International Encyclopedia of Education

Rob Tierney is an international educator whose passion is for developing research partnerships to address local literacy needs with educators in different countries. Rob began his career as a classroom teacher in Australia, then proceeded to work in the United States, Canada, Australia and China. He is Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, the former Dean and Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Education and Social Work at University of Sydney, and a Distinguished University Professor at Beijing Normal University. In the United States, he has served on the faculties of the University of Illinois, University of Arizona, The Ohio State University, Harvard University, and the University of California. Rob has written a number of books and numerous articles on literacy especially related to global issues, diversity, and literacy development. His most recent book was entitled A History of Literacy Education: Waves of Research and Practice published by Teachers College Press in 2021. During his tenure as an educator, he has served as the President of the International Literacy Association, President of the Literacy Research Association, an Editor for the Reading Research Quarterly, the President of the Association of Canadian Deans of Education/ L’Association Canadienne des Doyens et Doyennes déducation, as well on a number of committees and boards for professional groups and government and nongovernment agencies. In addition, he has been involved on a range of groups on projects globally including in Africa and Asia including for UNESCO, Children’s Television Workshop, and Apple Computer.

Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Fazal Rizvi is an Emeritus Professor of Global Studies in Education at the University of Melbourne, as well as at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Turku in Finland and Pretoria in South Africa. He has written extensively on issues of identity and culture in transnational contexts, globalization and education policy, and Australia–Asia relations. He has published widely, and his book, coauthored with Bob Lingard, Globalizing Education Policy (Routledge 2010) is used widely in courses around the world. A sequel to this book, Reimagining Globalization and Education (Routledge 2022) has been published recently. Fazal is currently researching educational reform in Bhutan. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences, a past Editor of the journal, Discourse: Studies in Cultural Politics of Education, and a past President of the Australian Association of Research in Education.

Professor in Global Studies in Education, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Kadriye Ercikan is Vice President of Research and Measurement Sciences at the Educational Testing Service and Professor Emerita at the University of British Columbia. She is responsible for ETS’s foundational and applied research and psychometric support of ETS’s major testing products and contracts, and ETS’s contract for the National Assessment of Educational Progress contract. Her research focuses on validity and fairness issues and sociocultural context of assessment. Her recent research includes validation of score meaning using response processes, use of response process data for comparing groups and examining fairness and validity of interpretation and use of scores from artificial intelligence based automated scoring. Ercikan is a Fellow of the International Academy of Education, President Elect of the International Academy of Education, and President Elect of the International Test Commission. Her research has resulted in six books, four special issues of refereed journals and over 100 publications. She was awarded the AERA Division D Significant Contributions to Educational Measurement and Research Methodology recognition for another co-edited volume, Generalizing from Educational Research: Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Polarization, and received an Early Career Award from the University of British Columbia. Ercikan is currently serving as the NCME Book Series Editor (2021-2026).

Director, Cross-Cultural Assessment and Research Methods in Education (CARME) Research Lab, University of British Columbia, Canada