College of Education and Human Development

Department of Educational Psychology

Michael Rodriguez

  • CEHD Dean; Campbell Leadership Chair in Education and Human Development; and professor

Michael C. Rodriguez headshot

Areas of interest

  • Test development to support interpretation and use
  • Measurement accessibility for students with disabilities and English language
    learners
  • Measurement of social and emotional readiness and wellbeing
  • Psychometric meta-analysis and item response models
Degrees

PhD, Measurement & Quantitative Methods, Michigan State University
MA, Public Affairs, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
BA, Psychology, University of Minnesota Morris

Biography

Michael C. Rodriguez is Dean of CEHD and a professor of measurement. He joined the UMN faculty in 1999 and in 2013 was named the Campbell Leadership Chair in Education and Human Development. Rodriguez extends his research on item format effects, measurement accessibility, and item response models to examine socio-cultural contexts of youth development and important education outcomes via measurement and psychometrics of social and emotional readiness and wellbeing as founding director of the Minnesota Youth Development Research Group.

Rodriguez is a member of the UMN Academy of Distinguished Teachers. He chairs the Technical Advisory Group of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards and participates on technical advisory committees for the Minnesota Department of Education, New York State Education Department, National Assessment of Educational Progress, and Association of American Medical Colleges. He currently serves as the AERA representative on the Management Committee overseeing the revision of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Rodriguez is a fifth-generation Minnesotan and a first-generation college graduate.

Awards include: 2022 All My Relations Equity in Action Award, MN Education Equity Partnership; 2019 C. Eugene Allen Award for Innovative International Initiatives, UMN; 2009 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education, UMN; 2008 Robert H. Beck Faculty Teaching Award, CEHD Alumni Society; 2008 Distinguished Alumni, UMN Morris; 2005 Albert J. Harris Research Award of the International Reading Association; and 2004 Community Service Award, CEHD.

Courses I teach

  • EPSY 5221—Principles of Educational and Psychological Measurement
  • EPSY 5244—Survey Design, Sampling, and Implementation
  • EPSY 5245—Advanced Survey Data Analysis
  • EPSY 8224—Performance Assessment
  • EPSY 8225—Operational Measurement (Standard Setting, Equating)
Publications

Rodriguez, M.C., & Thurlow, M.L. (2025). Realizing fairness through accessibility for all test takers and for specific groups. In M. Pitoniak & L. Cook (Eds.), Educational measurement (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/educational-measurement-9780197654965

Abulela, M., Nickodem, K., & Rodriguez, M.C. (2024). Measurement invariance and cohort trends for social and emotional learning measures across four statewide administrations: Conventional fit statistics versus the RMSEA. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282924130223

Ackerman, T.A., Bandalos, D., Briggs, D., Everson, H., Ho, A., Lottridge, S., Madison, M.J., Rodriguez, M.C., Russell, M., Sinharay, S., von Davier, A., & Wind, S. (2024). Foundational competencies in educational measurement. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 43(3), 7-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12581

Rodriguez, M.C. (2022). Standards for social and emotional learning assessment. In J. Burrus, S. Rikoon, & M. Brenneman (Eds.), Assessing competencies for social and emotional learning (pp. 57-76). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Assessing-Competencies-for-Social-and-Emotional-Learning-Conceptualization/Burrus-Rikoon-
Brenneman/p/book/9780367517427

Orr, R.B., Csikari, M.M., Freeman, S., & Rodriguez, M.C. (2022). Writing and using learning objectives. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 3(21), 1-6. https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.22-04-0073

Haladyna, T.M., & Rodriguez, M.C. (2021). Using full-information item analysis to improve item quality. Educational Assessment, 26(3), 198-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/10627197.2021.1946390

Tatto, M.T., Rodriguez, M.C., & Reckase, M.D. (2020). Early career mathematics teachers: Concepts, methods, and strategies for comparative international research. Teaching and Teacher Education, 96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103118

Rodriguez, M.C., & Albano, A.D. (2017). The college instructor’s guide to writing test items: Measuring student learning. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/The-College-Instructors-Guide-to-Writing-Test-Items-Measuring-Student/Rodriguez-Albano/p/book/9781138886537 

McConnell, S.R., Wackerle-Hollman, A.K., Roloff, T.A., & Rodriguez, M.C. (2015). Designing a measurement framework for Response to Intervention in early childhood programs. Journal of Early Intervention, 36(4), 263-280. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053815115578559

Haladyna, T.M., & Rodriguez, M.C. (2013). Developing and validating test items. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203825945

Rodriguez, M.C., & Maeda, Y. (2006). Meta-analysis of coefficient alpha. Psychological Methods, 11(3), 306-322. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.11.3.306

Rodriguez, M.C. (2005). Three options are optimal for multiple-choice items: A meta-analysis of 80 years of research. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 24(2), 3-13. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3992.2005.00006.x

Presentations

Presentations and other publications on the measurement of social and emotional readiness and wellbeing are available from the MN Youth Development Research Group at https://sites.google.com/view/mnydrg/research