MacPhail, Andrew H.

Andrew Hamilton MacPhail (1891-1981), professor of educational psychology, was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on August 16, 1891. He received a bachelor of philosophy degree from Brown in 1913, and a master of arts in 1914. He was the principal of schools in Conway and Quincy, Massachusetts from 1914 to 1920, and assistant professor of psychology at the State Teachers College at Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1920-21. In 1921 he became a research assistant in educational psychology at Brown and earned his Ph.D. degree in 1923, at which time he was appointed instructor. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1924, associate professor in 1931, and was named director of educational measurement in 1934. His first publication was an article in 1920 on the effect of the removal of tonsils and adenoids on a child’s school work. He went on to publish widely on psychological and intelligence tests which he devised for use in the selection, retention and guidance of college students and administered to Brown and Pembroke students and others. He served on the College Entrance Commission which developed the Scholastic Achievement Test. After World War II he was supervisor of the Veterans’ Guidance Center in Providence. He retired in 1956 and died on January 2, 1981 in Holyoke, Massachusetts.