Associates

RMJ Assessment collaborates with outside experts according to project requirements. Following are short, professional bio’s for the firm’s principal consulting associates.

Jeanine Beauchemin

Ms. Jeanine Beauchemin has been a teacher, a program coordinator, a consultant, an elementary school principal, an education officer, and a superintendent of education. She has worked at the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) as an Education Officer in the development of Ontario’s province-wide assessments of reading, writing, and mathematics at the Primary and Junior Divisions (Grades 3 and 6). Since January 2001, she has worked as the external French-language consultant to EQAO coordinating quality assurance activities during the administration and scoring of all provincial assessments. In this capacity, she has broadened her knowledge and experience in developing instruments for collecting information in the field.

She has also successfully fulfilled the role of coordinator and team leader for various agencies and provincial organizations such as Educational Testing Service (Kingston, CA and Princeton, US), the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL), the Association des gestionnaires en éducation franco-ontarienne (AGÉFO), and the Centre franco-ontarien des ressources pédagogiques (Le Centre, Ottawa). Her networking with the French-language community is an asset to the quality assurance process in the schools. She has written many reports related to the quality of administration and scoring of Grades 3 and 6 (reading, writing, and mathematics), Grade 9 (mathematics) and the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT). She has also conducted quality assurance monitoring for Canada’s national Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP), formerly known as the School Achievement Indicators Program (SAIP), and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). In this work for EQAO, recommendations she has made for improvement in assessment administration and marking have been successfully implemented. Her work in the French-language education community and her expertise in the French-language component of quality assurance are key assets.

Dr. Pierre Brochu

After teaching in the provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba, Dr. Brochu worked in test development and program management with the Department of National Defense and the Canadian Nurses Association. He managed provincial test development, administration and scoring with the Departments of Education in Manitoba and British Columbia before directing the Canadian national assessment program with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), where he spent 15 years. He coordinated the inception of the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP) and managed the participation of Canadian provinces in international studies. He acted as the National Project Manager and Governing Board member for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He was also the National Research Coordinator for the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) and the Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).

As a past member of the PISA Strategic Development Group (SDG) and of the IEA General Assembly, Pierre represented Canadian provinces in providing strategic policy advice on a number of international assessment topics and issues. He is now the President of Consultation MEP Consulting Inc., and his current clients include the CMEC and Educational Testing Services (ETS). His extensive experience with assessment programs across Canada and internationally has developed his key skill areas: program evaluation, program implementation, quality monitoring, mentoring and assessment training activities in both English and French.

Dr. Barry Carbol

Dr. Barry Carbol is an experienced education executive and researcher with over 40 years of experience in the education and training sectors. During his career he has been a teacher, school principal, college professor and senior executive in government. Over a 20-year period he was responsible for a number of portfolios including large-scale examinations and assessment programs, learning resources, distance learning and education technology delivery and policy.

For the past 18 years, Barry has provided education, training and research consultation services to a broad range of public and private organizations and companies in North America, Europe and Asia.   His consultation practice includes an emphasis on learning technology needs assessment and gap analyses, the development of learning metrics and indices, strategic technology planning and online learning assessment strategies and approaches.

Among his academic credentials, Dr. Carbol holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (measurement and evaluation) from the University of Alberta, an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Oregon and a B.Ed. from the University of Alberta.

Danielle Cloutier

Danielle Cloutier has worked in the field of education for over 30 years.   She has acquired extensive knowledge and experience in large-scale assessment in the last 14 years while working at Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). Danielle has trained teachers province-wide on item development and effective rubric-based scoring of open-response items.

Prior to working at EQAO, Danielle was a provincial consultant at the Centre Franco-ontarien de ressources pédagogiques (CFORP) and at the Ontario Ministry of Education. She began her career as a secondary-school educator, where she became Head of the French Department. Danielle later taught at the Faculty of Education at Laurentian University in Sudbury. She also participated in many provincial curriculum development committees. Danielle is fluent in both French and English.

Sandy DiLena

Ever since Sandy DiLena started teaching, she has been passionate in her commitment to maximizing individual student performance, inspiring interest in mathematics and instilling a sense of self-worth among all learners. She has dedicated her career to these pursuits.

Sandy’s 36 years of experience in mathematics education include the roles of classroom teacher, as well as leader at the school, school board and provincial levels. She held the positions of Instructional Leader, Mathematics with the Toronto District School Board, Mathematics Content Lead at Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) and Education Officer at the Ontario Ministry of Education, where her team developed resources to support the implementation of the Mathematics Curriculum.

Sandy learned much about designing research-based mathematics curriculum, programs and resources, best practices in large-scale assessment, the challenges of implementing change, collaborating with external consultants and working in a bilingual environment. As well, she acquired strong problem-solving skills. Throughout Sandy’s rich career, she has been successful in working in partnerships, as well as coordinating with other teams. Sandy’s qualifications include B.Ed., B.Math and MSc (Teaching) degrees.

Dr. Jerry Mussio 

Dr. Jerry Mussio has extensive experience in developing strategic plans, collaborating with diverse stakeholders and managing large-scale education projects in complex environments. Areas of expertise include: education policy and planning, large-scale student assessment, key indicators and education statistics, monitoring and evaluation, and international development.

Jerry has provided consultant services to the World Bank, UNICEF and to government agencies in Argentina, Russia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Tajikistan, Georgia and Jordan. Between 2000 and 2004, he served as Canada’s representative in the development of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).  Prior to his work as an education consultant, Jerry was a senior manager with the British Columbia Ministry of Education. He holds a Ph.D. in educational measurement from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Ron Owston

Dr. Ron Owston is a professor of education, former Dean of the Faculty of Education and founding Director of the Institute for Research in Learning Technologies at York University, Toronto, Canada. In 2007, York University awarded him the honorary title of University Professor for his “extraordinary contribution to the University as a colleague, teacher, and scholar.” A pioneer in teaching with the Web since its early days, he specializes in the evaluation of technology-based educational programs in K-12, government, higher education and continuing professional education. Ron has spoken at numerous national and international conferences about blended and online learning, authored/co-authored some 50 commissioned studies and published over 60 articles in refereed journals, including one of the first academic examinations of the role of the Web for teaching and learning in Educational Researcher in 1997.

Dr. Barbara S. Plake

Dr. Barbara S. Plake is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she was on the faculty in the Department of Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Education and Director of the Buros Center for Testing for nearly 30 years. She specializes in standard setting, validity and computerized adaptive testing. She has authored over 200 journal articles, book chapters, conference papers and other publications. Her work has been published in journals such as The Journal of Educational Measurement, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practices, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Educational Measurement, Applied Measurement in Education, Applied Psychological Measurement, and elsewhere. Dr. Plake is a contributor to The Handbook of Educational Measurement, co-editor of The Mental Measurements Yearbook, as well as Tests in Print, and is founding co-editor of Applied Measurement in Education.

Barbara is a consultant on testing with several states and organizations. Her research focuses on classroom assessment practices, computerized testing and on methods for determining the passing score on high-stakes tests, such as those for high school graduation eligibility decisions. She is an active member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), where she was inducted as a Fellow in 2008. Barbara served as Secretary and Program Co-chair of Division D (Measurement and Research Methodology). She was President of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in 1992 and served on their Board of Directors from 1986-1993. In 2006 she received NCME’s Award for Career Contributions to Educational Measurement. She is a Fellow of Division 5 (Measurement and Research Methods) of the American Psychological Association (APA) and co-chaired AERA, APA, and NCME’s Joint Committee on the Revision to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (with Lauress Wise). In 2005 she received the Career Achievement Award from the Association of Test Publishers.

Dr. Plake received her Ph.D. in Educational Measurement and Statistics from the University of Iowa in 1976. She was a Research Associate at American College Testing Programs (ACT) in Iowa City, Iowa before joining the faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1977. Previously she was an analytical engineer at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft and a middle school mathematics teacher.

Dr. Mark D. Reckase

Dr. Mark D. Reckase is a University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of measurement and quantitative methods at the College of Education, Michigan State University. He specializes in the development of educational and psychological tests, educational policy related to testing, and the psychometric theory that supports the assessment of cognitive skills and content knowledge. In particular, he has conducted research on applications of unidimensional and multidimensional item response theory (IRT) models, computerized adaptive testing (CAT), assessment using performance tasks, standard setting on educational tests and methods for evaluating the quality of teacher education programs.

Dr. Reckase was one of the original researchers in the area of computerized adaptive testing and is current president of the International Association for Computerized Adaptive Testing. He worked on developing new models for the evaluation of teachers based on the quality of the teacher’s students’ performance, conducted initial development work on the methodology for multidimensional item response theory, served on the Defense Language Testing and Assessment Panel that reviews the development and application of English and foreign language tests for the U.S. Government and served as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board that has policy oversight for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). He has also served as the editor of two journals: the Journal of Educational Measurement and Applied Psychological Measurement.

Among his many appointments, Mark was Assistant Vice President for Assessment Innovations, Assistant Vice President for Assessment Programs and Director of Resident Programs at ACT Inc. His professional preparation includes an undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and a Master of Science degree and Ph.D. in Psychology from Syracuse University. Dr. Mark Reckase has published extensively on a variety of psychometric/measurement topics in journals, research reports, book chapters and books and is a prominent expert in the field.

Dr. Joanne Reid

Dr. Joanne Reid is an independent education consultant, researcher and writer. She obtained a Master’s degree in History from the University of Sussex (UK) and a Doctorate in Cognition and Learning from Brock University (Ontario). She has taught in diverse settings including a prison, Ontario high schools and the Brock University Faculty of Education. Dr. Reid sees assessment, curriculum design and instruction as an interdependent system that impacts academic achievement, equity and well-being. Teaching multiple subjects to diverse students reinforced her belief that relevant curriculum, personalized instruction and fair assessment that supports learning increases student engagement and performance.

Joanne worked at Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) where she developed province-wide literacy assessments, analyzed their results and trained educators on item development and scoring. She also developed online distance-education English courses for the Ontario Independent Learning Centre and has written and reviewed English textbooks for major education publishers. Currently, she supports clients developing large-scale assessments for professional accreditation and language competency.

Dr. Reid’s research is focused on two main areas. The first is integrated curriculum design, particularly its effectiveness in developing 21^st-century competencies. The second is how classroom and large-scale assessments can foster learning. She has co-authored articles and book chapters, researched and published reports as well as a university textbook on these topics. Dr. Reid has presented her research at conferences sponsored by the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), Ontario Ministry of Education, Ontario Teachers’ Federation (OTF), American Educational Research Association (AERA), and ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development).

Dr. Carol Ricker-Wilson

Dr. Carol Ricker-Wilson has a background in anti-oppressive education and critical literacy, with an interest in how large-scale standards-based assessments might support school board, provincial and federal initiatives to ensure that all students acquire the academic skills they need. Carol has been a secondary school teacher, a course director in York University’s Faculty of Education, an English/literacy consultant for the Toronto District School Board and a literacy content lead for the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) involved in all aspects of the design and implementation of its provincial primary (Grade 3), junior (Grade 6) and Grade 10 reading and writing assessments.

Dr. Ricker-Wilson has provided conference workshops for multiple venues such as the National Council for Teachers of English, the Centre for Anti-Oppressive Education, the Canadian International Reading Association, the Ontario College of Teachers and Ontario’s Ministry of Education. Her publication record includes articles in refereed journals, book chapters and curricular resources for school, board, provincial, commercial and academic venues. ​

Dr. Pamela Rose Toulouse

Dr. Pamela Rose Toulouse is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education (Concurrent English Language) at Laurentian University (LU). She has taught Primary/Junior Methods, Junior/Intermediate Methods, Indigenous Studies as a Teachable, English as a Teachable, Primary/Junior Literacy, Junior/Intermediate Literacy, Introduction to Social Work & Native Social Welfare, Indigenous Ways of Learning, Indigenous Relations in Community Contexts (Masters Level) and Independent Studies/Field Courses (Ph.D. Level). Her areas of specialty are inclusive education, classroom management, lesson planning, learning cycles, assessment/evaluation, technology, differentiated instruction, Indigenous Education and social justice collaborations. She is a National 3M Teaching Excellence Award Fellow and has also been cited in previous editions of Maclean’s magazine as one of LU’s favourite professors.

Pamela is originally from the community of Sagamok First Nation. She is a proud Ojibwe/Odawa woman that comes from a long line of educators. She celebrates many years of activity (entering her 25^th year) in the formal educational setting, beginning as an elementary school teacher and then finding herself in the role of colleague within the university system. She is well known for her contributions in Indigenous Education and has published more than 50 resources, which include books, chapters in books, curriculum pieces, articles, videos and other key selections.

Dr. Toulouse is fondly known for her dynamic teaching, commitment to equity and passion for education. She chairs various committees, works with a variety of school boards, presents regularly and is active in her areas of research. She continues her life journey in the field of education by representing her Nation and profession in a respectful and meaningful way.