Educational Psychology

James Wollack

Department Chair, Professor & Director of Testing & Evaluation Services, Quantitative Methods Area

jwollack@wisc.edu


880B Educational Sciences

1025 West Johnson Street

Madison, WI 53706-1706

Wollack, James

Download CV  

I am a Professor in the Quantitative Methods area within the Educational Psychology Department. I also serve as the Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Testing and Evaluation Services (T&E) and the UW System Center for Placement Testing.

My interests are in test construction, test administration and item response theory. My scholarly activity centers on aspects of test security relating to detection of cheating on tests and secure test administration. My research has included developing and refining statistical methods to detect test fraud, including detection of group-based cheating (such as preknowledge, collusion, and answer changing), detection of individual cheating (such as answer copying), and detection of item compromise. In addition, I have worked on helping to define and improve industry policy and best practices with regard to test security, including approaches implemented by testing programs to prevent, deter, impede, and detect cheating on tests. I am the President of the Council on Test Security (COTS), and co-editor of two major handbooks on test security: the Handbook of Test Security (2013; w/ J. Fremer) and the Handbook of Quantitative Methods for Detecting Cheating on Tests (2017; w/ G. Cizek).

Education

  • PhD Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1996
  • MS Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1993
  • BS Psychology, University of California at Davis, 1991

Select Publications

  • Pan, Y., & Wollack, J. A. (2021). An unsupervised-learning-based approach to compromised items detection. Journal of Educational Measurement. Online Publication/Abstract.
  • Belov, D., & Wollack, J. A. (2021). Graph theory approach to detect examinees involved in test collusion. Applied Psychological Measurement, 45, 253-267.
  • Bolt, D. M., Kim, N., Wollack, J. A., Pan, Y., Eckerly, C., & Sowles, J. (2019). A psychometric model for discrete-option multiple choice items. Applied Psychological Measurement, 44, 33-48.
  • Wollack, J. A., & Maynes, D. D. (2017). Detection of test collusion using cluster analysis. In G. J. Cizek & J. A. Wollack (Eds.), Handbook of Quantitative Methods for Detecting Cheating on Tests (pp. 124-150). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Wollack, J. A., & Eckerly, C. A. (2017). Detection of test tampering at the group level. In G. J. Cizek & J. A. Wollack (Eds.), Handbook of Quantitative Methods for Detecting Cheating on Tests (pp. 214-231). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Cizek, G. J., & Wollack, J. A. (2017). Handbook of Quantitative Methods for Detecting Cheating on Tests. In G. J. Cizek & J. A. Wollack (Eds.), New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Wollack, J. A., & Case, S. M. (2016). Maintaining fairness through test administration. In N. J. Dorans & L. Cook (Eds.), Fairness in Educational Assessment and Measurement (pp. 33-53). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Wollack, J. A., & Fremer, J. J. (2013). Handbook of Test Security. New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Goegebeur, Y., DeBoeck, P., Wollack, J. A., & Cohen, A. S. (2008). A speeded item response model with gradual process change. Psychometrika, 73, 65-87.
  • Cohen, A. S., & Wollack, J. A. (2006). Test administration, security, scoring, and reporting. In R. L. Brennan (Ed.), Educational Measurement (pp. 355-386). Westport, CT: American Council on Education/Praeger.

Select Awards and Honors

  • Vilas Associates Award, (2019–2021)
  • Service and Leadership Award, National College Testing Association, 2015
  • President's Award, National College Testing Association, 2014