Dr. Philipp SONNLEITNER

Main biography :

Philipp Sonnleitner has the Lead of the Test Development Lab at the Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing and is applying his expertise to the Luxembourg school monitoring program. His personal mission in research and teaching is to develop valid, high-quality assessment methods and to give guidance concerning their correct and fair application in educational and psychological contexts.

He received his Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Vienna in 2007 and is a licensed work- and occupational psychologist. His thesis received the German Society of Psychology’s best master thesis award. In 2015, he was awarded his PhD in Psychology with honors from the Free University of Berlin for his work on the assessment of complex problem-solving.

In the course of his career, Philipp Sonnleitner has been involved in developing tests for the school monitoring programs in Austria and Luxembourg, as well as the OECD’s PIAAC-, and PISA assessments. He also gathered extensive experience developing instruments to capture competencies ranging from college aptitude to complex problem-solving behavior. The latter research project resulted in a freely available and internationally recognized test: the Genetics Lab. Recently, he has been exploring the potential of automatic item generation and cognitive diagnostic models within educational large-scale assessments.

In his lectures and workshops at the Universities of Luxembourg, Linz, the European School, and teacher training colleges, he regularly shares his experience with teachers and educators and works on solutions to improve oral and written assessment of students’ competencies.

In doing so, he strives to make the world (of assessment) a better and fairer place.

Research interests:   

• Psychological Assessment

• General Cognitive Ability/Intelligence

• Complex Problem Solving

• Work and Occupational Psychology