Assessment refers to a broad array of approaches for measuring or evaluating a person's (or group of persons') skills, behaviors, dispositions, or other attributes. Assessments range from standardized tests used in admissions, employee selection, licensure examinations, and domestic and international largescale assessments of cognitive and…

The alignment between a test and the content domain it measures represents key evidence for the validation of test score inferences. Although procedures have been developed for evaluating the content alignment of linear tests, these procedures are not readily applicable to computerized adaptive tests (CATs), which require large item pools and do…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides greater flexibility in state accountability systems than did previous federal legislation. In response, many states continue to refine their accountability systems to include college readiness tests, including college admissions and placement exams. This paper summarizes perspectives of K-12…

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…

This simulation study sought to compare four different computerized adaptive testing (CAT) content-balancing procedures designed for use in a multidimensional assessment with respect to measurement precision, symptom severity classification, validity of clinical diagnostic recommendations, and sensitivity to atypical responding. The four…

A computer adaptive test (CAT) is a delivery methodology that serves the larger goals of the assessment system in which it is embedded. A thorough analysis of the assessment system for which a CAT is being designed is critical to ensure that the delivery platform is appropriate and addresses all relevant complexities. As such, a CAT engine must be…

Many challenges exist for high-stakes testing programs offering continuous computerized administration. The automated assembly of test questions to exactly meet content and other requirements, provide uniformity, and control item exposure can be modeled and solved by mixed-integer programming (MIP) methods. A case study of the computerized…

The multistage alpha-stratified computerized adaptive testing (CAT) design advocated a new philosophy of pool management and item selection using low discriminating items first. It has been demonstrated through simulation studies to be effective both in reducing item overlap rate and enhancing pool utilization with certain pool types. Based on…

This simulation investigated two procedures that reduce differences between paper-and-pencil testing and computerized adaptive testing (CAT) by making CAT content sensitive. Results indicate that the price in terms of additional test items of using constrained CAT for content balancing is much smaller than that of using testlets. (SLD)

Score comparability is important to those who take tests and those who use them. One important concept related to test score comparability is that of "equity," which is defined as existing when examinees are indifferent as to which of two alternate forms of a test they would prefer to take. By their nature, computerized adaptive tests…

A model for constrained computerized adaptive testing is proposed in which the information in the test at the ability estimate is maximized subject to a large variety of possible constraints on the contents of the test. At each item-selection step, a full test is first assembled to have maximum information at the current ability estimate fixing…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of four item selection rules--(1) Fisher information (F), (2) Fisher information with a posterior distribution (FP), (3) Kullback-Leibler information with a posterior distribution (KP), and (4) completely randomized item selection (RN)--with respect to the precision of trait estimation and the…

Three different applications of the testlet concept are presented, and the psychometric models most suitable for each application are described. Difficulties that testlets can help overcome include (1) context effects; (2) item ordering; and (3) content balancing. Implications for test construction are discussed. (SLD)

This paper discusses the design and pedagogy underpinning the use of online quiz items in which students are presented with a range of questions designed to enhance understanding of complex linguistic constructions. It explores the design of different types of quiz questions from the perspective of pedagogy and cognitive demand. The particular…

"Informed math self-placement," a program implemented at American River College in Sacramento, California, to determine students' readiness for college-level math, has been in place for three years. This case study describes the development and implementation of math self-placement at American River. Math self-placement consists of a…