College of Education and Health Professions

Ronna C. Turner, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Educational Statistics and Research Methods
Curriculum and Instruction

250 Graduate Education Building
Phone: (479) 575-4143
FAX: (479) 575-2492
rcturner@uark.edu

Degrees:

• Ph.D.,   University of Illinois, Educational Psychology, 2000
• M.S.E., Southwest Missouri State University, Social Sciences, 1991
• B.S.E., Southwest Missouri State University, Mathematics, 1989

Teaching Areas:

• Measurement and Test Theory
• Educational Research Methods
• Applied Statistics

Research Interests:

Evaluation of educational systems (pre-K to graduate level education) and test theory constructs

Professional Biography:

Ronna Turner is an Associate Professor of Educational Statistics in the College of Education and Health Professions. She served as Associate Director of the Office of Research, Measurement, & Evaluation from 1998 until 2003 where she is currently the Director. Dr. Turner obtained her bachelors degree in mathematics and masters degree in social sciences, specializing in research methods courses from education and psychology. Her doctoral degree is in the field of educational psychology, specializing in psychometrics. She completed an internship during her doctoral training at ACT, Inc., studying multidimensionality assessment of large-scale databases. As a graduate student, Dr. Turner was awarded the Maurice Tatsuoka Award for research in measurement and cognition at the University of Illinois.

Academic Interests and Accomplishments:

Ronna Turner has authored or co-authored one book chapter, seven refereed publications, six national proceedings, and completed over 40 national presentations. Additionally she has conducted workshops on the use of educational data for local and state educational agencies. She has authored or co-authored 19 technical reports related to educational assessment. Dr. Turner has been a co-principal investigator on eleven externally funded grants totaling approximately $2,600,000. She has also served as an independent evaluator on grants, funding approximately $139,000 in evaluation activity.

Publications/Presentations:

Roessler, R.T., Turner, R.C., Robertson, J., & Rumrill, Jr., P.D. (in press). Gender and Perceived Illness Severity: Differential Indicators of Employment Concerns for Adults with Multiple Sclerosis? Accepted by the Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin.

Turner, R.C., & Carlson, L. (2003). Indices of item-objective congruence for multidimensional items. International Journal of Testing, 3(2), 163-171.

Turner, R.C., & Lindsay, H. (2003). Gender differences in cognitive and noncognitive factors related to achievement in sophomore organic chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education, 80, 563-568 (with 12 pages of supplemental tables).

Turner, R.C., & Williams, T. (2002). Students at-risk for not meeting fourth grade Arkansas Benchmark proficiency standards. Arkansas Educational Research Methods and Policy Studies Journal, 2(1), 48-69.

Turner, R.C., & Twitty, L.L. (2005, April). Partnering measurement professionals with scientists and K-12 educators: Evaluating the KIDS project. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting for the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada.

Turner, R.C., Mulvenon, S.W., & Adams, D.J. (2004, November). Evaluating the University of Arkansas’ Microelectronics-photonics program. Panel presentation at the annual meeting for the American Evaluation Association, Atlanta, GA.

Turner, R.C., & Ritter, G. (2004, April). Does the impact of preschool childcare on cognition and behavior persist throughout the elementary years? Presented at the annual meeting for the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.

Turner, R.C., & Williams, T.L. (2003, April). Classroom educator tool for predicting proficiency on Arkansas fourth grade curriculum standards. Presented at the annual American Educational Research Association conference, Chicago, IL.

Ackerman, T.A., & Turner, R.C. (2003, April). Estimation and application of a generalized MIRT model: Assessing the degree of compensation between two latent abilities. Presented at the National Council for Measurement in Education conference, Chicago, IL.