Faculty Directory

Matthias von Davier

Monan Professor in Education

Executive Director, TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center

Photo of Matthias von Davier

Matthias von Davier

Ph.D.

Contact

188 Beacon

Telephone: 617-552-4200

Email: matthias.vondavier@bc.edu

Education

  • Doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat.), CAU Kiel University
  • M.A., CAU Kiel University

Courses

Psychometrics I: Classical Test Theory and Rasch Models
Readings and Research in Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation
Readings and Research in Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment

Expertise

  • Research Methods, Evaluation & Psychometrics
  • Comparative & International Education
Curriculum Vitae

Profile

Dr. von Davier鈥檚 research focuses on developing psychometric models for analyzing data from complex item and respondent samples and on integrating diagnostic procedures into these methods. His areas of expertise includes topics such as item response theory, latent class analysis, classification and mixture distribution models, diagnostic models, computational statistics, person-fit, item-fit, and model checking, as well as hierarchical extension of models for categorical data analysis, and the analytical methodologies used in large scale educational surveys.

Dr. von Davier鈥檚 applied research uses these methodologies to analyze data from educational testing, large-scale survey assessments of student skills and adult literacy, to computer-based assessment of skills, and to the analysis of questionnaire data.

Selected Books and Special Issues

  • Khorramdel, L.,聽von Davier, M., & Yamamoto, K. (Eds.). (2025). Innovative digital-based international large-scale assessments: Foundations, methodologies, and quality assurance. Springer.聽
  • Yaneva, V., & von Davier, M. (Eds.). (2023). Advancing Natural Language Processing in Educational Assessment (1st ed.). Routledge.聽

Recent Journal Articles & Peer-Reviewed Research Reports

  • Jung, J. Y., Bezirhan, U., &聽von Davier, M.聽(2025). Reconceptualizing Scoring Reliability Through Linguistic Similarity. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 0(0).聽
  • Mar么co, J., &聽von Davier, M. (2025). Imputing PIRLS鈥檚 home socioeconomic status from students鈥� and schools鈥� questionnaire data: a simulation with MICE. International Journal of Testing, 1鈥�16.聽
  • Anghel, E., Wry, E. &聽von Davier, M. (2025) Affective, behavioral, and cognitive engagement in ePIRLS: a latent profile analysis. Education Tech Research Dev .聽
  • von Davier, M. (2025). An Improved Satterthwaite (1941, 1946) Effective df Approximation. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 0(0).聽
  • Jung, J.Y., Tyack, L., &聽von Davier, M. (2025). Towards the implementation of automated scoring in international large-scale assessments: scalability and quality control. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence.聽
  • Braun, H.I.,聽von Davier, M. & Chen, J. (2025). Proposal for modifying procedures for declaring significant trends in TIMSS. Large-scale Assess Educ 13, 2.聽
  • Anghel, E., Khorramdel, L. &聽von Davier, M. (2024). The use of process data in large-scale assessments: a literature review. Large-scale Assess Educ 12, 13.聽
  • Bezirhan, Ummugul;聽von Davier, Matthias聽(2023). "Automated reading passage generation with OpenAI's large language model". Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence. 5 100161.聽:
  • Jung, Ji Yoon; Tyack, Lillian;聽von Davier, Matthias听(2024).听. Large-scale Assessments in Education. 12 (1) 10.聽:
  • von Davier, M., Tyack, L., & Khorramdel, L. (2022). Scoring Graphical Responses in TIMSS 2019 Using Artificial Neural Networks. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 83(3), 556-585.聽聽(Original work published 2023)
  • Jung, J. Y., Tyack, L., &聽von Davier, M. (2022). Automated scoring of constructed-response items using artificial neural networks in international large-scale assessment. Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling, *64*(4), 471鈥�494.

Leadership Roles

  • Distinguished Research Scientist: Center for Advanced Assessment, National Board of Medical Examiners. Representing Psychometric Research, Mentoring, Editorial Activities. Developing methodologies and research agendas for advanced computer delivered assessments. January 2017- present.
  • Senior Research Director: Center for Global Assessment. Leadership of the research agenda and methodology development of the center, directing the operational psychometric work of the center. Oversight and research agenda, managing staff, budgeting. Projects involve innovations in applied analysis and primary statistical methodologies used in international survey assessments such as PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS and PIAAC. October 2014 to present.
  • Director, Research: International survey assessment research group, in the center for global assessment, ETS. Oversight and research agenda, managing staff, budgeting. Projectsinvolve innovations in applied analysis and primary statistical methodologies used in international survey assessments such as PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS and PIAAC. September 2013 to present.
  • Co-Principal Investigator: IES methodology grant on 鈥�21st century models for 21st century large scale assessments. Allocation of funds (1.5 million) to researchers, management of funds and staff, 2011-2014.
  • Co-Leader: ETS research initiative on foundational psychometric and statistical research. Allocation of annual funds (1.1 million) to ETS researchers based on a proposal review process. Management of funds and staff, 2006-2013.
  • Member Project Management Team: International TIMSS and PIRLS assessments, as ETS representative to International Study Center (ISC) at 艾可直播 College, 2002 鈥� present.
  • Technical Director: NAEP Task Order Component. Developing research agenda with client (NCES) and oversight of research projects and reporting, timetable and budget done in this area of NAEP program research, 2006 鈥� 2008.
  • Manager: Research component in the IEA - ETS Research Institute (IERI), coordinate research projects. Activities include directing research agenda, oversight of timelines and execution, as well coordination pipeline for dissemination in IERI publication series, 2007 鈥� present.
  • Co-Director: Cross-divisional working group on 鈥淐omputers as a tool for learning鈥�, Institute for Science Education (IPN) Kiel, 1998 鈥� 2000.
  • Group Leader: 鈥淓valuation of computer-based instruction in secondary education", 4 direct reports, and directing a number of 8 additional adjunct teachers, at the Institute for Science Education (IPN) Kiel University, 1998 鈥� 2000.

Select Grants

  • BIGDATA: Collaborative Research: IA: F: Latent and Graphical Models for Complex Dependent Data in Education. NSF funded project 2017-2020 together with Columbia University Department of Statistics, collaboration with professors Jingchen Liu and Zhiliang Zhang. Using response times to model and resolve missing values in item response data.
  • Cooperation and exchange agreement with Professor S. Pohl, Free University, Berlin, Germany. Funded by German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft - DFG). 2016-2019.
  • Psychometric Models for 21st -century Educational Survey Assessments: Funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in the Statistics and Methodology Grant program. Roles: Co-principal investigator (with Frank Rijmen) 2011-2014, total budget $1.2 million.
  • National assessment of educational progress (NAEP) Technical direction of NAEP task order component projects (TOC) Developing proposals, budgeting, and supervision of TOC projects by NAEP research staff. 2005-2009.
  • A tool for improved precision reporting in secondary analysis of national and state level NAEP data. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Secondary Analysis Grant. 8/2002- 1/2004.
  • Project BLK-PISA 鈥� analysis of SINUS (improving science education) project schools assessed with PISA 2000 instruments. Research and Analysis Project at ETS as a subcontractor of institute for science education (IPN), Germany, 1/2002-4/2002.
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