The interest in the application of large-scale adaptive testing for secure tests has served to focus attention on issues that arise when theoretical advances are made operational. Many such issues in the application of large-scale adaptive testing for secure tests have more to do with changes in testing conditions than with testing paradigms. One…

Applied optimal design methods to the item-bank design of adaptive testing for continuous testing situations using a version of the weighted-deviations model (M. Stocking and L. Swanson, 1993) in a simulation. Independent and overlapping item banks used items more efficiently than did a large item bank. (SLD)

Investigated three models that permit restricted examinee control over revising previous answers in the context of adaptive testing, using simulation. Two models permitting item revisions worked well in preserving test fairness and accuracy, and one model may preserve some cognitive processing styles developed by examinees for a linear testing…

Recent advances in psychometrics and computer technology encourage the development of model-based methods of individualized testing on a microcomputer, where each examinee receives short tests and where the number of pretest items that can be administered is severely restricted. On-line (i.e., data is collected on operational equipment) methods…

The relatively new shadow test approach (STA) to computerized adaptive testing (CAT) proposed by Wim van der Linden is a potentially attractive alternative to the weighted deviation algorithm (WDA) implemented at ETS. However, it has not been evaluated under testing conditions representative of current ETS testing programs. Of interest was whether…

A multiple choice test item is identified as flawed if it has no single best answer. In spite of extensive quality control procedures, the administration of flawed items to test-takers is inevitable. Common strategies for dealing with flawed items in conventional testing, grounded in the principle of fairness to test-takers, are reexamined in the…

The interest in the application of large-scale computerized adaptive testing has served to focus attention on issues that arise when theoretical advances are made operational. Some of these issues stem less from changes in testing conditions and more from changes in testing paradigms. One such issue is that of the order in which questions are…

The construction of parallel editions of conventional tests for purposes of test security while maintaining score comparability has always been a recognized and difficult problem in psychometrics and test construction. The introduction of new modes of test construction, e.g., adaptive testing, changes the nature of the problem, but does not make…

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT), while well-grounded in psychometric theory, has had few large-scale applications for high-stakes, secure tests in the past. This is now changing as the cost of computing has declined rapidly. As is always true where theory is translated into practice, many practical issues arise. This paper discusses a number…