James Wollack

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I am a Professor in the Quantitative Methods area within the Educational Psychology Department. I also serve as the Director of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Testing and Evaluation Services (T&E) and the UW System Center for Placement Testing.

My interests are in test construction, test administration and item response theory. My scholarly activity centers on aspects of test security relating to detection of cheating on tests and secure test administration. My research has included developing and refining statistical methods to detect test fraud, including detection of group-based cheating (such as preknowledge, collusion, and answer changing), detection of individual cheating (such as answer copying), and detection of item compromise. In addition, I have worked on helping to define and improve industry policy and best practices with regard to test security, including approaches implemented by testing programs to prevent, deter, impede, and detect cheating on tests. I am the President of the Council on Test Security (COTS), and co-editor of two major handbooks on test security: the Handbook of Test Security (2013; w/ J. Fremer) and the Handbook of Quantitative Methods for Detecting Cheating on Tests (2017; w/ G. Cizek).

Education

• PhD Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1996
• MS Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1993
• BS Psychology, University of California at Davis, 1991

Select Publications

• Sarac, M. & Wollack, J. A. (2026). Reducing score inflation through real-time routing of examinees with preknowledge. Journal of Educational Measurement, 63 : e70023. https://doi.org/10.1111/jedm.70023.
• Gorney, K. N. & Wollack, J. A. (2025). Using response times in answer similarity analysis. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 50, 449-470. https://https://doi.org/10.3102/10769986241248770.
• Gorney, K. N., Wollack, J. A., Sinharay, S., & Eckerly, C. (2023). Using item scores and distractors to detect item compromise and preknowledge. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 48, 636-660. https://doi.org/10.3102/10769986231159923.
• Pan, Y., Livne, O., Wollack, J. A. & Sinharay, S. (2023). Item Selection Algorithm Based on Collaborative Filtering for Item Exposure Control. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12578.
• Pan, Y. & Wollack, J. A. (2023). A machine learning approach for the simultaneous detection of preknowledge in examinees and items when both are unknown. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 42, 76-98. https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12543.
• Gorney, K. N. & Wollack, J. A. (2022). Two new models for item preknowledge. Applied Psychological Measurement, 46, 447-461.
• Belov, D. & Wollack, J. A. (2021). Graph theory approach to detect examinees involved in test collusion. Applied Psychological Measurement, 45, 253-267.
• Cizek, G. J. & Wollack, J. A. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of Quantitative Methods for Detecting Cheating on Tests. New York, NY: Routledge.
• Wollack, J. A. & Cizek, G. J. (2017). Security issues in professional certification/licensure testing. In S. Davis-Becker & C. W. Buckendahl (Eds.) Testing the Professions: Credentialing Policies and Practice (pp. 178-209). New York, NY: Routledge.
• Wollack, J. A. & Eckerly, C. A. (2017). Detection of test tampering at the group level. In G. J. Cizek & J. A. Wollack (Eds.) Handbook of Quantitative Methods for Detecting Cheating on Tests, (pp. 214-231). New York, NY: Routledge.
• Wollack, J. A. & Case, S. M. (2016). Maintaining fairness through test administration. In N. J. Dorans & L. Cook (Eds.) Fairness in Educational Assessment and Measurement (pp. 33-53), New York, NY: Routledge.
• Wollack, J. A. & Fremer, J. J. (Eds.) (2013). Handbook of Test Security. New York, NY: Routledge.

Select Awards and Honors

• School of Education Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award, University of Wisconsin, 2025
• Fellow, University of Wisconsin Teaching Academy, 2005
• Vilas Associates Award, (2019–2021)
• Service and Leadership Award, National College Testing Association, 2015
• President’s Award, National College Testing Association, 2014, 2026