William Steve Lang is a Professor of Educational Measurement and Research at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, where he teaches graduate courses in measurement, statistics, and research. He, too, focuses his teaching on making meaningful and pragmatic uses of the disciplines he teaches. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 1984. He has taught as a public school teacher in South Carolina and Georgia and as a college faculty member in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. He has published on a variety of applications in educational testing and works extensively with the Rasch Model of Item Response Theory. He began working extensively with Judy when she joined the faculty of the St. Petersburg Campus in 2001. Since that time, they have collaborated in all aspects of their research and service efforts with the Florida Department of Education, Florida school districts, and teacher education programs nationwide. They are working together to build two teacher assessment scales – one on teacher competencies, the subject of this book, and another on dispositions. Their work in both areas is standards-driven.
