Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment (MESA)
Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment (MESA)
With a focus on solving critical, global problems, our Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment programs integrate state-of-the-art research design, statistical methods, and testing. Students collaborate with faculty who are active practitioners, internationally recognized for their influential work in communities.
Coursework blends theory and application, preparing students for careers in government, testing organizations, nonprofits, and schools.
Drawing on the Lynch School aspiration to “enhance the human condition, to expand the human imagination, and to make the world more just," the mission of the MESA program is to:
- Contribute to national and international efforts to solve critical educational and human problems in a diverse global community
- Educate the next generation of scholars and practitioners who will engage in reflective social inquiry
- Foster meaningful scholarly inquiry into both theoretical and applied aspects of social systems
- Advance creative approaches to important measurement, evaluation, and research problems in educational and other social science fields
- Provide students with the necessary theoretical and applied skills and experience to become research and evaluation leaders in their professional fields
- Prepare students to make original and substantive contributions to the fields of measurement, evaluation, and statistics
In service of this mission:
- The MESA program is committed to high quality, rigorous, collaborative, and equity-minded research, teaching, and mentoring
- The MESA program trains students in state-of-the-art statistical, research, and evaluation methods
- Students in MESA develop expertise in research methodology, measurement, evaluation, and applied statistics
- MESA faculty members have expertise in classroom and large-scale assessment, measurement and item response theory, factor analysis and structural equation modeling, categorical data analysis, multilevel modeling, generalized linear models, program evaluation, psychometrics, etc.
- Graduates of the MESA program find employment in colleges, universities, research centers, testing agencies, school systems, ministries of education and other government agencies, and industry
- Students completing the doctoral/master's degrees are capable of conducting independent research and evaluation, constructing measurement instruments, analyzing and interpreting quantitative and qualitative data, and contributing to the theory of research and evaluation methodology
Program Offerings
Quantitative specialists and vigilant researchers, alumni of the M.S. in Applied Statistics and Psychometrics program inform policy and practice around the world.
Thorough and flexible, the M.Ed. in Educational Research Methodology program catalyzes rewarding careers. Graduates become leaders, transforming organizations and communities.
Our comprehensive Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment, Ph.D. Program can be customized to students’ interests. For more than 40 years, the program has trained students in designing research studies, developing assessment instruments, and analyzing data.
Current LSEHD graduate students as well as teachers and school administrators benefit from our Certificate in Institutional Research.
MESA Research Centers
The national and international demand for sophisticated education researchers is reflected at Boston College through the two world renowned Lynch School of Education and Human Development and MESA‐affiliated research centers:
The Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy
CSTEEP conducts its work on both small and large scales, working with individual schools, districts, states, as well as countries to advance educational testing practices and policy, and to improve the quality and fairness of education.
The TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center
The TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center conducts comparative studies in educational achievement throughout the world. Principally, the Center directs two main efforts—Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)—under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.