testing. The UCLA Alumni Association honored Baker in 2001 with a prestigious Professional Achievement Award.
Among her professional activities, Baker served as president of the American Psychological Association's Educational Psychology Division and was co-chair of the AERA-APA-NCME Joint Committee for the 1999 revision of the "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing." The "Standards" help to guide test development and use across the United States. Baker has served on advisory groups overseeing the evaluations of the Elementary and Secondary Educational Act and on numerous state and district advisory education committees.
Her extensive international work includes studies of performance standards and national assessment policies for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. She also has advised ministries and universities in the United Kingdom, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia, Europe, Asia and several international organizations.