Biography

The overarching mission of Dr. Laura Pendergast's research is to promote excellence and equity in psychological and educational assessment. She uses multivariate and measurement statistics to evaluate the equivalence of social, emotional, and behavioral constructs and measures across cultural groups (internationally and domestically). Additionally, she is interested in applying the science of psychometrics to improve decision-making in school psychology, education, and many other disciplines. She has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles on these topics, and her research has appeared in outlets such as Psychological Assessment and the Journal of School Psychology. Further, her work has been funded through grants and contracts from a variety of organizations including the Society for the Study of School Psychology, the Institute for Education Sciences, the Spencer Foundation, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.