Zarko Vukmirovic has worked with Creative Associates International since 2021 as a Senior Technical Advisor, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning.
Zarko is a renowned expert in psychological and educational assessment with over 35 years of comprehensive experience in corporate and academic settings, with the last two decades devoted to international development programs in the education sector. He is passionate about identifying and supporting implementation of strategic, organizational and technical solutions for national assessment programs and educational accountability systems, providing technical assistance to governments in low- and middle-income countries in the area of test development, psychometrics, advanced statistical data analysis, setting performance standards, program evaluation and the use of data to support student learning and policy making.
Zarko has performed a leading role in capacity strengthening for educational assessment systems and government technical teams in Jordan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, India, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Honduras, Maldives, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lesotho and Zambia.
He is formerly a Principal Researcher and Psychometrician/Statistician at American Institutes for Research (2006-2021). Prior to his work in international development, Zarko worked at Harcourt Assessment (2000-2006), where he served as a lead psychometrician on the projects for Massachusetts (MCAS) and Florida (FCAT) state assessment programs, and supervisor/manager for psychometric services on several other state testing programs.
Prior to moving to the United States, Zarko taught Research Methods and Psychometrics at University of Rijeka, Croatia (1981-1996). Zarko’s educational background includes a BA in Psychology (I/O psychology) and an MA in Psychology (psychometrics) from the University of Zagreb, and a Ph.D/ABD in Applied Experimental Psychology (program evaluation and educational measurement) from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Zarko has authored/co-authored many publications/presentations in the area of educational and psychological assessment.