Educator William James Popham (born 1930) was a leading figure in the movement that promoted criterion-referenced measurements and was active and productive in the area of educational test development.

W. James Popham was born July 31, 1930, to William James and Anne I. Popham of Portland, Oregon. He grew up in Portland and attended the University of Portland, where he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1953 and received his Master's degree in education a year later. After receiving his doctorate from Indiana University in 1958, Popham accepted an assistant professorship at Kansas State College in Pittsburg, Kansas. He stayed there for two years. He then accepted a position at San Francisco State College, where he taught for two years until he was appointed as an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Popham taught at UCLA, earning associate...