Dr. Matthias von Davier
Executive Director

Matthias von Davier is the Executive Director of the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center and the J. Donald Monan, S.J., University Professor in Education at Boston College. An AERA Fellow and a member of the National Academy of Education (NAEd), he served as a Distinguished Research Scientist at the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) from 2016 to 2019 before joining Boston College.

In addition to his duties as Executive Director at the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, he teaches courses in psychometrics and data science at the Lynch School of Education.

Von Davier’s areas of expertise include item response theory (IRT), latent class analysis, diagnostic classification models, and the analytical methodologies used in large-scale educational surveys. His current work is concerned with extending, implementing, and applying multidimensional IRT, IRTree, and latent response models, as well as speed/accuracy models to process data research using log-file and timing data from large-scale assessments.

Prior to joining NBME, von Davier was a senior research director in the Research & Development Division at Educational Testing Service (ETS) and co-director of ETS’s Center for Global Assessment, leading large-scale psychometric research and operational analysis for international comparative studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). He also served as the psychometric advisor, delegated by ETS, on the project management team for TIMSS and PIRLS since 2001.

Von Davier has authored and co-authored more than 140 research articles, chapters and research reports, and edited five books. A founding co-editor of Large-Scale Assessments in Education, a joint publication of the IEA and ETS, he was editor-in-chief of the British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology. Additionally, he is co-editor of the series Methodology of Educational Measurement and Assessment, and serves as the executive editor of Psychometrika, the journal of the Psychometric Society.

His honors include the ETS Research Scientist award, the National Council of Measurement in Education Brad Hanson Award for Contributions to Educational Measurement, and the American Educational Research Association’s Division-D award for Significant Contributions to Measurement and Research Methodology.

Von Davier earned a doctorate in psychology, specializing in quantitative psychology and psychometrics, from the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany.