Professor Kamphaus is the Senior Advisor for External Affairs at the Ballmer Institute. He previously served as the acting executive director for the Ballmer Institute, Dean of the colleges of education at the University of Oregon and at Georgia State University, and as a distinguished research professor at the University of Georgia, his alma mater.
Professor Kamphaus’ research program has been devoted to improving the measurement of psychological (e.g., mental health, adaptive behavior) and educational constructs (e.g., mathematics, intelligence), and advancing assessment practice. His research topics include improvement of construct definition and item content validity, assessment of structural validity (e.g., factor structure), identification and mitigation of measurement bias (e.g., assessment of item, factor, and scalar invariance across gender and racial/ethnic population subgroups), development of screening and short forms, cross-linguistic/cultural adaptations of measures (e.g., Spain, Korea, China), and use of measures for public health surveillance. His work in the area of assessment and diagnostic practice includes development of new methods and guidance for differential diagnosis and assessment of co-morbidities for cases of learning disability, ADHD, Autism, and Intellectual Disability, and identification of typical patterns of behavioral and emotional adjustment of youth (e.g., person-centered analyses) and use of measures for primary and secondary prevention and public health surveillance to better address the behavioral and emotional needs of youth.
He has authored or co-authored books, scientific journal articles, and book chapters on these topics, created psychological and educational tests, and holds one patent. The Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC; now in its third edition, with Emeritus Professor Cecil Reynolds of Texas A & M University) is his best-known and most widely used test development effort.
His current work employs universal screening measures in schools to identify children with early indications of behavioral and emotional risk, provide surveillance information for deploying social-emotional learning and secondary preventive interventions, and monitoring children’s behavioral health status. Professor Kamphaus’ research has been funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Education and its Institute of Education Sciences.
An elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), Professor Kamphaus is a licensed psychologist who has served in numerous professional leadership roles, including editor of School Psychology, member of the APA Council of Representatives and Board of Professional Affairs, and President of the Division of School Psychology.