Laura Pendergast

Laura Pendergast

  • College of Education and Human Development

    Psychological Studies in Education

    Associate Professor

    Office of the Dean

    Associate Dean of Community, Compliance and Communication

Office Location

124 Ritter Annex

Phone

215-204-8077

Biography

The overarching mission of Dr. Laura Pendergast's research is to promote excellence and equity in psychological and educational assessment. She uses multivariate and measurement statistics to evaluate the equivalence of social, emotional, and behavioral constructs and measures across cultural groups (internationally and domestically). Additionally, she is interested in applying the science of psychometrics to improve decision-making in school psychology, education, and many other disciplines. She has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles on these topics, and her research has appeared in outlets such as Psychological Assessment and the Journal of School Psychology. Further, her work has been funded through grants and contracts from a variety of organizations including the Society for the Study of School Psychology, the Institute for Education Sciences, the Spencer Foundation, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Research Interests

  • Decision Making
  • Equity
  • Psychometrics

Selected Publications

  • McCormick, B.J.J., Caulfield, L.E., Richard, S.A., Pendergast, L., Seidman, J.C., Maphula, A., Koshy, B., Blacy, L., Roshan, R., Nahar, B., Shrestha, R., Rasheed, M., Svensen, E., Rasmussen, Z., Scharf, R.J., Haque, S., Oria, R., Murray-Kolb, L.E., & INVESTIGATORS, M.N. (2020). Early Life Experiences and Trajectories of Cognitive Development. Pediatrics, 146(3). United States. doi: 10.1542/peds.2019-3660

  • Reuben, A., Frischtak, H., Berky, A., Ortiz, E.J., Morales, A.M., Hsu-Kim, H., Pendergast, L.L., & Pan, W.K. (2020). Elevated Hair Mercury Levels Are Associated With Neurodevelopmental Deficits in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Peru. Geohealth, 4(5), p. e2019GH000222. United States. doi: 10.1029/2019GH000222

  • Ruan-Iu, L., Pendergast, L.L., Rasheed, M., Tofail, F., Svensen, E., Maphula, A., Roshan, R., Nahar, B., Shrestha, R., Williams, B., Schaefer, B.A., Scharf, R., Caulfield, L.E., Seidman, J., & Murray-Kolb, L.E. (2020). Assessing Early Childhood Fluid Reasoning in Low- and Middle-Income Nations: Validity of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Across Seven MAL-ED Sites. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 38(2), pp. 256-262. doi: 10.1177/0734282919850040

  • Mautone, J.A., Pendergast, L.L., Cassano, M., Blum, N.J., & Power, T.J. (2020). Behavioral Health Screening: Validation of a Strength-Based Approach. J Dev Behav Pediatr, 41(8), pp. 587-595. United States. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000832

  • McCormick, B.J.J., Richard, S.A., Caulfield, L.E., Pendergast, L.L., Seidman, J.C., Koshy, B., Roshan, R., Shrestha, R., Svensen, E., Blacy, L., Rasmussen, Z., Maphula, A., Scharf, R., Nahar, B., Haque, S., Rasheed, M., Oria, R., Rogawski, E.T., Murray-Kolb, L.E., & Investigators, M.N. (2019). Early Life Child Micronutrient Status, Maternal Reasoning, and a Nurturing Household Environment have Persistent Influences on Child Cognitive Development at Age 5 years: Results from MAL-ED. J Nutr, 149(8), pp. 1460-1469. United States. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxz055