One often reads presidential columns in professional newsletters and sees what that president has to say about current events related to the profession. In the case of spring 2020, the changes are so extreme to make this possible avenue for a column insurmountable. Probably as you read this newsletter you are either working at home or only recently back in your office after months away from your office due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Personally, I was on sabbatical this “spring” semester with plans to write my presidential speeches for APA Div. 5 and the International Test Commission meetings that were to take place in August in Washington, D.C., and in July in Luxembourg, respectfully; the latter meeting was postponed for a year. I had also planned to attend the Association of Test Publishers annual meeting, the Society of Industrial-Organizational Psychologists, and the National Council on Measurement in Education as a representative of Div. 5, although not at the division’s expense. All were canceled. I had more time to write and attend Zoom meetings related to how my university, college, department, and sponsored research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln were dealing with the pandemic. Let me also please apologize that this column reads like a chronology; change has been happening such that I continued to need to adapt it, and it may still be out of date as you read it.
While I wrote the above paragraph in late April, I am now writing in mid-May. We now know that the APA meeting will not be held in Washington, D.C., will not involve travel and hotels, and will be virtual. As I wrote in an email sent to the Div. 5 listserv, I think that this action is brave, appropriate, and in the best interests of APA and its members, but is also extremely sad. While attempting to avoid politics, I can report that, while many in the country wish to re-open, others (perhaps many of whom are old and salaried like me) are fearful of such actions to the health and mortality of the residents of our country, Canada, and other countries fighting the COVID-19 infection. We do not yet know what portions of our Div. 5 conference will be held virtually—from none to all. I again want to take this opportunity to praise Natalie Koziol, a colleague of mine here at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who took on the awesome task of putting the 2020 Div. 5 program together. Some of you know that one of the most fearful thoughts that occur after winning a presidential election is what would we do if no one says “yes” to such appointments. Natalie was my first choice and she said yes. Thank you, Natalie, both for saying “yes” and for your superb job.
And now in early June, we know a bit more about the virtual, which should offer almost all of the planned conference presentations and posters. First, all oral and video presentations will need to be recorded in advance as described below and will be due by mid-July under current thinking.
- Virtually all aspects of the division-based conferences can continue if presenters and others want them to continue. Presenters have the right not to present papers in this fashion, but their sessions will not be automatically transferred to 2021’s conference.
- Invited speeches and lectures, presidential addresses, and the like can all be included in the virtual conference.
- Symposia can continue as is, or with only some of the presenters participating, if some choose not to participate.
- Posters will be available as PDFs, and it may be possible for poster presenters to provide a five-minute or so explanation of their paper to be provided along with the PDF. In some ways, this approach may be an improvement.
- A PDF convention document will be prepared and available for download on the APA website so that all participants can continue to get credit for their participation and scholarly presentations. We understand that the program also will include those who choose not to participate in the virtual conference.
- The presentations will be available for one year on the APA convention website, so the meeting can be asynchronous, and people can watch presentations when it is most convenient for them to do so.
- Speakers can have something like virtual office hours (e.g., via Zoom) when those who have heard the presentation can ask questions. Such hours would be optional.
- New sessions cannot be added, although title changes may be permitted.
- Some best practices will be shared, hopefully, before presentations are recorded. For example, they would like to see talks shortened.
- Business meetings, award meetings, and the like will not be included in the program but can be accomplished with Zoom or other similar meetings, if desired, but not on the APA convention platform. They can also be scheduled before or after the actual, “virtual” conference.
All talks will need to be pre-recorded and sent to APA in early to mid-July; exact dates are not yet known. The technology for making such presentations will be forthcoming. We are certain that more details will be made available in the coming weeks but hope that those details will not affect the level of participation by the members of Div. 5. APA will also be sending out a best practices document for virtual presentations. They believe, for example, that many presentations originally scheduled for 50 minutes would be better received if delivered in about 20 minutes, but timeframes for actual delivery actually will be more flexible than for in-person meetings.
Div. 5 ran into an issue earlier this year. As most of you reading this column know, in the United States of America there was a scandal within the past year concerning college admissions. There were many problems related to people of means paying a particular independent colleague admission consultant who helped various teenagers get accepted into colleges that they likely would not have been accepted in without such help. It appears that the payments mostly went to various coaches and others at the small number of universities in question, and in at least one case, to a college admissions test proctor, who made sure that one or more students received higher scores to which they were not entitled. Div. 5 (Recall that its former name was “Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics”) was asked to comment on the college admissions scandal and related issues. I learned that in recent years, the long-existent divisional Public Affairs Committee, that mostly dealt with various issues related to testing, had been replaced by an International Committee. I tried to see if some members of the International Committee could take on the job, but realistically they could not. With President-elect Eric Youngstrom’s permission, we constituted a committee that will continue through at least next year. The members of the committee include former Div. 5 President Gwyn Boodoo, Div. 5 fellow and former SIOP President Nancy Tippins, ECP member Justin Karr, and me. I will chair the committee since I know the issues likely to develop. Future Div. 5 boards can decide if this committee needs to continue in existence. Testing and assessment in particular have interactions with the public and often need a scientific perspective.
Many of you know that in recent years when the Div. 5 board meets away from the APA conference, typically in May, we have had a one-day conference covering topics of interest. For example in 2017, President Joseph Rodgers organized a symposium on teaching statistics, and last year, President Dave Mackinnon provided a festschrift very appropriately honoring the matriarch of the division, Professor Leona Aiken. In keeping with this tradition, I organized a one-day conference entitled, “Controversies in College Admissions: Access, Honesty, Equity and Excellence.” The speakers were to be former division President Wayne Camara (ACT), Matthew Gaertner (WestEd), Janet Helms (Boston College), Jessica Howell (College Board), Donald Hossler (University of Southern California), Krista Mattern (ACT), former division President Neal Schmitt, Rebecca Zwick (Educational Testing Service), and me. It was originally scheduled for March 27 of this year but needed to be postponed due to the pandemic. In March we are currently rescheduled for late September, but we will almost certainly need to assess conditions to see if it continues to be possible to operate it in the current climate (Information is available through the Buros websiteopens in new window). We may need to consider doing the one-day conference virtually, perhaps spread over more than one day.
Finally, it should be noted that again due to the pandemic the division had its first virtual board meeting this year at a great financial saving to the division. Most participants saw it as highly successful, and it certainly saved the division quite a few travel monies. We will need to consider whether to do so in the future.
In this, my last presidential column, there are quite a few people I need to thank. Past President David Mackinnon has answered every question I had. If I can help President-elect Eric as well this next year, I will be very pleased with myself. Thank you, Dave! Ken Kelley is finishing his term as CFO/treasurer; we have all faced the situation where we wonder how an organization will survive without the work of a particular individual, and Ken is exactly one such person. Thank you, Ken! Your input has always been valued! We are indeed fortunate that Professor Shelley Blozis from the psychology department at UC-Davis is willing to step into this important role. Finally, Professor Matt Fritz, our division secretary, general division administrator and organizer has assented to remain in that position for another term. His office was just down the hall from mine, and I cannot tell you how many tiles I wore through walking down the hall to ask him Div. 5 questions. Thank you, Matt, for your continuing excellence of service! I cannot thank all the committee chairs and other members of the board individually but thank you! One of the more difficult jobs in the division is editing The Score. Gill Sitarenios was in his rookie year, but he has done a superb job, and we all should thank him! As for me, I have now served on and chaired the Fellows Committee twice, served on and chaired the Membership Committee, served on the Public Affairs Committee, and spent two terms as a Council of Representatives delegate from the division. It is a great professional home, and even in a time of quarantine, it is nice to be home! I wish you all a great and healthy summer and new academic year! Thanks for membership and support!