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Kavita L. Seeratan

Research Social Scientist

Kavita L. Seeratan, Ph.D., is a specialist in issues related to cognitive development and learning (typical and atypical); alternative research-based assessment, instruction, and remedial models or methods; and human development and has a strong interest in technology-based innovations and instigating change in education policy.

For the past decade, Dr. Seeratan has been at the forefront of research in the field of alternative assessment and instructional design. She was instrumental in the development of the Meaning Equivalence (ME) Instructional and Assessment Methodology, a theoretically and empirically grounded method to assess depth of comprehension by evaluating a learner’s ability to recognize and produce multiple representations of content that encode equivalence-of-meaning. She worked as principal researcher and designer for the ME project at the Resource Center for Academic Technology (University of Toronto), playing key roles in its theoretical foundation and transcendence, design, development, and numerous evaluative implementations (in mathematics, science, and language).

Dr. Seeratan also has extensive experience in the field of disabilities, which includes being a remediation specialist, instructor, and counselor for students with disabilities; supervisor and senior researcher at an Educational and Assessment Clinic for postsecondary students with learning difficulties at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education; and director of research and development for the Learning Disabilities Resource Community project—a virtual online community geared toward disseminating research and information about learning disabilities. She also has conducted research on the cognitive, affective, and metacognitive profiles of students with learning disabilities and has conducted studies to evaluate the accessibility of different courseware packages and websites for individuals with disabilities.

Before joining SRI in May 2008, Dr. Seeratan was at the Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research (BEAR) Centerat the University of California-Berkeley, where she was project director for three large-scale longitudinal interdisciplinary grants related to assessment and learning. Dr. Seeratan also has performed research and development consultancy for the Principled Assessment Design Inquiry (NSF/IERI) project, which aims to provide a practical, theory-based approach to developing quality assessments of science inquiry by combining developments in cognitive psychology and research on science inquiry with advances in measurement theory and technology.

Dr. Seeratan has an M.A. degree in Adaptive Instruction and Special Education and a Ph.D. in Applied Cognition and Education from the University of Toronto.