Lord's (1980) equity theorem claims observed-score equating to be possible only when two test forms are perfectly reliable or strictly parallel. An analysis of its proof reveals use of an incorrect statistical assumption. The assumption does not invalidate the theorem itself though, which can be shown to follow directly from the discrete nature of…

Three local observed-score kernel equating methods that integrate methods from the local equating and kernel equating frameworks are proposed. The new methods were compared with their earlier counterparts with respect to such measures as bias--as defined by Lord's criterion of equity--and percent relative error. The local kernel item response…

This article reviews the use of the software program lp_solve version 5.5 for solving mixed-integer automated test assembly (ATA) problems. The program is freely available under Lesser General Public License 2 (LGPL2). It can be called from the statistical language R using the lpSolveAPI interface. Three empirical problems are presented to…

A potential undesirable effect of multistage testing is differential speededness, which happens if some of the test takers run out of time because they receive subtests with items that are more time intensive than others. This article shows how a probabilistic response-time model can be used for estimating differences in time intensities and speed…

Elements of arbitrariness in the standard setting process are explored, and an alternative to the use of cut scores is presented. The first part of the paper analyzes the use of cut scores in large-scale assessments, discussing three different functions: (1) cut scores define the qualifications used in assessments; (2) they simplify the reporting…

Two local methods for observed-score equating are applied to the problem of equating an adaptive test to a linear test. In an empirical study, the methods were evaluated against a method based on the test characteristic function (TCF) of the linear test and traditional equipercentile equating applied to the ability estimates on the adaptive test…

A popular design in large-scale educational assessments as well as any other type of survey is the balanced incomplete block design. The design is based on an item pool split into a set of blocks of items that are assigned to sets of "assessment booklets." This article shows how the problem of calculating an optimal balanced incomplete block…

It is argued that judgments in evaluative research are ultimately subjective, but that good criteria are available to assess their quality. One of these criteria is the robustness of the judgments against incompleteness or uncertainty in the data used to describe the educational system. The use of the robustness criterion is demonstrated through…