Dr. Jennifer Hove holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Affairs from the University of British Columbia, a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Simon Fraser University, and a PhD in Political Science and Government from the University of Toronto.

Jennifer has extensive experience in data collection, validation, analytics, visualization, and reporting. Over an approximately seven-year period, she served as Director of Research at Vote Compass, Senior Research Analyst with Vox Pop Labs, Senior Associate, Research with Public Square Research, and Senior Project Lead with the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Growth. She joined the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) in 2017, first as Manager, Data Management, Psychometrics & Analysis for almost three years, and then as Director, Data and Reporting, her current role.

Dr. Hove has a passion for using assessment data to support educational improvement. She emphasizes the importance of consistent and comparable assessment data in Ontario and other jurisdictions. While she acknowledges that data may not answer every question, she notes that it provides crucial evidence about student learning. Jennifer recognizes the high quality and expertise of EQAO’s psychometric, data and cross-agency teams, and highlights the agency’s recent awards from the international e-Assessment Association for Best Research (for leveraging distractor analysis in large-scale e-assessment to improve student math achievement) and Best Practitioner of the Year (for their work in modernizing and transforming Ontario’s K-12 large-scale student assessment program). In addition to this international recognition, Jennifer takes pride in the agency’s successful introduction of initiatives such as the provision of sub-score reports for math strands and skills, which have been well-received by stakeholders. She attributes the success of these projects to close collaboration across all agency teams.

Jennifer acknowledges EQAO’s collaboration with all of the other provinces that are using Vretta’s online assessment platform, many of which have sought advice on psychometric and other practices. She highlights that Vretta has been a responsive, agreeable, and accommodating partner that maintains strong connections and collaborates effectively with managers and staff. She notes a specific collaboration with Vretta on process data analysis, which involves collecting and analyzing unstructured log files to understand student engagement and test-taking strategies in online assessment platforms. Vretta has been a key partner in this research, facilitating data transformation and presenting findings at conferences.

In terms of innovation and the future of large-scale assessment, Jennifer points to the integration of AI into assessment practices, focusing on item generation, scoring, data analysis and psychometric aspects to improve efficiency and measurement while enhancing personalization for learners. She emphasizes that while AI offers opportunities for better insights and faster data processing, it is still in the early stages, requiring ongoing studies and governance considerations.

Outside of work, Jennifer enjoys swimming, kayaking, cooking, traveling (particularly to France to visit friends) and renovating her newly purchased cottage in Eastern Ontario. Please feel free to connect with Jennifer at: jennifer.hove@eqao.com.