EDUCATION
| Ph.D. | Educational Psychology | The University of Iowa |
| B.S. | Applied Psychology | Georgia Institute of Technology |
AWARDS AND HONORS
| 2019 | NAGC GCQ Paper of the Year Award for Making the cut in gifted selection: Selection decisions and their impact on program diversity. National Association for Gifted Children |
| 2014 | Outstanding Publication in Assessment and Accountability in Schools for Evaluating growth for ELL students: Implications for accountability policies. American Educational Research Association, Research, Evaluation, & Assessment in Schools (Div. H) |
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Educational measurement, test fairness, and validity
Individual differences in cognitive and academic development
Program evaluation in science and engineering education
HIGHLIGHTED PUBLICATIONS
* = Co-author was a student when research was initiated.
Shi, Q., Wind, S. A., & Lakin, J. M. (2023). Exploring the Influence of Item Characteristics in a Spatial Reasoning Task. Journal of Intelligence, 11(8), 152.
Taylor, L., Mastrogiovanni*, M.E., Lakin, J.M., & Davis, V.A. (2023). Give and gain: Black engineering students as near-peer mentors. Journal of Engineering Education, 112(2), 365-381.
Lakin, J.M. (2022). Service-Driven Identification Practices: Why the services you offer must drive identification decisions. Teaching for High Potential.
Lakin, J.M., Mastrogiovanni, M.E., Davis, E.W., Marghitu, D., & Davis, V.A. (2022). “It makes me wanna go out and help people”: Impact of a Grand Challenges of Engineering camp on engineering perceptions of African American youth. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 28(1), 41-74
Lakin, J.M., Ewald, M.L., Hardy*, E., Cobine, P.A., Marino, J.G., Landers, A.L. & Davis, V.A. (2021). Getting everyone to the fair: Who participates in and benefits from Science and Engineering Fairs. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 30, 658-677.
Barakat*, M., & Lakin, J.M. (2021). The Cultural Competence of Educational Leaders Questionnaire: Developing an assessment tool for leadership development. Journal of School Leadership, 31(6), 483-501
Elliott, D.C., & Lakin, J.M. (2021). Unparallel pathways: Exploring how divergent academic norms contribute to the transfer shock of STEM student. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 45(11), 802-815.
Lakin, J.M., Marghitu, D., Davis, V.A., & Davis, E.W. (2021). Introducing engineering as an altruistic STEM Career. The Science Teacher, 88(4), 54-60
Elliott, D.C., & Lakin, J.M. (2020). Running the STEM gauntlet: The complicity of four-year universities in the transfer penalty. Research in Higher Education, 61, 540-565. doi: 10.1007/s11162-019-09586-4/doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101920
Lakin, J.M., & Wai, J. (2020). Spatially gifted, academically inconvenienced: Do spatially talented students experience less academic engagement and more behavioral issues? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(4), 1015-1038.
Lakin, J.M., & Wai, J. (2020) Finding and Developing Spatially Talented Youth. Phi Delta Kappan, 102(4), 36-39.
Lakin, J.M., Wittig (Hill)*, A. Davis, E.W., & Davis, V.A. (2020). Am I an Engineer Yet? Perceptions of Engineering and Identity Among First Year Students. European Journal of Engineering Education, 45(2), 214-231.
Wai, J., & Lakin, J.M. (2020). Finding the missing Einsteins: Expanding the breadth of cognitive and noncognitive measures used in academic services. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 63.
Lakin, J. M., & Rambo-Hernandez, K. (2019). Fidelity of Implementation: Understanding Why and When Programs Work. Gifted Child Today, 42(4), 205–214.
Lakin, J.M., Davis, V.A., & Davis, E.W. (2019). Finding fit: Alignments between career values and future career as predictors of engineering commitment for women and underrepresented minority students. International Journal of Engineering Education, 35 (1A), 168–181.
Lakin, J.M. (2018). Making the cut in gifted selection: Selection decisions and their impact on program diversity. Gifted Child Quarterly, 62(2), 210-219. doi: 10.1177/0016986217752099 (2018 GCQ Paper of the Year Award from the National Association of Gifted Children)
Harrison, J., & Lakin, J.M. (2018). Mainstream teachers’ implicit beliefs about English language learners: An Implicit Association Test of teacher beliefs. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 17(2), 85-102. doi: 10.1080/15348458.2017.1397520
Harrison, J., & Lakin, J.M. (2018). Pre-service teachers’ implicit and explicit beliefs about English language learners: An implicit association test study. Teaching and Teacher Education, 72, 54-63.
Schnittka, C.G., Lakin, J.M., Savrda*, A., Moss*, J., Greene*, S. & Alenzi*, A. (2017). Science STUFF (Science, Society and Technology for Underrepresented Future Fabricators): Curriculum for future makers and designers. European Journal of Curriculum Studies, 4(1), 601-617.
Lakin, J.M., & Chaudhuri, S. (2016). Getting more out of educational workshop evaluations: Positively packing the rating scale. Educational Research Quarterly, 40 (1), 51-67.
Lakin, J.M., & Elliott, D.C. (2016). STEMing the shock: Examining GPA “Transfer Shock” and its Impact on STEM Major and Enrollment Persistence. Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 28(2), 9-32.
Lakin, J.M., Han, Y., & Davis, E. (2016). First-year students’ attitudes towards the grand challenges and nanotechnology. Journal of STEM Education, 17(3), 70-76.
Garrison-Fletcher, L., Lakin, J.M., & Young, J.W. (2015). Meeting the educational needs of late-arriving English language learners: A new assessment design. NYS TESOL Journal, 2(1), 52-59.
Lakin, J., & Shannon, D.M. (2015). The role of treatment acceptability, effectiveness, and understanding in treatment fidelity: Predicting implementation variation in a middle School Science Program. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 47, 28-37.
Lakin, J., & Wallace, C.S. (2015). Assessing teachers’ use of inquiry methods in the middle school science classroom. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 26(2), 139-162.
Lakin, J.M. (2014). Test directions as a critical component of test design: Best practices and the impact of examinee characteristics. Educational Assessment, 19, 17-34
Lakin, J.M., & Gambrell. J.L. (2014). Sex differences in fluid reasoning: Manifest and latent estimates from the Cognitive Abilities Test. Journal of Intelligence, 2, 36-55.
Evans, A.M., Carney, J.S., Lakin, J.M., & Stafford, E. (2013). Assessing peer problematic behavior and related training experiences. In G. R. Walz, J. C. Bleuer, R. K. Yep (Eds.), Ideas and research you can use: VISTAS 2013 (pp. 1-11).
Lakin, J.M. (2013). Sex differences in reasoning abilities: Surprising evidence that male-female ratios in the tails of the quantitative reasoning distribution have increased. Intelligence, 41, 263-274.
Lakin, J.M., & Young, J.W. (2013). Evaluating growth for ELL Students: Implications for accountability policies. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 32(3), 11-26.
Lakin, J.M. (2012). Assessing the cognitive abilities of culturally and linguistically diverse students: Predictive validity of verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal batteries. Psychology in the Schools, 49(8), 756-768.
Lakin, J.M. (2012). Multidimensional ability tests and culturally and linguistically diverse students: Evidence of measurement invariance. Learning and Individual Differences, 22(3), 397-403.
Lakin, J.M., Elliott, D.C., &; Liu, O.L. (2012). Investigating ESL Students’ Performance on Outcomes Assessments in Higher Education. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 72(5), 734-753.
Lakin, J.M., & Gambrell, J.L. (2012).Distinguishing verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal facets of fluid intelligence in young students. Intelligence, 40(6), 560-570.
Lakin, J.M., & Lai, E.R. (2012). Multi-group generalizability analysis of verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal ability tests for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 72 (1), 139-158.
Young, J.W., Lakin, J.M., Courtney, R., & Martiniello, M. (2012). Advancing the quality and equity of education for Latino students through: A white paper (ETS RR-12-01). Princeton, NJ: ETS.
Lakin, J.M., & Lohman, D.F. (2011). The predictive accuracy of verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning tests: Consequences for talent identification and program diversity. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 34, 595-623.
Lohman, D.F., & Lakin, J.M. (2009). Consistencies in sex differences on the Cognitive Abilities Test across countries, grades, test forms, and cohorts. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 389-407.
Lohman, D.F., Gambrell, J., & Lakin, J.M. (2008). The commonality of extreme discrepancies in the ability profiles of academically gifted students. Psychology Science Quarterly, 50, 269-282.
Lohman, D. F., Korb, K. A., & Lakin, J.M. (2008). Identifying academically gifted English-language learners using nonverbal tests: A comparison of the Raven, NNAT, and CogAT. Gifted Child Quarterly, 52, 275-296. (2008 GCQ Paper of the Year Award from the National Association of Gifted Children).
Lakin, J. M., Marghitu, D., Davis, E. W., & Davis, V. A. (2023). The Design of an Out-of-School Program Focused on Community-Centered Engineering Challenges. In J.L. Spott, L.J. Sobehrad, & R.L. Hite (Eds.), Developing and Sustaining STEM Programs Across the K-12 Education Landscape (pp. 45-70). IGI Global.
Lakin, J.M., Simonds, M., & Caviness-French, M. (in press). Quantitative assessment tools for the identification of potential: Ability, achievement, and other indicators of academic readiness. In. S. Johnsen & J. Van Tassel-Baska, Handbook on Assessments for Gifted Learners. Routledge.
Lakin, J.M. (2020). Chapter 5. Identification issues at a micro-level: Best practices regarding instrumentation and selection criteria. In Stambaugh, T., & Olszewski-Kubilius, Unlocking Potential: Identifying and Serving Gifted Students from Low Income Backgrounds.
Lakin, J.M., & Kell, H. (2020). Reasoning, problem solving, and intelligence. In R.J. Sternberg (Ed.), Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Ackerman, P.L., & Lakin, J.M. (2018). Expertise and Individual Differences. In S.I. Pfieffer (Ed.), Handbook of Giftedness in Children: Psycho-educational Theory, Research, and Best Practices (2nd ed.), pp. 65-80. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
Williams, P.S., Lakin, J.M., & Kensler, L.A.W (2014). Teachers’ Perception of Teacher Leadership: A New Tool for Measuring Teacher Leadership. In N. Bond (Ed.), The Power of Teacher Leaders: Their Roles, Influence, and Impact (pp. 210-222). Routledge.
Lohman, D. F., & Lakin, J.M. (2011). Reasoning, problem solving, and intelligence. In R.J. Sternberg & S.B. Kaufman (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Lohman, D. F., & Lakin, J.M. (2007).Nonverbal test scores as one component of an identification system: Integrating ability, achievement, and teacher ratings.In J. VanTassel-Baska (Ed.), Alternative Assessments for Identifying Gifted and Talented Students (pp. 41-66). Austin, TX: Prufrock Press
BIOGRAPHY
I received my Ph.D. from The University of Iowa where I studied with Dr. David Lohman in the Educational Psychology program. I am now an associate professor of Educational Research at the University of Alabama after nine years on the faculty at Auburn University. I am an affiliate of the Gifted Education and Talent Development Office (GETDO) at UA.
My mission as an academic is to help all students have their academic talents recognized and developed fully, especially through the public school system. Aligned with that mission, my main research interests relate to the equitable use of test data, including establishing test validity and fairness evidence for a variety of purposes. One particular focus is the design of equitable talent identification processes. I am also interested in broadening participation in STEM careers and interventions that promote STEM retention along the academic pipeline.
I am a co-author of the Cognitive Abilities Test® (Form 8) alongside Dr. Lohman. As part of this work, I am invited to teacher conferences across the country. Some of these CogAT resources are shared on this website.