Interdisciplinary Program in Education Psychology (IPEP)

As one of the nation's leading graduate schools of education, Peabody College has many talented faculty and graduate students, in five departments, who share an interest in measuring and understanding learning across the developmental spectrum. Individually and collaboratively, faculty and students explore ways to critique or invent approaches to assessment and evaluation that can provide information about the effectiveness of educators' practices and students' learning.

Peabody's Interdisciplinary Program in Education Psychology (IPEP) offers doctoral students a unique opportunity to enhance knowledge and skills through an integrated examination of theories of learning and cognition along with training in measurement and assessment methodologies.

IPEP shares the vision articulated in Knowing What Students Know (National Research Council, 2001). As stated in this report, “... recent research in the cognitive sciences has advanced the knowledge base about how children develop understanding, how people reason and build structures of knowledge, and how knowledge is shaped by social context….During this same period, there have been significant developments in measurement methods and theory.” The IPEP emphasizes the integration of learning research and measurement methods to enable the development of better assessments, which in turn can unlock new insights into what and how people learn.

As an IPEP student, you will gain understanding of diverse perspectives on learning and of methods of assessing it. You will also have opportunities to propose and conduct research of your own that focuses on learning and development or use of assessments that accurately characterize learning.

For more information about the IPEP program contact IPEP director Stephen N. Elliott (steve.elliott@vanderbilt.edu).

Related Links

IPEP program brochure