Lucia Tramonte

Other titles

Director of Graduate Studies

Lucia Tramonte is Professor of Sociology at the University of New Brunswick (UNB). Her research focuses on comparative education, equity, and equality in educational systems. She works on large-scale international assessments from two perspectives: she analyzes existing data to identify inequalities and inequities associated with access and transition in education, and she designs contextual questionnaires, measures, and new tools.

She designed and developed the framework and questionnaires for the contextual assessment of 15-year-olds, in and out of school, and the statistical analyses for the national and international reports of PISA for Development, as well as the framework and questionnaires for the contextual assessment of PISA-VET.

As Co-Director of the Canadian Research Institute for Social Policy (CRISP) at UNB, she led the analytical work on the Successful Transition Project for Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC).

Since 2004, she has worked internationally with large organizations such as the OECD, AFD, and UNESCO IIPE, national governments, and universities on questionnaire construction, secondary data analysis, measurement, and multilevel modelling of cross-sectional and longitudinal data.

Since 2018, she has been the Lead Analyst of the Analyses and Reporting (A&R) program at the OECD. Lucia Tramonte teaches undergraduate and graduate quantitative research methods and data analysis regularly and recruits and trains students with Dr. Emery for the Watch4Skills Lab at UNB.

Research interests

My main areas of research and interests are comparative education, equity and equality in educational systems. My research is mostly international and comparative. I work on large scale assessments from two perspectives: I analyze existing data to tease out inequalities and inequities associated with access and transition in education. Also, I design contextual questionnaires, measures, and tools for large scale international assessment.

I currently work with the research team of The Learning Bar (TLB) as contractor for the project called PISA for Development, promoted by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). PISA for Development extends and redefines the PISA study to fit the priorities and needs of low and middle-income countries.

My role is to develop questionnaires for the contextual assessment of 15 year olds, in and out of school. Moreover, with my research partners, I am developing the statistical analyses for the national and international reports of PISA for Development.

Since 2004, I consult for large international organizations, in particular OECD and Unesco, international governments, and international universities on questionnaire construction, secondary data analysis, measurement, and multilevel modelling of cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Since 2007, I am a Member of the Scientific Board of the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Evaluation of Processes and Educational Systems at the Dipartimento di Scienze della Formazione (DISFOR).

In 2011, I collaborated with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in the project called “Inequities and Inequalities in Education”, an initiative sponsored by IADB to support efforts by Latin America and the Caribbean countries to reduce poverty and inequality.

Selected publications

I have published a number of peer-reviewed articles, reports, and book chapters related to my work on social determinants of school achievement, emotional development and school achievement, inequities and inequalities in education, and life trajectories.

Refereed papers

Willms, J. & Tramonte, L (2015), Towards the development of contextual questionnaires for the PISA for development study, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 118, OECD Publishing, Paris.

McHale, N., Clark, D. A. & Tramonte, L (2014) Does optimism moderate mood repair? A daily diary study. Motivation and Emotion. DOI 10.1007/s11031-014-9464-8

Holtmann, C., & Tramonte, L. (2013). Tracking the Emotional Cost of Immigration: Ethno-Religious Differences and Women’s Mental Health, Journal of International Migration and Integration. DOI: 10.1007/s12134-013-0302-8.

Letourneau, N., Tramonte, L., & Willms, J.D., (2013) Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Family Functioning, Parenting and Children's Longitudinal Development. Journal of Pediatric Nursing. 28(3), 223-234.

Tramonte, L., Gauthier, A., & Willms, J.D. (2013) Engagement and guidance: the effects of maternal parenting practices on children’s development. Journal of Family Issues. DOI: 10.1177/0192513x13489959

Arim, R. G., Tramonte, L., Shapka, J. D., Dahinten, V. S., & Willms, J. D. (2012). The family antecedents and the subsequent outcomes of early puberty. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 40(11), 1423-1435.

Voyer, D., Voyer, S. D., & Tramonte, L. (2012). Free-viewing Laterality Tasks: A Multilevel Meta-analysis. Neuropsychology. 26(5), 551–567.

Tramonte, L. & Willms, J. D. (2010). Cultural capital and its effects on education outcomes. Economics of Education Review, 29(2), 200-213.

Tramonte, L., & Willms, J.D. (2010). The prevalence of anxiety among middle and secondary school students in Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 101 (3), 19-23.

Tramonte, L., & Willms, J. D. (2010) La prévalence de l’anxiété chez les élèves des écoles intermédiaires et secondaires au Canada. Revue Canadienne De Santé Publique, 101(Suppl. 3):S20-23.

Book chapters

Tramonte, L. & Willms, J.D., (2012) “Anxiety and Emotional Discomfort in the School Environment: The Interplay of School Processes, Learning Strategies, and Children’s Mental Health”, in J. Maddock (Ed) Public Health - Social and Behavioral Health, INTech Open Access Publisher.

Research reports

Willms, J. D. & Tramonte, L. (2014). Towards the Development of Contextual Questionnaires for the PISA for Development Study. Report prepared for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. Paris: OECD.

Willms, J.D., Tramonte, L. Duarte, J. & Bos, S. (2011) Assessing Educational Equality and Equity with Large Scale Assessment Data: Brazil as a Case Study. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank.

Supervision areas

• Sociology of education: quantitative research studies on school achievement, attainment, school drop-out, inequities and inequalities, cultural capital and parental involvement.
• Comparative education: quantitative research studies on large scale international assessments, national and international assessments, and government data.

The above research areas will be investigated with these preferred research methods: questionnaire development; multivariate statistics; multilevel modelling (cross-sectional and growth modelling); and Item Response Theory (IRT).

Please contact me to discuss possible supervision for undergraduate, MA, and PhD research projects.