story by Claire Miller
Elena Nightingale (M.S. ’14, Ph.D. ‘19) first became interested in understanding how people learn during her undergraduate studies at Wichita State University.
While she was working on her bachelor’s degree in secondary education, she attended and audited classes on the science of learning and participated in a research study on learning during her senior year student teaching experience.
Nightingale decided to continue studying how people learn as a graduate student in Georgia State University’s College of Education & Human Development (CEHD).
“I explored the different research projects and research centers in the college, and I was inspired by the varied and relevant research,” she said. “I knew it would be a great place to learn about learning.”
Nightingale was accepted into the master’s program in educational psychology in 2012 and in that program, she worked closely with faculty in the college’s former Center for the Study of Adult Literacy.
This federally funded research center focused on developing curriculum and best practices for helping adult learners reach their reading goals. As a graduate research assistant in the center, Nightingale received hands-on experience with educational testing, including data collection, management and analysis.
“I am still inspired by the research studies I got to observe or be a part of during my time at Georgia State University,” she said. “I am grateful to have honed research and data skills in the Center for the Study of Adult Literacy as a graduate student, and to have learned from Distinguished University Professor Daphne Greenberg and Professor Lee Branum-Martin through that work, which further directed my interest in learning to the area of assessing learning.”
Nightingale finished her master’s degree in 2014 and went on to earn her doctorate in educational psychology at Georgia State in 2019.
Since then, she’s worked in the Georgia Department of Education as an assessment specialist and the department’s lead psychometrician – two roles where she could put her learning assessment expertise into practice.
Psychometricians design tests that help measure individuals’ knowledge, skills and abilities. In Nightingale’s case, this includes conducting research on large-scale K-12 assessments in Georgia and coordinating the department’s federal peer review submissions to the U.S. Department of Education.
The educational psychology programs at Georgia State not only prepared Nightingale for her career at the Georgia Department of Education, but also taught her the value of being a lifelong learner.
“During my time in the educational psychology program at Georgia State, I learned the importance of remaining an active learner. This reminds me to stay curious and welcome to change,” she said. “I would encourage anyone applying to the program to maintain their curiosity, to learn and change, and to engage in as many varied research opportunities as possible.”