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Pearson's Team of Leading Experts

Ordinate Corporation, creator of the Versant tests, has been combined with Pearson's Knowledge Technologies group.

The Knowledge Technologies group of Pearson is the leading organization in the field of automatic assessment of language. Pearson holds key intellectual property, patents, and expertise in the basic methods and applications of linguistics, statistics and signal processing to spoken language assessment. Pearson's principal activities are in advanced research in spoken language performance, in reading assessment, in development of effective instruments for assessment of speech-borne information, and in commercial applications in these areas.

To drive its leadership in the development and deployment of tests of language delivered by phone and computer, the Knowledge Technologies group of Pearson has a small but highly specialized staff of more than 40 linguistic, psychometric, and software engineering staff who collaborate in the design and implementation of each Versant product. In addition to full-time employees, Pearson leverages a network of field professionals to include specific domain or subject matter expertise that is relevant to a project.

Core Test Development Team

Jared Bernstein, Senior Scientist/Consultant

Jared is a recognized leader in the field of spoken language testing. He has a PhD in Psycholinguistics and an MA in Linguistics. He founded Ordinate with Dr. Brent Townsend in 1996 and developed the patented Versant testing system. Jared has led commercial system developments in both text-to-speech synthesis and speech recognition. He has extensive experience in speech processing and voice interactive system design at SRI International, MIT and Telesensory Systems, as well as editorial positions in linguistics and speech processing. He is a Consulting Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University and has taught English and linguistics in the Middle East and South America.

Jian Cheng, Research and Development

Jian has a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and has been instrumental in the development of the automated machine scoring part of the test development cycle for several different test projects. He has been developing automated speaking tests with the Versant team for more than 8 years and brings practical and proven experience implementing automated machine scoring and test validation. He has expertise in automatic speech recognition, machine learning, statistical modeling, natural language processing, data analysis, psychometrics and testing theory.

Jianqiang Shen, Research and Development

Jianqiang Shen has a Ph.D. in computer science. He has rich experience and deep understanding in machine learning, natural language processing and intelligent information systems. He has been involved in several successful projects by applying machine learning techniques to help real users. Prior to joining the Knowledge Technologies group of Pearson, he was the leading designer and developer of the activity recognition components for an intelligent task management system, which led to multiple patent applications and a start-up of a company. He was also a research intern at IBM Research and successfully built a recommender system. He has published highly-cited papers in top AI conferences, such as IJCAI, AAAI and IUI.

Nikhil Bojja, Research and Development

Nikhil has an M.S. from Johns Hopkins University and a B.Tech. from IIIT Hyderabad, India in Computer science engineering. His areas of specialization are natural language processing, information retrieval and machine learning. Nikhil is actively involved in advancing the state of Ordinate technology and is part of new test development, validation, research and implementation of new traits. He also works with the Test development and Marketing teams to provide structured data for vital analyses. Prior to joining Pearson, Nikhil worked with Infosys Technologies as a Junior Research associate.

Alistair Van Moere, Test Development

Alistair has a PhD in Applied Linguistics, an MA in Linguistics and Language Teaching, and brings over 12 years experience in language training and assessment. Before joining the Knowledge Technologies group of Pearson to lead the test development team, he worked as lecturer at Kanda University, Japan; Director of Studies in language schools in Japan and the UK; EFL teacher in Thailand and Indonesia; and academic tutor at the universities of Warwick and Lancaster, preparing overseas students for studying in the UK. He has consulted on numerous language assessment projects, including: Kanda University's English Proficiency Test (KEPT); Trinity College London's Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) and Skills for Life; and Lancaster University's validation of the English Language Proficiency for Aeronautical Communication (ELPAC) test.

Masa Suzuki, Test Development

Masa has an MA in English with a concentration in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). He has been developing automated spoken language tests for more than 5 years and has significant experience implementing custom requirements onto the Versant patented technology platform. Masa has successfully managed a few high-stakes test development projects including the development of the Versant Aviation English Test under a cooperative agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the development and validation of the Versant Arabic Test under a contract with the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. He was also involved in a validation research project for the Spoken Spanish Test under the Special Operations Forces Language Office (SOFLO).

Ryan A. Downey, Test Development

Ryan has a PhD in Language and Communicative Disorders and an MS in Basic Medical Science. He brings expertise in psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and the cognitive neuroscience of language processing to the Versant test development team. Prior to joining the Knowledge Technologies group of Pearson, Ryan taught at the University of California, San Diego (Departments of Psychology and Cognitive Science) and at San Diego State University (School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences). Earlier in his career, he worked in the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins Hospital where he engaged in clinical research on disorders of memory, language, attention, and cognition.

Mallory Klungtvedt, Test Development

Mallory has an MA in Applied Linguistics and a certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Before joining the Versant test development team, she taught English as a foreign language overseas in the Czech Republic and Ecuador. She is also fluent in Spanish and proficient in Hebrew.

Partner

John de Jong

John H.A.L. de Jong is Vice President Test Development at Pearson. He has over 30 years experience in language testing. John graduated in General Linguistics, French and English languages from Leiden University and obtained a Ph.D. in Educational Measurement from Twente University. He holds a chair in Language Testing at the VU University Amsterdam, and has published articles and books on language assessment and educational measurement. John has specialized in empirical scaling and the development of internationally standardized reporting scales of language proficiency. He was involved in developing the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Before starting his career in language testing, John had been teaching French for seven years in secondary schools.

Past Advisors

Dr. Brent Townsend, Ordinate Founder

Dr. Townshend founded Ordinate in 1996 with Dr. Jared Bernstein. He has extensive experience in signal processing, statistical modeling, computer and database systems design. Dr. Townshend has launched and managed two successful companies, and he is the inventor of the 56k modems that are now being sold by leading computing and communications companies. He was also a Consulting Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University and former principal investigator at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Professor Lyle Bachman, Applied Linguistics, UCLA

Professor Bachman is a past president of the American Association for Applied Linguistics and of the International Language Testing Association. He was also the first winner of the TESOL/Newbury House Award for Outstanding Research, and has won the Modern Language Association of America's Kenneth Mildenberger Award for outstanding research publication twice. He is currently co-editor, of the journal Language Testing and of the Cambridge University Press series, Language Assessment. Professor H. Douglas Brown, Professor of English, San Francisco State University (SFSU) Professor Brown is currently Director of the American Language Institute. Previously, he taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois. He was the President of TESOL from 1980 to 1981. And, from 1970 to 1979 he was the Editor of Language Learning. Professor Brown has published many articles and books on second language acquisition and pedagogy, including Principles of Language Learning and Teaching.

Professor H. Douglas Brown, Professor of English, San Francisco State University (SFSU)

Professor Brown is currently Director of the American Language Institute. Previously, he taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois. He was the President of TESOL from 1980 to 1981. And, from 1970 to 1979 he was the Editor of Language Learning. Professor Brown has published many articles and books on second language acquisition and pedagogy, including Principles of Language Learning and Teaching.

Professor Richard Luecht, Professor of Educational Research Methodology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Professor Luecht is currently Director of the Center for Educational Research and Evaluation at UNCG. Prior to UNCG, he was Project Director for Computer-Adaptive Testing Research at the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME). Previously at ACT, Inc, he conducted research on automated test assembly, computer-adaptive testing simulations and IRT estimation issues. At ACT, he also worked with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Achievement Levels Standard Setting Project. He is currently an Advisory Editor for the Journal of Education Measurement and the Computer Software Review Editor for Applied Psychological Measurement.

Professor Richard Shavelson, Professor of Education and Psychology, Stanford University

Recently Dean of the Stanford University School of Education, Dr. Shavelson has also served as president of the American Educational Research Association. Before joining Stanford, Professor Shavelson was dean of the Graduate School of Education and Professor of Statistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1987 to 1993. His recent psychometric work includes Generalizability Theory: A Primer, and research on the dependability and context representativeness of performance assessments used in education and work. His policy research includes two recent monographs on monitoring the nation's mathematics and science education.

Professor Yang Huizhong, JiaTong University, Shanghai, China

Professor Yang Huizhong currently is the Chairman of the National College English Testing Committee of China, in charge of a large scale standardized test with 4.5 million candidates each year. He is a Professor of applied linguistics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where he was Chairman of the Department of Foreign Languages between 1985 and 1990. For 12 years since 1987 he was President of All-China College English Teaching and Research Association. His areas of study are language testing, applied linguistics, and corpus linguistics. Professor Yang has published many articles and books in the area, including CET Validation Study, An Introduction to Corpus Linguistics.