Description of Research Expertise

Areas of Expertise

Measurement, statistics, and research design
Accountability policy
Standards-based reform

Professional Biography

Dr. May specializes in the application of modern statistical methods in education research. His primary areas of expertise include longitudinal analysis, multilevel modeling, item response theory (IRT), Bayesian methods, predictive models for continuous and categorical data, and missing data theory. He is a member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Evaluation Association (AEA), the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Statistical Association (ASA), and the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE).

Although Dr. May specializes in statistical methods, most of his research also involves qualitative and mixed-methods approaches. Recent publications include peer-reviewed CPRE research reports and academic articles in program evaluation, research design, and statistics. The topics of recent academic papers include principals’ leadership practice, the impacts of school reform on students’ learning trajectories, the development of an IRT model for measuring students’ socioeconomic status in international contexts, and methods for reporting complex statistical results in more meaningful ways for policymakers and practitioners.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. May’s research interests include standards-based reform and accountability, measurement of school performance (specifically value-added modeling), program evaluation, teacher and school effects on student performance, equity in inputs and outcomes of education, international and comparative studies, and the successful education of students at risk of dropout or academic failure.

Recent and current projects include a longitudinal study of International Baccalaureate Students’ postsecondary outcomes; the randomized evaluation of Ohio’s Personalized Assessment Reporting System; the randomized evaluation of the National Institute for School Leadership (NISL); the national evaluation of the America’s Choice School Design program; the evaluation of the Math-Science Partnership Program in El Paso, Texas; CPRE’s Center on Continuous Instructional Improvement (CCII); and a study of the organizational sources of teacher turnover (with Richard Ingersoll).