Matthias von Davier
Executive Director

Matthias von Davier, Distinguished Research Scientist at the National Board of Medical Examiners (MBME), is the J. Donald Monan, S.J., University Professor in Education at Boston College.

Along with his duties as Executive Director at the TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center, he also teaches courses in psychometrics, statistics, and large scale assessment for the Lynch School of Education.

Von Davier’s areas of expertise include item response theory, known as IRT, latent class analysis, diagnostic classification models, and the analytical methodologies used in large-scale educational surveys. His current work is concerned with extending, implementing and applying multidimensional IRT, IRTree, and latent response models, as well as speed/accuracy models to process data research using log-file and timing data from large-scale assessments.

Prior to his appointment at NBME, an independent non-profit organization that conducts high-quality assessments of health care professionals, von Davier was a senior research director at the Educational Testing Service’s Research & Development Division, and co-director of ETS’s Center for Global Assessment, leading large-scale psychometric research and operational analysis for international comparative studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment, and the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. He also served as the psychometric advisor delegated by ETS to serve as a member of the project management team of TIMSS and PIRLS.

Von Davier has authored and co-authored more than 130 research articles, chapters and research reports, and edited five books. A founding co-editor of Large-Scale Assessments in Education, a joint publication of the IEA and ETS, he was editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology. Additionally, he is co-editor of the series Methodology of Educational Measurement and Assessment, and serves as the executive editor of Psychometrika, the journal of the Psychometric Society.

His honors include the ETS Research Scientist award, the National Council of Measurement in Education Brad Hanson Award for Contributions to Educational Measurement, and the American Educational Research Association’s Division-D award for Significant Contributions to Measurement and Research Methodology.

Von Davier earned a doctorate in psychology with a specialty in psychometrics from Germany’s University of Kiel.