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Karen Draney is an adjunct associate professor at the Berkeley School of Education and co-director of the Berkeley Evaluation Assessment Research (BEAR) Center. She teaches graduate courses in introductory data analysis and undergraduate courses on standardized testing issues in U.S. schools. Draney’s research emphasizes the development of formative and summative assessments based on constructs of learning progressions, and she utilizes Item Response Theory (IRT) to provide actionable information for teachers, parents, and schools. She received her PhD in Education from the University of California, Berkeley in 1996, and her dissertation focused on the polytomous saltus model, which applies a mixture model approach to diagnose developmental differences. Her work has earned recognition, including an award from the American Psychological Association's Division 5 for her dissertation. Draney’s academic interests cover various topics within social research methodologies, focusing on how assessment impacts educational practices.
Berkeley Evaluation Assessment Research Center • Berkeley, CA
Berkeley School of Education • Berkeley, CA
Teaches graduate courses in data analysis and undergraduate courses on standardized testing.
The Mathematics Subject GRE is required for the Fall 2026 admissions cycle. General GRE is optional.