contact
Tel. 650.833.4223
ckolar@pausd.org
projects
department of research, evaluation, and assessment
The PAUSD Department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment is responsible for supporting district administration, school level leaders, teachers the with the tools, expertise, and processess
professional associations
- Committee
for the Advancement of STEM Specialty Schools
(CASSS) - National
Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics,
Science, and Technology
(NCSSSMST)
Board Member - American
Educational Research Association
(AERA) - American
Evaluation Association
(AEA) - American
Psychological Association
(APA) - Association for Institutional
Research
(AIR) - Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development
(ASCD) - National
Association for Gifted Children
(NAGC)
instruction
- 2004-11: sophomore navigation
- Intersession
2009: Baseball Statistics and Data
Informed Management
with Max McGee and Scott Powers - Intersession 2005: Survey Research: Design and Analysis
- Intersession
2002: Linguistics and Natural Language
Understanding
with Chris Colburn
professional interests
My professional work in California has focused on enabling teachers and administration in the use of student data to support teaching and learning. I serve on the Minority Achievement and Talent Development committee in support of the district's equity plan. I have also expanded the capture and use of data to support Social Emotional Learning (SEL) initiatives in the district, and have been engaged in work on improvements to student scheduling.
I continue to contribute work to a national study of intermediate-term STEM-school graduate outcomes under the direction of Rena Subotnik at the APA and funded by the NSF.
papers and
presentatiions
(IMSA Digital Commons)
Bonds, C., Kolar, C., (2014, November). Issues Relevant to Expanding Specialized STEM Schools in the US. Moderators of special pleanary session of the National Consortium for STEM Specialy Schools Professional Conference, Baltimore, MD.
Kolar, C., Rosine, C. (2014, November). Revisiting a Selective STEM High School Admissions Policy: 7 Years Later. Presented at the NCSSS/NAGC Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD.
Kolar, C., Rosine, C. (2014, October). Retention of Talented STEM Students in the Illinois Higher Education Pipeline: Initial Baccalaureate Outcomes of IMSA Graduates. Poster presented at the Illinois Education Research Council Annual Conference, Bloomington, IL.
Piontek, M., Kolar, C. (2014, October). Evaluation of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy's Fusion Program: Impact on Teachers' Professional Practice. Presented at the Illinois Education Research Council Annual Conference, Bloomington, IL.
Almarode, J., Crowe, E., Kolar, C., & Lee, G.M. (2014, April) High School Contributions to the Development of Presidential Early Career Awardees in Science and Engineering (PECASE). National Science Teachers Association: National Conference on STEM Education. Boston, MA.
Subotnik, R., Almarode, J., Brody, L., Kolar, C., & Bonds, C. (2014, March). STEM Talent Development Policies for Adolescents: Lessons from a Study of Specialized Science High Schools. The Wallace Research and Policy Symposium. Washington, DC.
Christopher Kolar. (2013, November). Measurement and modeling of higher order skills in STEM talent development using the College and Work Readiness Assessment (CWRA). To be presented at the National Association for Gifted Children Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN
Christopher Kolar. (2013, May). A Whole-School Approach to STEM—What You Need to Know. Invited presenter at the NSTA STEM Forum and Expo, St. Louis, MO.
Subotnik, R., & Kolar, C. (2012, November). Multi-Level Outcomes of Specialized Science High Schools Study. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Denver, CO.
Kolar, C. (2012, November). An Essential Introduction to Program Logic Modeling. Presented at the Illinois Association for Institutional Research Conference, Peoria, IL.
McGee, G. “Max”, & Kolar, C. (2012a). Reaction, Reflections and Ramifications. In Crowe, E., & Subotnik, R. F. (Eds.). Impacts of Teacher Evaluation and Professional Development on Student Outcomes, Levers of Change: Bridging Policy and Practice Through Multiple Analyses of Case Studies. Information Age Publishing.
McGee, G. “Max”, & Kolar, C. (2012b). The Case. In Crowe, E., & Subotnik, R. F. (Eds.). Impacts of Teacher Evaluation and Professional Development on Student Outcomes, Levers of Change: Bridging Policy and Practice Through Multiple Analyses of Case Studies. Information Age Publishing.
Kolar, C., Sondel, H., (2012, May). Learning from successful STEM schools. Presented at the National Science Teachers Association STEM Forum and Expo, Atlantic City, NJ
Sondel, H., Kolar, C. (2012, May). What is STEM? What is a STEM School? Presented at the National Science Teachers Association STEM Forum and Expo, Atlantic City, NJ
Kolar, C., Sondel, H., (2011, November). Preparing Gifted Students to Succeed in Specialized STEM High Schools. Presented at the National Association for Gifted Children Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA
Subotnik, R., Olszewski-Kubilius, P., Crowe, E., & Kolar, C. (2011, November). What if you could design a perfect environment for adolescent talent development? Would it take the form of a special high school? Presented at the National Association for Gifted Children Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Subotnik, R., Tai, R. H., Crowe, E., & Kolar, C. (2011, October). Results of a Multi-Site Survey of Specialized High School Graduates. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Austin, TX.
Kolar, C., & Sondel, H. (2010, November). Successful Strategies of Specialized STEM Schools: Application to Public Schools. Presented as a Signature Session at the National Association for Gifted Children Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Subotnik, R., Crowe, E., Thomson, D., Kolar, C., & Alamode, J. (2010, November). An Instrument for Assessing the Status of Specialized Science High School Program Graduates. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Subotnik, R., Alamode, J., Kolar, C., Crowe, E., & McGee, M. (2010, November). Teacher Evaluation in a Specialized Science High School: A Case Study. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Alterkruse, P., & Kolar, C. (2010, November). Boosting Success for Under-served Populations. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Atlanta, GA.
Kolar, C., & Sondel, H. (2010). Existing specialty schools as leverage for behavioral sciences research on teaching and learning in STEM fields (White paper submitted to the National Science Foundation SBE: 2020 project on future research in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences.)
Kolar, C. (2010). Evaluating Instructional Practice at Special Schools for the Gifted: A Multi-Method, Multi-Researcher Case-Study Approach -- The Case. Presented at the 2010 American Educational Research Association Conference, Denver, CO.
Subotnik, R. F., Kolar, C., Olszewski-Kubilius, P., & Cross, T. L. (2010). Specialized Science High Schools: Exploring Contributions of the Model to Adolescent Talent Development. Roeper Review, 32(1), 5. doi:10.1080/02783190903388849 (Guest editors of special issue on STEM high schools.)
Kolar, C. (2009). Evaluating secondary STEM education over time. Presented at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference, St. Louis, MO.
Scheppler, J., Styer, S., Dosch, D., Traina, J., & Kolar, C. (2009). Student Inquiry and Research: Developing Students’ Authentic Inquiry Skills. In R. E. Yager (Ed.), Inquiry: The Key to Exemplary Science. National Science Teachers Association. (This chapter is available as the sample on the book web site.)
Kolar, C., & Ho-Wisniewski, E. (2009). Assessing High School Gifted Student Progress in Science Through Misconceptions and MOSART. Presented at the 2009 American Educational Research Association Conference, San Diego, CA.Kolar, C. (2008). Down the Rabbit Hole: Learning and exploring data mining practices in an IR shop. Presented at the Illinois Association for Institutional Research Conference, St. Charles, IL. (Supporting materials)
Kolar, C. (2008). Data for evidence-based decision making at specialized science high schools. Presented at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference, Tampa, FL.
Scheppler, J., & Kolar, C. (2008). Your IRB: Educating Students, Monitoring Student Research, and Safeguarding Students as Research Subjects. NCSSSMST Journal, 13(2), 19-28.
Scheppler, J., Carlson, M., DeVol, D., & Kolar, C. (2008). Development, Evolution, and Outcomes of the Student Inquiry and Research. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Dallas, TX.
Scheppler, J., & Kolar, C. (2008). Your IRB: Monitoring Student Research and Safeguarding Students as Research Subjects. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Dallas, TX.
Ho-Wisniewski, E., & Kolar, C. (2007, March). Predictive Ability of SAT-M on Obtaining a STEM Degree. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Kolar, C. (2007, March). Developing a Comprehensive Student Data Model. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Kolar, C., Conyers, A., & Sheinkopf, R. (2007, March). Revising an Admissions Policy to Promote STEM Outcomes. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Scheppler, J., & Kolar, C. (2007, March). Methods in Scientific Inquiry: First Year Outcomes. Presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Conyers, A., Kolar, C., & Stauder, G. (2006, March). Effective Practices in Institutional Research. Paper presented at the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference, San Antonio, Texas.
Bisinger, S., Ho-Wisniewski, E., & Kolar, C. (2005). Maintaining Student Engagement in Mathematics and Science in the Middle School Years. Presented at the Illinois Education Research Consortium's Focus on Illinois Education Research Symposium, Bloomington, IL. June 2005.
Kolar, C. (2005). Science, Society, and Community at IMSA. Presented at the Advanced International Colloquium on Building the Scientific Mind. The Hague, Netherlands. May 2005. Listen to an audio recording of my presentation.
Kolar, S., & Kolar, C. (2005). Parental Decision-Making and School Funding in New Housing Developments. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Convention 2005, Montreal, Canada.
Kolar, C. (2005). Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling to Understand Student Growth Over Time. Paper presented at the National Consortium of Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Professional Conference 2005 in St. Louis, MO.
Pierce, J., Holt, J., & Kolar, C. (2004). Testing the Learner-Centered Model with Data at the College Level. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Convention 2004 in San Diego, CA.
Jacobson, M. J., Maouri, C. , Mishra, P., & Kolar, C. (1996). Learning with hypertext learning environments: Theory, design, and research. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 5(3/4), 239-281.
Kanfer, A., & Kolar, C., (1995) What Are Communities Doing On-Line? Supercomputing '95 Conference, December 1995, San Diego, California.
in progress
- PAUSD Human and Animal Subjects Review Committee (HASRC): founding chair of the PAUSD IRB.
in the world
- Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago, external evaluator for Astronomy Resources Connecting Schools (ARCS) project funded as part of the US Department of Education's Math and Science Partnerships Program
- WorkBooks in Science: "Science as a Creative Adventure of the Mind." We are assisting the Learning Development Institute and the Pari Center for New Learning in producing a series of theme-based textbooks on mathematics and science. Written by prominent scholars and to be freely distributed in multiple world languages, over 20 IMSA students are working with the authors on editing and field testing the texts.
- Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, external advisor for National Alliance for Expertise Studies proposal to NSF
- Learning Development Institute, Advanced International Colloquium on Building the Scientific Mind: participant and presenter.