Dr. Tamara M. Walser

Associate Professor

Director of Assessment and Evaluation, Watson College of Education

President, North Carolina Association for Research in Education

Department of Educational Leadership
Education Building 307
(910) 962-4175 Phone
(910) 962-3609 Fax
walsert@uncw.edu

News and Links

NCARE 2013 Annual Meeting in Wilmington, NC

Tamara Walser, Face of AEA Member Spotlight, July 2012

Education

Ph.D., Research and Evaluation, Utah State University (2000)

M.S., Instructional Design and Development, Utah State University (1996)

B.A., French; minors in Organizational Communication and Public Relations, University of North Carolina at Charlotte (1989)

North Carolina Teaching License: French (K-12); Instructional Technology Specialist (Administrative)

Previous Professional Positions

Project Manager, Research and Evaluation/Training Development Departments, Windwalker Corporation, McLean, VA

Research Scientist, Office of Educational Assessment, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Assessment Specialist, Research Department, Committee for Children, Seattle, WA

Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology and Associate Director of the Assessment and Evaluation Center, Department of Educational Leadership, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

French Teacher, North Carolina Public Schools

Courses Taught at UNCW

EDN 200: Teacher, School and Society
EDN 514: Technology for School Administrators

EDN 523: Research in Education
EDN 564: Policy Formation as a Systemic Process

EDL 568: Program Design and Evaluation

EDN 595: Using Data for School Improvement

EDN 595: Data Utilization Practicum

EDN 599: Thesis in Education
EDL 641: Research I

EDL 642: Research II

EDL 698: Research

EDL 699: Dissertation

Research Interests

Program Evaluation Methodology
Assessment for Learning
Organizational Learning and Evaluation Capacity Building

Research Design

Recent Publications

Trevisan, M. S., & Walser, T. M. (under contract). Evaluability assessment: Improving evaluation quality and use across disciplines. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Walser, T. M., Bell, C. A., Parker, M. A., & Tart, M. E. (2012, April). The Hill Reading Achievement Program in Carteret County Schools: Final evaluation results (2008-2011). Wilmington, NC: University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Walser, T. M., Grace, E. R., Bell, C. A., Parker, M. A., & Tart, M. E. (2012, May). Hill Center Regional Education Model: Evaluation results of the Hill Reading Achievement Program in Brunswick County Schools. Wilmington, NC: University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Walser, T. M. (2011). Using a standard rubric to promote high standards, fairness, student motivation, and assessment for learning. Mountain Rise: The International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 6(3).

Recent Presentations

Walser, T. M. (2012, October). Assessing student learning outcomes through program level review: Using direct measures of student learning to inform education. Paper presented at the American Evaluation Association annual conference, Minneapolis, MN.

Walser, T.M., & Parker, M.A. (2012, October). Educational assessment: Reflection and action. Workshop presented at the Watson College of Education Professional Learning Day, Wilmington, NC.

Walser, T. M. (2012, July). What can the data tell you about program effectiveness? Session presented at the Hill Center Summer Leadership Institute, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC.

Walser, T. M., Parker, M. A., Grace, E. R., Bell, C. A., Dowcett, E. T., & Hodges, D. M. (2012, April). The value of replication: Learning about an educational model and evaluation practice. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association annual conference, Vancouver, BC.

Walser, T. M., Parker, M. A., Grace, E. R., Bell, C. A., Dowcett, E. T., & Tart, M. E. (2012, April). The Hill Reading Achievement Program model replication: Evaluation results and implications. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association annual conference, Vancouver, BC.

Walser, T. M. (2012, April). Carteret County Schools Hill Reading Achievement Program: Final results. Presented at the Hill Reading Achievement Program in Carteret County celebration , Beaufort, NC.

Walser, T. M., & Parker, M. A. (2012, April). Hill Reading Achievement Program projects: Results and reflection. Presented at the Watson School of Education Brownbag series, Wilmington, NC.

Walser, T. M., & Grace, E. R. (2012, March). Hill Reading Achievement Program student achievement results for Brunswick County Schools, 2009-2011. Presented at the Hill Center Regional Education Model celebration, Wilmington, NC.

Walser, T. M., Grace, E. R., Bell, C. A., Parker, M. A., & Tart, M. E. (2012, February). Hill Reading Achievement Program studies: What we learned about impacts on student achievement, program implementation, and conducting research in schools. Panel presented at the North Carolina Association for Research in Education annual conference, Winston-Salem, NC.

Parker, M. A., Walser, T. M., Tart, M. E., & Bell, C. A. (2012, February). Methodological questions about aggregating results from Hill Reading Achievement Program studies across North Carolina. Paper presented at the Eastern Educational Research Association annual conference, Hilton Head, SC.

Current Grants and Contracts

Project Evaluator, Integrating Computing and Mathematics Education, North Carolina Quality Educators through Staff Development and Training grant,  University of North Carolina Division of University-School Programs and the UNC Center for School Leadership Development in partnership with the NC Department of Public Instruction (with Mahnaz Moallem, UNCW, Principal Investigator and Gene Tagliarine, UNCW, Co-Principal Investigator; 2012-2013).

Technical Working Group member, School Improvement Initiative National Assessment contract, Corporation for National and Community Service (with Windwalker Corporation; 2011-2013).

Recent Service to the Field

President, North Carolina Association for Research in Education, Fall 2012-present.

President-elect, North Carolina Association for Research in Education, Spring 2012-Spring 2013.

Chair, Marvin Wyne Outstanding Student Paper Award review committee, North Carolina Association for Research in Education, Spring 2012.

Board Member, North Carolina Association for Research in Education, Spring 2011-present.

Textbook Reviewer for Mertler, C. A. (2012). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (3rd Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.