contact

Tel. 630.907.5069
ckolar@imsa.edu

projects

office of institutional research

The IMSA Office of Institutional Research is responsible for institutional research and external program evaluation.

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)
• Association for Institutional Research
  (AIR)
• 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

research interests

I serve on board of directors of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology where I chair the technology committee, co-chair the research committee, and work on the ad hoc strategic planning committee. We are currently in the third year of work on a national study of intermediate-term STEM-school graduate outcomes under the direction of Rena Subotnik at the APA and funded by the NSF. I have also been exploring opportunities for work in national STEM education policy and advocacy through the establishment and co-chairmanship of the Committee for the Advancement of STEM Specialty Schools, and working as a member on the leadership council of the STEM Education Coalition.

I am currently working on several small projects involving student motivation and persistence, the assessment of learner-centered practices, at-risk students in gifted populations, as well as performance gap issues related to racioethnicity and gender. I am also investigating the use of growth modeling with the IMSA population, and considering its use with motivation constructs.

I am beginning to look at applications of GIS in understanding long-term institutional trends from a geospacial perspective, and as part of the EXCEL study I am isolating data on students from small and rural schools. To do all of this I am using hierarchical linear modeling, growth mixture modeling, and also trying to apply data mining techniques that I have learned from AIR colleagues.

papers and presentatiions
(IMSA Digital Commons)

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. (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

• Strategic Planning Committee.
• Human and Animal Subjects Review Committee (HASRC): member of the IMSA 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.

misc

• Millennium Brooklyn High School
• GNU/Mailman Documentation Project
  I write the administrative documentation for one of the most useful open source projects in existence.
• My PGP Public Key
• Herbert Brun