John Hathcoat

Dr. John D. Hathcoat is an Associate Professor of Graduate Psychology and an Associate Director for Learning Outcomes Assessment in the Center for Assessment and Research Studies (CARS) at James Madison University (JMU). Within CARS, Dr. Hathcoat has served as an assessment liaison to both student affairs practitioners and faculty members at JMU. However, his work within CARS presently focuses on investigating general education and post-college outcomes at JMU. Dr. Hathcoat has served as an external consultant to various individuals and organizations outside of JMU. For example, he currently serves on the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia’s Post-college Outcomes Committee for which he has assisted with the development of proposals to examine the value of higher education throughout the state of Virginia. With respect to his academic work, Dr. Hathcoat has taught graduate level courses in educational statistics, research methods, measurement theory, and performance assessment. His research focuses on two distinct, albeit related, threads. First, his academic work investigates validity and reliability issues relevant to the development, implementation, and interpretation of rubrics used to assess student learning in higher education. His second thread of research aims to describe how philosophical stances inform, and are in some circumstances informed by, the methodological decisions enacted by educational researchers and practitioners.