The National Assessment of Educational Progress Information Retrieval System is a single purpose database program. It is well constructed, runs without problems, and serves as a model for dissemination of research and evaluation study results. The program seems more useful as an index to documents than as an independent database. (Author/DWH)

Reviewed aspects of the SIBTEST procedure through three studies. Study 1 examined the effects of item format using 40 mathematics items from the Scholastic Assessment Test. Study 2 considered the effects of a problem type factor and its interaction with item format for eight items, and study 3 evaluated the degree to which factors varied in the…

Parameter recovery in the graded-response model was investigated using the MULTILOG computer program under default conditions. Results from 36 simulated data sets suggest that at least 500 examinees are needed to achieve adequate calibration under the graded model. Sample size had little influence on the true ability parameter's recovery. (SLD)