Stephen Humphry

Stephen Humphry is a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia. He joined UWA in 2006 and has maintained continuous research funding through Australian Research Council Linkage grants since 2008. His work focuses on educational assessment, measurement, and evaluation, with significant contributions to large-scale testing programs including NAPLAN and WALNA.

Humphry holds a Bachelor of Psychology from Western Australia and a PhD from Murdoch University. His expertise spans psychometrics, Rasch measurement, and quantitative methods in educational assessment.

Dr. Humphry's research has increasingly focused on developing novel approaches that enable classroom teachers to reliably assess students in areas not amenable to large-scale testing. His work on pairwise comparison methods, Rasch analysis, and construct validity has advanced the field of educational measurement. He has published extensively on topics including narrative assessment, writing rubrics, and scale development.

His recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward innovative assessment methodologies, particularly in narrative writing and developmental attributes. These works emphasize practical applications for classroom teachers while maintaining rigorous psychometric standards. The research shows increasing sophistication in handling complex assessment challenges through pairwise comparison techniques and ordered exemplars.

Dr. Humphry has supervised 7 research projects and has been awarded 25 research grants, including the current "International collaboration in teaching and learning of Einsteinian physics" project funded by the Australian Research Council until 2025. He has also led multiple NAPLAN-related research projects for the Australian Curriculum Assessment & Reporting Authority.

His industry experience includes leading the Central Analysis of Data project for NAPLAN (2011-2013) and serving as Psychometrician for the Western Australian Department of Education's large-scale assessment program prior to joining UWA. His research has led to commercial applications including Brightpath Assessments, used by several hundred schools across Australia.