Item analysis procedures appropriate for domain-referenced classroom testing are described. A conceptual framework within which item statistics can be considered and promising statistics in light of this framework are presented. The sampling fluctuations of the more promising item statistics for sample sizes comparable to the typical classroom…

Approaches proposed for educational diagnostic assessment are reviewed and identified as deficit assessment and error analysis. The development of diagnostic instruments may require a reexamination of existing psychometric models and development of alternative ones. The psychometric and content demands of diagnostic assessment all but require test…

The Assessment Resource Center (ARC) at Florida State University provides computer assisted testing (CAT) for approximately 4,000 students each term. Computer capabilities permit a small proctoring staff to administer tests simultaneously to large numbers of students. Programs provide immediate feedback for students and generate a variety of…

Recent changes in the structure of curriculum and the instructional system in Texas have required a major reorganization of teaching, evaluating, budgeting, and planning activities in the local education agencies, which has created the need for a database. The history of Richardson Instructional Management System (RIMS), its data processing…

Concerned with the failure of multiple choice tests to measure composition--as opposed to grammar and usage--skills, college researchers studied the value of using writing samples to place students in composition classes. Evaluating the writing samples of 300 incoming freshmen, they did not find a high correlation between sample scores and…

The feasibility of creating an item bank from a teacher-made test was examined in two comparable sections of a graduate-level introductory measurement course. The 67-item midterm examination contained multiple-choice and master matching items, which required higher level cognitive processes such as application and analysis. The feasibility of…

The sequential probability ratio test (SPRT), developed by Abraham Wald, is one statistical model available for making mastery decisions during computer-based criterion referenced tests. The predictive validity of the SPRT was empirically investigated with two different and relatively large item pools with heterogeneous item parameters. Graduate…