christopher kolar
coordinator of research and evaluation

illinois mathematics and science academy
office of research and evaluation
1500 w sullivan road
aurora, il 60506

contact

Tel. 630.907.5069
ckolar@imsa.edu

photo of chris kolar

projects

office of research and evaluation
The IMSA office of Research and Evaluation is responsible for external program evaluation, institutional research, and for coordinating the academic reporting cycle.
professional associations
  • National Consortium of Specialized Secondary Schools in 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
  • Intersession 2009: Baseball Statistics and Data Informed Management
    with Max McGee and Scott Powers
  • Intersession 2005: Survey Research: Design and Analysis
  • 2004-08: sophomore navigation
  • Intersession 2002: Linguistics and Natural Language Understanding
    with Chris Colburn

research interests

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.

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 beginning work on a national study of long-term STEM school graduate outcomes under the direction of Rena Subotnik at the APA and funded by the NSF.

papers and presentations

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

  • Strategic Planning Commimttee.
  • EXCEL Longitudinal Study: a cohort study of the class of 2006 that is investigating factors that influence student engagement, course selection patterns, and leadership -- now in its sixth year.
  • Enrollment Management Committee: policy sub-committee (chair); recruitment and retention sub-committee.
  • Human and Animal Subjects Review Committee (HASRC): member of the IMSA IRB.

in the world

misc

ckolar@imsa.edu