Francesca Di Silvio has worked on a variety of projects in world language assessment, research, and professional development. Francesca managed the development of CAL’s Computerized Oral Proficiency Instrument (COPI) in Mandarin Chinese and Multimedia Rater Training Program (MRTP) in Modern Standard Arabic as well as a companion online tutorial on oral proficiency for high school and university learners of Arabic. In addition to test development projects, Francesca managed a four-year research study investigating student language learning outcomes from study abroad, overseeing data collection from 150 students and 90 host families in Peru, Chile, China, and Russia. Outcomes from this cross-language study were published in articles in Foreign Language Annals and The Modern Language Journal as well as a chapter in the EuroSLA Monograph Social interaction, identity and language learning during residence abroad. Francesca works regularly to develop research designs and execute quantitative and qualitative studies, as well as to provide training for educational leaders, teachers, and students. She also serves as the Associate Director of the Assessment and Evaluation Language Resource Center (AELRC) at Georgetown University.

Prior to returning to CAL in 2019, Francesca managed test development for multiple K-12 state assessment projects at the American Institutes for Research. These included summative accountability assessments and benchmark and interim assessments in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science. Francesca holds an M.A. in Linguistics with a concentration in Language and Communication and a B.A. in Spanish from Georgetown University.