Dustin Van Orman, PhD

he/him, Research Associate & Instructor of Psychology and Education

About

Dustin Van Orman is a Research Associate in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education, and Instructor for psychologists and teachers in the Psychology and Secondary Education Departments at Western Washington University. He works to understand conditions, uses, and outcomes of evidence-based and equitable instructional and assessment strategies to improve student learning, motivation, and learning experiences. Dustin has worked as an educator in the U.S. and China with students ranging from preschoolers to doctoral students in a variety of areas such as marine biology, English, Spanish, social studies (preK-12 levels), leadership, statistics, research, research methods, and classroom assessment (university-levels). Dustin currently serves on the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) Assessment Literacy Taskforce, and has previously led the American Educational Research Association's Classroom Assessment Special Interest Group and the NCME Classroom Assessment Committee. Dustin is also co-editing a special issue on "Examining Assessment to Support Learning Across Borders and Systems of Education" in the journal Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice.

Educational & Professional Experience

Ph.D. Educational Psychology, 2022    
Washington State University, Pullman, WA, U.S.A.

M.A. Applied Linguistics, 2014
University of Nottingham, Ningbo, ZJ, P.R.C.

B.A. Sociology, 2010
B.A. European Studies: Linguistics and Spanish, 2010
Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.

Recent Publications

Van Orman, D. S. J., Riley-Lepo, E. E., & McMillan, J. H. (in press). Principles for effective, equitable classroom assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice.

Borda, E., Melton, J., Van Orman, D. S. J., Hanley, D., Cohen, J., Nair, S., & Huber, T. (in press). Lessons from a STEM faculty development program focused on an instructional framework. American Journal of STEM Education.

Van Orman, D. S. J., Hanley, D., Melton, J., & Gray, A. (2026). Examining student-centered, equitable STEM undergraduate instruction across three U.S. institutions. Education Sciences, 16(8), 1346. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci16081346 

McNeill, B. W., Trinidad Blanco, K. T., Martinez Alpizar, D., & Van Orman, D. S. J. (2026). ¡sí se puede! Cultural factors as predictors of resilience and well-being among Mexican farmworkers. Journal of Latinx Psychology, 14(1), 34-49. https://doi.org/10.1037/lat0000291

Van Orman, D. S. J., Gotch, C. M., & Carbonneau, K. J. (2025). Preparing teacher candidates to assess for learning: A systematic review. Review of Educational Research, 95(3), 427-463. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543241233015

Van Orman, D. S. J., Melton, J., Hanley, D., Castellano, K. E., Mikeska, J. N., Hanuscin, D., & Borda, E. (2025). Supporting elementary preservice teachers' content knowledge for teaching (CKT) about matter and its interactions. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 62(4), 1103-1131https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21994

Van Orman, D. S. J., Jackson, J. A., Vo, T. T., & Taylor, D. D. (2024). Commentary: Perspectives of early career professionals on enhancing cultural responsiveness in educational measurement. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 43(3), 27-32. https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12628

Seo, S., Van Orman, D. S. J., Beattie, M. A., Paxson L. C., & Murray, J. A. (2024). Transforming orientations to learning through STEM interdisciplinary project-based learning. Education Sciences, 14(11), 1154. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14111154

Seo, S., Van Orman, D. S. J., Beattie, M. A., Paxson, L. C., & Murray, J. A. (2023). Breaking down the silos: Students’ experience of transformative learning through interdisciplinary project-based learning (IPBL). Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 32, 100440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2023.100440 

Van Orman, D. S. J.1, Wong, R. M.1, Carbonneau, K. J., & Adesope, O. O. (2022). Effects of concept maps and worked examples in learning skills in mathematics. School Science and Mathematics, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssm.12524

Carbonneau, K. J., & Van Orman, D. S. J. (2022). Instrumentation as a threat to internal validity. In B. Frey (Ed.), SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design (2nd Ed.). SAGE.

Gotch, C. M., Carbonneau, K. J., & Van Orman D. S. J. (2021). Preparing preservice teachers for assessment of, for, and as learning. In S.L Nichols and D. Varier (Eds.) Theory to Practice: Educational Psychology for Teachers and Teaching (Vol. 1 Teaching on Assessment) (pp. 17-36). Information Age Publishing.

Van Orman, D. S. J., Ardasheva, Y., Carbonneau, K. J., & Firestone, J. B. (2021). Examining the impacts of extended vocabulary instruction in mixed-English-proficiency science classrooms. Journal of Educational Research, 114(1), 74-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2021.1881754 

Carbonneau, K. J., Van Orman, D. S. J., Lemberger-Truelove, M., & Atencio, A. (2020). Leveraging the power of observations: Locating the sources of error in observing early childhood classrooms. Early Education and Development, 31, 84-99. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2019.1617572

Research Interests

Equitable, Student-Centered Teaching; Classroom Assessment; Educational Measurement; Program Evaluation; Mixed Methods Research