Ning Wang, PhD

Affiliated Programs

• K-12 Educational Leadership (EdD)
• K-12 Educational Leadership (MEd & Certifications)
• Secondary Education (MEd & Certification)
• Cognitive Studies in Reading (EdD)
• Elementary Education & Special Education (PK-12) (BA & Certification)
• Elementary Education (MEd & Certification)
• Education (Certificates)
• Education (PA Certifications & Endorsements)

Education

• PhD, Educational Research Methodology (1997)
  University of Pittsburgh (PA)
• MA, Educational Research Methodology (1994)
  University of Pittsburgh (PA)
• MS, Mathematics Education (1987)
  Beijing Normal University
• BS, Mathematics (1984)
  Beijing Normal University

About Me

The ultimate strategic goal of Widener University is to promote student transformation and success. Serving students and promoting student success are at the core of my teaching. My primary teaching responsibility is to teach graduate research methodology courses at master’s and doctoral levels and to supervise doctoral dissertation students in education. 

My goal in teaching is to enable and motivate my students to understand and make sense of the craft of applying research methods and to become critical and rigorous learners. To achieve this goal, I have striven to create a learning environment in which individual students can be continually motivated to identify real research problems, share thoughts with others, challenge each other’s ideas, and utilize various technologies and resources.

Research Interests

My research interests includes two major areas. The first one is the development and validation of measurement instruments, including student assessments and survey instruments. My work in this area has been published in the most respected scholarly journals and presented at national and international conferences. 

The second area is applications of research methodology into broader areas in educational practices, such as design and scoring mathematics performance assessment, developing and validating social and emotional learning survey instrument, assessing non-cognitive skills, and evaluating educational curricula and instructional programs. My work in this area is reflected in my numerous refereed publications and presentations at national and international organizations, scholarly collaboration with other faculty members within and outside of Widener, and doctoral students. 

The highlights of my research are: (1) a prestigious research grant (Co-PI with professors from the University of Delaware and Marquette University, $1.5 million) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2010-2015; (2) a research grant funded by the Lindback Foundation, and (3) my leadership role and long-term research activities in the development of the Widener Emotional Learning Survey and in the promotion of student social and emotional learning. I have also been invited to serve as a psychometric/statistical consultant for a number of national and international research projects.

Publications

Cai, J., Moyer, J., Wang, N., Nie, B., & Wang, C. (2019).  Student learning and instructional tasks in different curricular contexts: A longitudinal study.  The Journal of Educational Research, Vol 112. 

Wang, N., Cai, J. (2018).  In investigation of how teachers score constructed-response mathematics assessment tasks.  Journal of Research in Education, Vol 28(1).  

Wang, N., Wilhite, S. C., & Martino, D. (2016).  Understanding the relationship between school leaders’ social and emotional competence and their transformational leadership: The importance of self-other agreement.  Educational Management Administration and Leadership, Vol. 44(3), 467–490. 

Hwang, S., Cai, J., Shih, J., Moyer, J., Wang, N., & Nie, B. (2015).  Longitudinally investigating the impact of curricula and classroom emphases on the algebra learning of students of different ethnicities.  In J. A. Middleton, J. Cai, & S. Hwang (Eds.), Large-scale Studies in Mathematics Education (pp. 45-60).  New York, NY: Springer

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

American Educational Research Association (AERA)

American Educational Research Association (AERA), Social and Emotional Learning Special Interest Group

National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME)

Psychology in Mathematics Education (PME)   

Awards

Co-Principal Investigator for a research grant funded by the National Science Foundation, 2010 - 2015

Project Evaluator for a program development grant from the Bring Theory to Practice Foundation, 2013-14

Lindback Faculty Research Award from the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation, 2007