Paul Black (educational researcher)
Professor Paul Black is an educational researcher, physicist and a current Professor Emeritus at King's College London. Black was previously Professor of Science Education and Director of the Centre for Science and Mathematics Education at the Chelsea College of Science and Technology and Head for Educational Studies at King's College London. Early career. Black completed his first degree at the University of Manchester, going on to complete his PhD in Crystallography at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1954. Between 1954 and 1976, Black was a faculty member in the Department  of Physics in the University of Birmingham. During his time at Birmingham, he worked with Jon Ogborn of Worcester College of Higher Education, designing the Nuffield Foundations' A-Level Physics Course. During the early 1970s Black again work with Ogborn who was the Project co-ordinator, for "The Higher Education Learning Project in Physics" which was funded by the Nuffield Foundation. Educational Research. In 1976, Black left the University of Birmingham and joined the Chelsea College of Science and Technology as Professor of Science Education and Director of the Centre for Science and Mathematics Education. Black became the educational advisor  to the Nuffield-Chelsea Curriculum Trust at this time. Between 1978 and 1988 Black was Director for the UK government’s national survey of school science performance, and also served on the Research Grants Board of the Economic and Social Research Council. In 1985 Chelsea College of Science and Technology merged with King's College London and Black continued as Professor of Science Education and became the Head for Educational Studies. He held this position until his retirement in 1995 becoming Professor Emeritus. From 1985 to 1991, Black was President of the Groupe Internationale de Recherche sur l’Enseignement de la  Physique, and became chair of the International Commission on Physics Education between 1993 to 1999. Black has also been a visiting Professor of Education at Stanford University, and continued to work with the Nuffield Foundation developing Design & Technology and Science work at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. In 1986 Black was the President of The Association for Science Education. During 1987-88, Black was the Chair of the Task Group on Assessment and Testing set up by the UK Government. The group reported to the then Secretary of State for Education Kenneth Baker. The report produced by the group promoted  diagnostic and formative assessment and teachers' professional development and, at a technical level, the use of criterion referencing as the assessment paradigm, and produced the original design for national curriculum testing and assessment. In 1992 Black criticised how they were implemented as the Education Reform Act Between 1989 to 1991, Black was the Deputy Chair of the National Curriculum Council. During 1996 Black wrote a report for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development which Black stated In 1998, Black co-wrote "Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment" with Dylan Wiliam. Black, along with Wiliam were educational  advisors to Tony Blair, giving evidence to the Select Committee on Education and Employment Fourth Report. In 2013, Black and Wiliam wrote a report that criticised the current assessment, stating Black has been a member of three committees of the USA National Research Council, including the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Cognitive Foundations of Assessment, and is currently a member of the Technical Advisory Group of OFQUAL. He is currently a member of the British Educational Research Association and the National Academy of Education. Awards. Black was jointly awarded the Lawrence Bragg Medal and Prize of the Institute  of Physics in 1973 for his outstanding and sustained contributions to physics education, along with Jon Ogborn. In 1983 his innovative work was recognised with an OBE for services to education. In 1991 Black was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Surrey. The International Commission on Physics Education honoured Black with their annual medal award in 2000. In 2005 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Science Education, from The Association for Science Education, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the US National Association for Research in Science Teaching. In 2009, Black won the International  Society for Design and Development in Education Prize for Design in Education (The Eddie) Lifetime Achievement Award. References.