The Pacific-Rim Objective Measurement Symposium (PROMS) 2021 held in Nanjing is the first large-scale online international seminar successfully held in China at a difficult time in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic period under the global environment. PROMS 2021 was jointly organized by the School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, China and the Jiangsu Provincial Psychological Society, and was realized on the online conference platform ZOOM. More than 100 experts, researchers and scholars participated. They are mostly in the field of psychology and education from 11 countries and regions including the United States, Australia, Brazil, Sweden, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.

A one-day pre-conference workshop was run. The workshop was divided into two parallel series. Series (1) "Rasch Model Workshop", conducted by Dr. Yan Zi, Associate Professor of the Department of Curriculum and Teaching of the Educational University of Hong Kong and Vice Chairman of the PROMS. The main takeaway is that the Rasch model focuses on items and people rather than on test scores, using the joint measurement principle to synthesize the two; quantitative analysis of qualitative questions is now experienced in a way rarely practiced in the social sciences. The workshop explains the advantages of Rasch-based analysis over classical test and questionnaire scoring methods. How Rasch model-based data analysis can be applied to dichotomous rating data (basic Rasch model) and Likert-style questionnaire data (Rasch model rating scale model).

The workshop series (2) is led by two professionals, the "R-language Workshop" by Dr. Cynthia Tong from the Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, USA, and "Educational Data: Storytelling and Ways to Find Teaching Implications" workshop by Dr. Kit Tai HAU, a professor of the Department of Educational Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China. Among them, "R Language Workshop" mainly introduces what R is and how to apply it in Rasch model measurement. This workshop is useful for scholars interested in T-tests, ANOVA, multiple regression, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), measurement invariance, and structural equation modeling (SEM). The workshop by Dr. Hou deals with two aspects: (1) How to select the questionnaires used in education monitoring; (2) How to use the results of the questionnaires to analyze and write attractive, Influential "Stories". Dr. Hou used PISA-type tools and their materials to illustrate and serve as examples. Workshops focused on training in lively and interesting "stories" rather than on complex and sophisticated statistical techniques.

The theme of PROMS 2021 is: Application of Rasch Model in Psychological and Educational Research. The organizer invited four experts to make keynote speeches.

They are Professor Trevor Bond of James Cook University, Australia，the former president of PROMS, who gave a keynote speech titled: From Estimation to Consideration: The Role of Rasch Model Measurements in Promoting Understanding and Improving Validity; Professor Dr. Kit Tai HAU, whose keynote focused on “Large-scale International Educational Assessment: Uses, Limitations, and Counter-Intuitive Findings; Professor Ricardo Primi from the University of São Francisco, Brazil, whose speech is about “Reactive Styles as a Function of Individual Differences: Addressing the Multiplicity of Individual DIFs, and Professor Steven Stemler from Wesleyan University, USA. Prof. Steven delivered the keynote titled: "Better Measurement and Fewer Parameters! The True Value of Rasch over IRT!

In addition, the conference also invited Professor Zhang Quan, the PROMS mainland China representative from Jiaxing University, Zhejiang Province, China to run a symposium called "Rasch Model and Test Item Equating: RASCH-GZ，the most updated research in China". This shows to the academic community the inheritance and development of Rasch model research in China as well.