Mikyung Wolf is a managing principal research scientist in the Center for Language Education and Assessment Research at ETS. She received her Ph.D. in applied linguistics with specialization in language assessment from UCLA. Her dissertation received the 2004 Jacqueline Ross Dissertation Award from ETS. Prior to joining ETS, she was a research associate at the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh and a senior researcher at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, & Student Testing (CRESST) at UCLA. Her research interests include technology-enhanced language assessments, alignment among standards, assessments and curricula/instruction, formative assessment, and validity issues in assessing K-12 English language learners in the United States as well as global contexts.
Wolf has led multiple projects including examining the validity of content and English language proficiency assessments for English learners and developing classroom-based academic reading assessments for formative purposes, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Much of her work has focused on the development of new language assessments for young learners, including the development of ELPA21’s and California’s English language proficiency assessments as well as the TOEFL Junior® tests. Recently, she was awarded a multiyear research grant from the William T. Grant Foundation on reducing inequalities for English language learners. Wolf has published numerous articles and edited books, English Language Proficiency Assessments for Young Learners and Assessing English Language Proficiency in U.S. K-12 Schools. She has served on the technical working group on future directions for writing research at the secondary level, organized by the U.S. Department of Education, and was an invited fellow for the National ELL Policy Group (2015-2018). She has served on various award committees invited by the International Language Testing Association (ILTA), TESOL International Association, and the Second Language Research special interest group (SIG) of the American Education Research Association. She also served on the ILTA executive board as a member-at-large (2019-2020). She is a founding member and chair of the ILTA Language Assessments for Young Learners SIG. In addition, she is an associate editor of the Language Assessment Quarterly journal.