Hors d'oeurves, dinner, dessert, wine and beer are included.  Beverage hour starts at 6.30 PM, Dinner at 7.30 PM, and Speaker at approximately 8.30 PM.

The speaker is Howard Wainer.  Howard Wainer, PhD is a distinguished research scientist at the National Board of Medical Examiners and professor (adjunct) of statistics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The title of the presentation is "Uneducated Guesses: Three examples of how mistreating missing data yields misguided educational policy."

In his talk, he will describe three educational proposals that only make sense if you say them fast. In each case, their validity relies strongly on the data that are missing to have a particular structure. And, in each case, we can dismiss that assumed missing data structure. The three proposals examined are:

1. Make college entrance exams optional,
2. Allow students to choose which test items they will answer, and
3. Evaluate teachers on the gains their students show in test scores.

There will be plenty of time for questions and suggestions as well.

Spouses and significant others are welcome. The talk is non-technical.