Psychometric and Research Intern

At Curriculum Associates (CA), we believe a diverse team leads to diversity in thinking, making our products better for teachers and students. If you read this job description, feel energized by what you see here, and believe you could bring passion and commitment to the role, but you aren’t sure you meet every qualification, please apply! Above all, we are looking for the right person!

Summer 2025 Psychometric Internships
 

Curriculum Associates is a rapidly growing educational technology and publishing company committed to making classrooms better places for teachers and students. Our assessments provide valuable feedback to teachers and students and is used to route students into individualized instructional paths.
 

In this role at Curriculum Associates, you’ll support products that are designed to improve student outcomes in digital reading and mathematics, especially for students who are historically underserved. We believe a diverse team leads to diversity in thinking, making our products better for teachers and students.

About the Internships

Curriculum Associates offers two Psychometric Summer Internships:

• Psychometric Assessment Solutions Internship: Conduct operational psychometric analyses and/or research to support operational analyses for a computerized adaptive testing program. Work will support the operational assessment program.

• Psychometric Learning Solutions Internship: Conduct research to improve knowledge on how students interact and benefit from our digital personalized instruction products using a variety of data sources and advanced analysis methods. Results of the research may inform decisions about personalized instruction product features and how we routinely analyze the data from these products.

Interns will have the opportunity to:

• Manipulate and analyze the large datasets (millions of records!) at Curriculum Associates. These data include some of the most extensive assessment and instructional data in the nation.

• Collaborate with other members of the assessment development and psychometrics teams. Attend regular team meetings and work closely with experienced researchers.

• Gain a deep understanding of conducting research at the industry level, learn more about different teams working towards an educational product, work closely with experienced researchers, and observe day-to-day operations as a researcher at an educational technology company.

• Be part of the conversations on how research results translate into product decisions. Experiences may include observing a Technical Advisory Committee meeting, collaborating with experts in other departments, presenting work at internal meetings, etc.

Research Project

Interns will focus on at least one major project. The project may be eligible for submission to a national conference at the end of the summer. Here are some examples of the types of projects that interns may work on:

• Psychometrics Assessment Solutions:

  • Conduct IRT and CTT item analyses to aid in decision making for the lifecycle of an item

  • Investigate and define the requirements of a representative equating sample for a computerized adaptive test (CAT) with a continuous field test design

  • Conduct an operational item bank analysis that informs future item development

  • Generate reliability and validity evidence in support of our technical documentation

  • Develop and evaluate a model for item difficulty modeling

• Psychometrics Learning Solutions:

  • Investigate student engagement in digital personalized instruction lessons

  • Analyze and compare various methods of measuring engagement in personalized instruction products

  • Examine trends in student engagement over time or across products

  • Assess effectiveness of statistical techniques in addressing student disengagement in lessons

The project an intern works on will be determined based on current research needs and intern interests.

Who we're looking for:

Candidates for the internship will ideally have the following qualifications:

• Currently pursuing a doctorate in educational measurement, educational psychology, educational research, psychometrics, learning analytics, data science, or a related field. Candidates should have measurement-related coursework (i.e., classical test theory, item response theory) or applied measurement experience. Preference will be given to students with at least three years of doctoral-level coursework completed by the start of the internship.

• Must have a strong interest in research that impacts student learning and/or applied psychometrics.

• Preferred: Experience with data manipulation and analysis in R and/or SAS.

• Must be located within the US for the duration of the internship.

Funding, Length, and Location of Internship

• Interns will work remotely for eight weeks during the summer, ideally from June 9, 2025 to August 1, 2025. Some flexibility in the dates may be offered if needed.

• Interns will be considered temporary employees of Curriculum Associates.

• Interns work 40 hours/week and will be paid $30 per hour (equivalent to $9,600 for 8 weeks).

Next Steps

• Please provide the following information in your application. Please note that applications that do not include all this information will not be considered.

  • A cover letter indicating all the following:

    • The internship(s) in which you are interested

      • You may choose either Psychometric Assessment Solutions or Psychometric Learning Solutions.

      • If you would like to be considered for both internships, please indicate which one is your first choice.

    • Your current research interests

    • How your background and research interests align with the identified internship(s)

  • A current resume / CV

  • An unofficial transcript

Applications must be submitted by February 7, 2025 at 11:59 pm ET to be considered. Application reviews will begin on February 10.