Elka Maria 

Torpey

Elka Maria 

Torpey is an 

economist in the 

Office of Occupational Statistics 

and Employment 

Projections, BLS. 

She is available 

at torpey.elka@

bls.gov.

You’re a what ?

Psychometrician

Catherine McClellan knows how 

to ace the test. That’s because she 

designed it.

Catherine is a psychometrician. Like 

many in this occupation, she designs, scores, 

and analyzes data from exams.

Psychometrics is the science of measuring 

psychological attributes, such as intelligence 

or understanding. Tests are one way to assess 

these intangible qualities. And psychometricians’ work ensures that each test is reliable 

and that all test results are valid.

Specific job tasks vary with the type of 

exam a psychometrician develops. Catherine 

specializes in constructed response, a form of 

testing that includes essays, art portfolios, and 

other tests scored by humans. Other psychometricians develop computer-scored exams.

When creating a test, psychometricians 

might start by determining its basic structure: 

which format to use, such as multiple-choice 

or short-answer questions; how many questions to ask; and the levels of difficulty of the 

questions. Psychometricians then set the time 

that will be allotted to take the test and make 

decisions about scoring, such as how many 

points to assign each question.

Like most psychometricians, Catherine 

works with subject-matter experts to identify 

what a test taker should know to be competent 

in a particular discipline. The subject-matter 

experts write questions and answers. Then, 

everyone works together to make sure that the 

test covers the right material and conforms 

to the plan. For Catherine, collaborating with 

these specialists is among the best parts of her 

job. “It’s endlessly fascinating because I get to 

work with such a wide range of people,” she 

says.

After new test content has been created, 

psychometricians make sure that it is sound. 

They might do this by conducting pilot trials—essentially, a test of the test. “We go out 

and have people respond to the questions, and 

then we analyze the data to see if the test is 

working,” says Catherine. Often, she says, a 

good test points out differences in test takers’ 

abilities.

Catherine spends a lot of time training and overseeing the people who score the 

exams, too, to be sure that they are grading 

the exams fairly. One way she verifies that 

raters are following the proper guidelines is to 

randomly insert prescored tests into the group 

of tests that a rater has to score. If the rater’s 

result matches the already assigned score, it’s 

an indication that he or she is following the 

right procedures.

Psychometricians also analyze test results. 

For example, they make scores comparable 

from different versions of a test. And they use 

score data to create reports or make recommendations—such as suggesting curriculum 

changes for improving student performance.

Many of the assessments that psychometricians work on have significant implications 

for test takers. Some psychometricians, for 

example, design the licensure exams that give 

teachers, lawyers, and others permission to 

work in their fields. Other psychometricians 

design instruments to evaluate factors ranging 

from career interests to mental health, all of 

which can affect decisions about the future.

34 Occupational Outlook Quarterly • Fall 2011
Psychometricians, such 

as Catherine McClellan, 

above, use statistics to 

determine whether a test 

is reliable. 

Still other psychometricians, including 

Catherine, create tests that measure student 

aptitude or knowledge. Results of these tests 

can influence a student’s options for college 

or a school’s level of funding. “This is highstakes stuff,” says Catherine of her work. 

“Sometimes, I think, ‘Wow, this changes 

people’s lives.’”

Helping to shape people’s futures through 

objective measurement requires lots of math 

and statistics. For example, psychometricians 

use math to calculate test takers’ percentile 

rankings. And they use statistics to determine 

variances, correlations, and other measures of 

a test’s reliability.

Psychometricians need good communication skills to explain the results of their work 

to others. And attention to detail is essential.

Problem-solving and research skills also 

are important. When choosing statistical 

methods to assess a test’s validity, for example, Catherine might need to do significant 

research. “If I don’t like one method, I need to 

research what to do to develop a better one,” 

she says. “It rarely ever gets routine.”

Most psychometricians work for testing 

companies and for federal, state, or local government. Other employers include hospitals, 

mental health clinics, universities, and large 

corporations. Catherine works for a nonprofit 

testing company that produces and scores 

well-known assessments such as the SAT Reasoning Test, Advanced Placement (AP) exams, 

and Graduate Record Examination (GRE).

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does 

not collect employment or wage data specifically on psychometricians. According to the 

Psychometric Society, however, there are several thousand of these workers in the United 

States. The Society estimates that annual 

wages can range from about $50,000 to 

$100,000, although some workers earn more.

Workers’ pay is high, in part, because of 

the investment required to become proficient 

in the field. Many psychometricians have a 

Ph.D., usually in a subject such as educational 

measurement, quantitative psychology, or statistics. Others have a master’s degree. There 

are no undergraduate programs specifically in 

psychometrics and only a few graduate-level 

ones. Most people enter the discipline from a 

related field, such as statistics, mathematics, 

computer science, or psychology.

A former math teacher, Catherine first 

learned about the occupation while earning 

her master’s degree in secondary math education. “I really liked my measurement classes, 

and one day my teacher told me, ‘You know, 

you can get a degree in this.’” Catherine 

completed her math education program and 

then went on to get her Ph.D. in research and 

evaluation methodology in education. She has 

since worked on numerous projects, including a nationwide assessment of U.S. students’ 

academic knowledge and experiences.

Catherine enjoys the role she now has in 

improving education through exams. “I take 

what I do very seriously,” she says. “By helping to make a good test, you feel like you can 

change things for the better.”

Photo courtesy of Catherine McClellan

Fall 2011 • Occupational Outlook Quarterly 35