PROM/SE Overview: Staff
Bios
William H. Schmidt
William H. Schmidt is the Lead Principal Investigator of PROM/SE and University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University. He is co-director of the Education Policy Center and co-director of the US China Center for Research. Previously he served as National Research Coordinator and Executive Director of the US National Center which oversaw participation of the United States in the IEA sponsored Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). He was also a member of the Senior Executive staff and Head of the Office of Policy Studies and Program Assessment for the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC from 1986-1988. He has published in numerous journals including the Journal of the American Statistical Association, Journal of Educational Statistics, and the Journal of Educational Measurement. He has co-authored seven books including Why Schools Matter. His current writing and research concerns issues of academic content in K-12 schooling, assessment theory and the effects of curriculum on academic achievement. He is also concerned with educational policy related to mathematics, science and testing in general. He was awarded the Honorary Doctorate Degree at Concordia University in 1997 and received the 1998 Willard Jacobson Lectureship from The New York Academy of Sciences. In 2006 he was elected to the National Academy of Education. He received his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Concordia College in River Forrest, IL and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in psychometrics and applied statistics.