Faculty Directory
Michael Russell
Professor
Michael Russell
Ph.D.
Contact
Campion Hall Room 336B
Telephone: 617-552-0889
Email: michael.russell@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0003-2902-4463
Education
- Ph.D., M.Ed., Boston College
- B.A., Brown University
Research Interests
Innovative uses of computer-based technologies and applications of Universal Design to enhance educational testing and assessment; large-scale assessment and test design; computer-based testing; Accessible Portable Item Protocol (APIP) Standards and assessment interoperability standards
Expertise
- Equity and Social Justice
- Research Methods, Evaluation & Psychometrics
- Disabilities & Special Education
Department
Biography
Over the past eight years, Michael’s research focus has shifted from advancing digital assessment practices to addressing racism and white supremacy in educational measurement. His current research examines the use of deficit language in the presentation and discussion of findings from quantitative analyses, intersectionality as a lens for examining item and test bias, incorporating a social justice lens into test validity theory, “measuring”/locating understanding of race, anti-Black racism, and white supremacy, tracing the influences of the White Racial Frame on educational measurement methodology. His most recent book, Systemic Racism and Educational Measurement, examines the influence the White Racial Frame has had on educational measurement and quantitative methods, and explores potential influences alternate frames including Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, QuantCrit, Intersectionality, and Rectificatory Justice could have on the fields of educational measurement and social sciences more broadly. He also leads a collaborative project to redesign graduate research and measurement training programs to better prepare future scholars to engage in anti-racist, anti-colonized research.
In years past, Michael’s scholarship focused on validity theory; innovative uses of computer-based technologies, applications of Universal Design to enhance educational testing and assessment, large-scale assessment program design, and, most recently, race and quantitative methodology. He has authored two books on assessment, Classroom Assessment: Concepts and Applications and Technology and Assessment: The Tale of Two Interpretations, co-authored a third book, The Paradoxes of High-Stakes Testing: How They Affect Students, Their Parents, Teachers, Principals, Schools, and Society, and co-edited Assessing Students in the Margins: Challenges, Strategies and Techniques. Through his work on accessible assessment he co-developed NimbleTools, the first universally designed digital test delivery platform, and co-created the Accessible Portable Item Protocol (APIP) Standards which are used world-wide for the development of digital test content. Michael founded and was Chief Editor of the Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment and established and directed the Technology and Assessment Study Collaborative. He currently serves on the Technical Advisory Committees for several state assessment and accountability programs.