LINDA F. (LEARY) WIGHTMAN
212 Curry Building
University of North Carolina
(336) 334-3045
EXPERIENCE
Fall 2002- Summer 2004
Professor and Chair, Department of Educational Research
Methodology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
May 1999 – Summer 2002
Professor, Department of Educational Research Methodology,
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
January 1997 – May 1999
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Research
Methodology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
November 1988-December 1996
Vice President, Operations, Testing, and Research, Law School
Admission Council, Newtown, PA
August 1987-November 1988
Principal Measurement Specialist and Group Head, School and
Higher Education Programs (SHEP) Statistical Analysis, Educational
Testing Service, Princeton, NJ
March 1987-August 1987
Senior Measurement Statistician, School and Higher Education
Programs (SHEP) Statistical Analysis, Educational Testing Service,
Princeton, NJ
July 1984-February 1987
Associate Program Director for Research and Publications and Team
Leader, GRE Programs, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ
1983-June 1984
Measurement Statistician and Group Coordinator, School and Higher
Education Programs (SHEP) Statistical Analysis, Educational
Testing Service, Princeton, NJ
1982-1983
Associate Measurement Statistician, School and Higher Education
Programs (SHEP) Statistical Analysis, Educational Testing Service,
Princeton, NJ
1976-1978
Managing Editor, The Eighth Mental Measurements Yearbook,
Gryphon Press, Highland Park, NJ
1968-1972
Substitute Teacher, Mathematics, various NJ Public Schools
1967-1968
Mathematics Teacher, Hereford High School, Parkton, MD
Linda F. Wightman
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EDUCATION
Rutgers University
1982
Ed.D.
Statistics and Measurement
Montclair State College
1971
M.A.
Psychology
Temple University
1967
B.A.
Psychology (Major); Mathematics (Minor)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Consequences of Race-Blindness: Revisiting Prediction Models with Current Law School Data. Wightman,
L.F., Journal of Legal Education, in press.
Standardized testing and equal access: A tutorial. Wightman, L. F. A chapter in Compelling interest:
Examining the evidence on racial dynamics in higher education .Chang, M., Witt, D., Jones, J., & Hakuta, K.
Stanford University Press, 2003.
On the road to ESQ.: Women in Law School. Wightman, L. F. GPSolo (American Bar Association), 2003,
20(1), 49-51.
The role of standardized tests in the debate about merit, academic standards, and affirmative action.
Wightman, L. F Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 2000, 6(1), 90-100.
Beyond FYA: An analysis of the utility of LSAT scores and UGPA for predicting academic success in law
school. Wightman, L. F. Research Report 99-05. Law School Admission Council, Newtown, PA, 2000.
Analysis of the Reliability of and Degree of Adverse Impact Resulting from Use of the 1997-98 Pilot Test
Version of the North Carolina Performance-based Teacher Licensure System. Jaeger, R.M. and Wightman,
L.F. Report for Contract No. 0800008119, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
User’s Guide: LSAC National Longitudinal Data File. Wightman, L.F. Law School Admission Council, 1999.
Practical issues in computerized test assembly. Wightman, L. F. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1998,
22(3), 292-302.
Are other things essentially equal? An empirical investigation of the consequences of including race as a
factor in law school admission, Southwestern University Law Review, 1998, 28(1), 1-43.
Through a different lens: A reply to Stephen Thernstrom. Wightman, L. F. Constitutional Commentary, 1998,
15(1) 45-56.
National longitudinal bar passage study. Wightman, L. F. Research Report. Law School Admission Council,
Newtown, PA, 1998.
An examination of sex differences in LSAT scores from the prospective of social consequences. Wightman,
L. F. Applied Measurement in Education, 1998, 11(3), 255-277.
The threat to diversity in legal education: An empirical analysis of the consequences of abandoning race as a
factor in law school admission decisions. Wightman, L. F. New York Law Review, 1997, 72(1), 1-53.
Linda F. Wightman
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Women in legal education: A comparison of the law school performance and law school experiences of
women and men. Wightman, L. F. Research Report. Law School Admission Council, Newtown, PA, 1996
Legal education at the close of the twentieth century: Descriptions and analyses of students, financing, and
professional expectations and attitudes. Wightman, L. F. Research Report. Law School Admission Council,
Newtown, PA, 1995
Analysis of LSAT performance and patterns of application for male and female law school applicants.
Wightman, L. F. Research Report 94-02. Law School Admission Council, Newtown, PA, 1994.
Predictive validity of the LSAT: A national summary of the 1990-1992 correlation studies. Wightman, L. F.
Research Report 93-05. Law School Admission Council, Newtown, PA, 1993.
Clustering U. S. law schools using variables that describe size, cost, selectivity, and student body
characteristics. Wightman, L. F. Research Report 93-04. Law School Admission Council, Newtown, PA,
1993.
Test takers with disabilities: A summary of data from special administrations of the LSAT. Wightman, L. F.
Research Report 93-03. Law School Admission Council, Newtown, PA, 1994.
LSAC Bar Passage Study--Study design. Wightman, L. F. Law School Admission Council, Newtown, PA,
1991.
Review of the Miner Sentence Completion Scale. Wightman, L. F. Accession Number AN-11120619,
Mental Measurements Yearbook Database (Search Label MMYD), BRS Information Technologies, 1991.
Review of the Drumcondra Verbal Reasoning Test 1. Wightman, L. F. The Eleventh Mental Measurements
Yearbook, Kramer, J. J. & Conoley, J. C. (Eds.) The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, Lincoln, NB,
1992.
Comparison of LSAT performance among selected subgroups. Wightman, L. F., & Muller, D. G. Statistical
Report 90-01. Law School Admission Council/Law School Admission Services, Newtown, PA, 1990.
An analysis of differential validity and differential prediction for Black, Mexican American, Hispanic, and
white law school students. Wightman, L. F., & Muller, D. G. Research Report 90-03. Law School
Admission Council/Law School Admission Services, Newtown, PA, 1990.
The validity of Law School Admission Test scores for repeaters: A replication. Wightman, L. F., Research
Report 90-02. Law School Admission Council/Law School Admission Services, Newtown, PA, 1990.
Self-reported methods of test preparation used by LSAT takers: A summary of responses from June and
September 1989 test takers. Wightman, L. F., Research Report 90-01. Law School Admission Council/Law
School Admission Services, Newtown, PA, 1990.
An empirical investigation of one variable section pre-equating. Wightman, L. F., & Wightman, L. E.
Research Report 88-37. Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ, 1988.
Implications for altering the context in which test items appear: An historical perspective on an immediate
concern. Leary, L. F., & Dorans, N. J. Review of Educational Research, 1985, 55, (No. 3).
Linda F. Wightman
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GMAC Validity Study Service: A three-year study. Wightman, L. E., & Leary, L. F. Graduate Management
Admission Council, 1985.
An exploratory study of the applicability of item response theory methods to the Graduate Management
Admission Test. Kingston, N., Leary, L. F., & Wightman, L. E. Research Report 85-34. Educational Testing
Service, Princeton, NJ, 1985. (Also published as GMAC Occasional Papers, 1988.)
Estimating the effects of methods of preparing for the Graduate Management Admission Test. Leary, L. F., &
Wightman, L. E. GMAC Research Report 83-1, 1983.
A demographic profile of candidates taking the Graduate Management Admission Test during 1980-81.
Leary, L. F., & Wightman, L. E. Graduate Management Admission Council, 1982.
The effects of item rearrangement on test performance: A review of the literature. Leary, L. F., &
Dorans, N. J. Research Report 82-30. Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ, 1982.
Understanding partial regression coefficients in the presence of correlated regressors. Smith, J. K., & Leary,
L. F. Multiple Linear Regression Viewpoints, 1981, 11, 69-74.
SELECTED PAPERS PRESENTED AT CONFERENCES
Standardized testing and equal access. Paper presented at Stanford University Conference on Racial Dynamics
in Higher Education, May, 1999.
High stakes and ubiquitous presence: An overview and comparison of the ACT Assessment Program and the
SAT Program. Paper presented at a workshop on Higher Education Admissions sponsored by the Board on
Testing and Assessment and the Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel of the National Research
Council, Washington, DC, December 1998.
Do bar examinations serve as a barrier to entry to the profession for law school graduates of color: An
empirical analysis of longitudinal data. Wightman, L. F. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, April, 1998.
The past, present, and future of affirmative action in higher education. Wightman, L.F. Keynote Address,
NCARE Conference, Greensboro, NC, April 1998.
Performance and pedagogy: Research perspectives on minority students. Wightman, L. F. Paper presented at
the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, San Francisco, CA, January 1998.
A conversation about the importance of diversity in the classroom and the profession. Wightman, L. F. Paper
presented at the annual meeting and educational workshop of the Law School Admission Council, Vancouver,
Canada, May 1997.
Women in legal education: A summary of data comparing the law school experiences of men and women.
Wightman L. F. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, San
Antonio, 1996
Linda F. Wightman
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Gender issues in legal education: A preliminary analysis of differential performance. Wightman, L. F., Paper
presented at the Law School Admission Council Annual Meeting and Educational Workshop, New Orleans,
1995.
An analysis of LSAT performance differences between women and men. Wightman, L. F. Paper presented at
the Law School Admission Council Annual Meeting and Educational Workshop, Scottsdale, 1994.
Test bias and item bias issues in test development. Wightman, L. F., Paper presented at Law School
Admission Council Annual Meeting and Educational Workshop, Washington, D.C., 1993.
An analysis of the impact of practice effects on selected test-taking population subgroups. Wightman, L. E.,
& Wightman, L. F. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association,
San Francisco, 1986.
GRE Analytical Measure: Directions for future research. Paper presented in the symposium "The GRE
Analytical Measure" at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago,
1985.
A comparison of SPE and IRT equating results obtained from verbal and quantitative aptitude test data.
Leary, L. F., & Wightman, L. E. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational
Research Association, Chicago, 1985.
An investigation of the effects of item-type dimensionality on item parameters for a test of verbal and
quantitative aptitudes. Wightman, L. E., & Leary, L. F. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
American Research Association, Chicago, 1985.
A structural analysis of test preparation and performance over subgroups. Leary, L. F., & Wightman, L. E.
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans,
1984.
An empirical investigation of differential examinee performance on pre-equating test sections.
Wightman, L. E., & Leary, L. F. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational
Research Association, New Orleans, 1984.
Alternate forms reliability as a by-product of section pre-equating. Leary, L. F., & Wightman, L. E. Paper
presented at the annual meeting of the Northeastern Educational Research Association, Ellenville, NY, 1983.
An application of section pre-equating (SPE). Leary, L. F., & Wightman, L. E. Paper presented in the
Symposium "Section Pre-equating: A New Equating Technique for the Era of National Test Disclosure,"
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (Montreal), April, 1983.
Dealing with practice effects in section pre-equating (SPE). Leary, L. F., & Wightman, L. E. Paper presented
in the Symposium "Section Pre-equating: A New Equating Technique for the Era of National Disclosure,"
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (Montreal), April, 1983.
An empirical investigation of item level context effects. Leary, L. F. Paper presented at the annual meeting of
the Northeastern Educational Research Association, Ellenville, NY, October, 1982.
Modeling educational placement decisions: A comparison of OLS regression, discriminant analysis, and
logistic regression. Leary, L. F., & Cadwell, J. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American
Linda F. Wightman
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Educational Research Association, New York, March, 1982.
Cognitive processes underlying the identification of children with learning and behavior problems.
Cadwell, J., & Leary, L. F. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research
Association, New York, March, 1982.
Susceptibility of standardized tests to the convergence strategy of test wiseness. Leary, L. F., & Smith, J. K.
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, March,
1981.
An empirical test of the convergence strategy of test wiseness. Smith, J. K., & Leary, L. F. Paper presented at
the annual meeting of the Eastern Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, March, 1981.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND SERVICE
American Educational Research Association
National Council on Measurement in Education
Editorial Advisory Board, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 1997-2000
Chair, National Council on Measurement in Education Annual Award Committee, 1995-96
Member, National Council on Measurement in Education Annual Award Committee, 1996-97
Board of Editors, Applied Measurement in Education, 1989-1993
Member National Advisory Committee, Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, Lincoln, NB, 1993-1995
Program Co-chair, Northeast Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, 1988
Occasional Reviewer:
Applied Measurement in Education (AME)
Journal of Educational Measurement (JEM)
Law and Social Inquiry
American Educational Research Association - Division D
National Council on Measurement in Education
Northeastern Educational Research Association