In this article, the author describes his project to take every standardized exam English majors students take. During the summer and fall semesters of 2012, the author signed up for and took the GRE General Test, the Praxis Content Area Exam (English Language, Literature, and Composition: Content Knowledge), the Senior Major Field Tests in…

A generic approach in automated essay scoring produces scores that have the same meaning across all prompts, existing or new, of a writing assessment. This is accomplished by using a single set of linguistic indicators (or features), a consistent way of combining and weighting these features into essay scores, and a focus on features that are not…

This report evaluates the construct coverage of the e-rater[R[ scoring engine. The matter of construct coverage depends on whether one defines writing skill, in terms of process or product. Originally, the e-rater engine consisted of a large set of components with a proven ability to predict human holistic scores. By organizing these capabilities…

Proposed a refinement, based on the stratification of items developed by D. Weiss (1973), of the computerized adaptive testing item selection procedure of H. Chang and Z. Ying (1999). Simulation studies using an item bank from the Graduate Record Examination show the benefits of the new procedure. (SLD)

Issues concerning the cost and feasibility of using Formulating Hypotheses (FH) test item types for the Graduate Record Examinations have slowed research into their use. This project focused on two major issues that need to be addressed in considering FH items for operational use: the costs of scoring and the assignment of scores along a range of…

The General Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) includes three operational sections that are separately timed and scored. A "no score" is reported if the examinee answers fewer than 80% of the items or if the examinee does not answer all of the items and leaves the section before time expires. The 80%…

This report summarizes the results from two studies. The first assessed the comparability of scores derived from linear computer-based (CBT) and computer adaptive (CAT) versions of the three Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test measures. A verbal CAT was taken by 1,507, a quantitative CAT by 1,354, and an analytical CAT by 995…

The extensive computer simulation work done in developing the computer adaptive versions of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Board General Test and the College Board Admissions Testing Program (ATP) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is described in this report. Both the GRE General and SAT computer adaptive tests (CATs), which are fixed length…

This report describes the development of a new tool for assessment research in graduate education. The tool, the Algebra Assessment System, is based on GIDE, a pre-existing program that diagnostically analyzes complex constructed responses to algebra word problems. The project had three goals. The first goal was to build a generically usable…