David J. Francis, PhD

Chairman, Department of Psychology
Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor  Director of the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics, University of Houston

Dr. David J. Francis is the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Quantitative Methods and Chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Houston, where he also serves as Director of the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics and Co-Director of the Texas Learning and Computation Center. Dr. Francis obtained a doctoral degree in Clinical-Neuropsychology from the University of Houston in 1985 with a specialization in Quantitative Methods.  He is a Fellow of Division 5 (Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics) of the American Psychology Association and is currently the Chair of the Executive Board of the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology and a member the Independent Review Panel for the National Assessment of Title I and the National Research Council’s (NRC) Board on Testing and Assessment.  He was a recipient of the 2006 Albert J. Harris Award from the International Reading Association, and has received the University of Houston’s Teaching Excellence Award and the Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award.  Dr. Francis’ areas of interest include the modeling of individual growth and development in the study of reading and reading disabilities, and the language and literacy development of students at-risk for academic failure, in particular students who are English language learners.