College of Education and Human Development

Department of Educational Psychology

Jessie Kember

  • Pronouns: she, her, hers

  • Teaching assistant professor, fieldwork coordinator, and director of clinical placements

  • Office Hours

    By appointment only

Jessie Kember headshot

Areas of interest

  • Sexual minority youth
  • Resilience
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Degrees

BA, psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison
MA, educational psychology, University of Minnesota
PhD, school psychology, University of Minnesota

Biography

I am incredibly grateful to come from a family of educators. I feel lucky to have grown up beside individuals that are passionate about education and teaching. I hold a PhD in school psychology from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Prior to returning to the U of M as a lecturer, I worked as a school psychologist in the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, Wisconsin at a community school. I currently serve as a lecturer, and am fortunate enough to teach graduate level courses within the school psychology program, as well as several undergraduate level courses.

As a former graduate student at the U of M, I feel fortunate to have had individuals support me in a way that allowed me to discover and explore my true research and teaching passions: diversity, inclusion, and the school experience of sexual minority youth. Specifically, I am interested in research involving risk and resilience of sexual minority youth, the conceptualization of sexual orientation, methods for assessing and measuring its various dimensions, and how these methods influence our understanding of sexual minority youth experiences in the school setting. It is my goal to advocate for and promote research initiatives that provide school-based support for sexual minority youth.

Outside of my role as a lecturer at the University, I have the privilege of serving as the assessment and intervention screening coordinator at the Twin Cities German Immersion School in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Publications

Thayer, A., Cook, C., Fiat, A., Bartlett-Chase, M., & Kember, J.M. (2018). Wise Feedback as a Timely Intervention for At-Risk Students Transitioning Into High School. School Psychology Review, 47(3), 275-290.

Christ, T. J. & Kember, J. (2018). Formative evaluation. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation (pp. 696-698), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Hanson, B. (2015). Invisible Youth: The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Questioning Adolescents in Minnesota (J. Azbill-Salisbury, H. Johnson, & J. Kember, M.A.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.rainbowhealth.org/files/1714/4561/9488/Oct_23_MSS_Report.pdf

Kember, J.M., (2015). School-based Services for LGBTQ Youth. LGBTQ Policy Journal, 5, 67-70.

Presentations

Farnsworth, E.M., Newell, K., Kember, J.M., and Guerrero, E. (2020, February). Show me the data: Making effective decisions in schools. Mini skills session at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2020 Annual Convention, Baltimore, MD.

Kember, J.M. (2018). Language Matters: The Importance of Inclusive Language in Education. Poster presented at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2018 Annual Convention, Chicago, IL.

Kember, J.M., Fiat, A.E., Hansen-Burke, A.L., & Christ, T.J. (2017). Sexual Minority Youth: Prevention and Intervention Fueled by Resilience. Paper presented at the 2017 National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2017 Annual Convention, San Antonio, TX.

Kember, J.M., Kiss, A.J., McKevett, N., Christ, T.J., & White, M.J. (2017). Mapping State Proficiency Standards Using Two Measures of Reading Achievement. Poster presented at the 2017 National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2017 Annual Convention, San Antonio, TX.

Christ, T.J., Kember, J.M., Herriges, M. J., Arañas, Y.A., & White, M.J. (2016). Innovations in Formative Assessment: Automated Reading Tools. Symposium at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2016 Annual Convention, New Orleans, LA.

Nelson, G., Becker, D., Baker, J., & Kember, J. M. (2016). In with the new: Alternative scoring procedure for mathematics computation. Poster presented at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2016 Annual Convention, New Orleans, LA.

Webb, C., Kember, J.M., VanHove, B., Fitzgerald, L., & Schultz, A. (2015). Bullying: Adopting a Comprehensive Mental Health Model. Paper presented at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2015 Annual Convention, Orlando, Fl.

Kember, J.M., Newell, K., Kramme, J., & Christ, T.J. (2015). The Emergence of earlyReading: Psychometric Evidence of Reliability and Validity. Poster presented at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2015 Annual Convention, Orlando, Fl.

Christ, T.J., White, M.J., Becker, D., Kendeou, P., van den Broek, P., Arañas, Y.A., & Kember, J.M. Exploitation of theory for applied problems: Let’s throw it at the wall and see what sticks. Presentation at the 2015 Society for Text and Discourse Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

Herriges, M.J., & Christ, T.J. Contributors: White, M.J., Kember, J.M., and Simonson, G. Assessing automaticity of letter names and letter sounds with decision tasks. Poster presented at the 2014 Department of Educational Psychology Graduate Student Research Day, Minneapolis, MN.

Kember, J.M. & Christ, T.J. (2015). Receptive Automatic Decision and the Pseudohomophone Effect. Paper presented at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2015 Annual Convention, Orlando, Fl.

Herriges, M.J., Kember, J.M., Simonson, G., & Christ, T.J. (2014). Theoretical and Practical Relevance of Automaticity in Reading Development. Paper presented at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2014 Annual Convention, Washington, DC.

Kember, J.M., & Hansen, A. (2014). An ecological systems analysis of Questioning Youth. Poster presented at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2014 Annual Convention, Washington, DC.

Kember, J.M., Arañas, Y.A., & Christ, T.J. (2013). Evaluation of an aReading Comprehension Efficiency Measure. Poster presented at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2014 Annual Convention, Washington, DC.

Simonson, G., Kember, J.M., Herriges, M., Van Norman, E.R., & Christ, T.J. (2012). Measuring Growth with a Computer Adaptive Test: aReading. Poster presented at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) 2013 Annual Convention, Seattle, WA.