Conducting a fair test is important for educational research. Unfair assessments can lead to gender disparities in academic achievement, ultimately resulting in disparities in opportunities, wages, and career choice. Differential Item Function [DIF] analysis is presented to provide evidence of whether the test is truly fair, where it does not harm…

This study investigated the application of item response theory (IRT) to expand the range of ability estimates for gifted (hereinafter referred to as high-achieving) students' performance on an above-level test. Using a sample of fourth- to sixth-grade high-achieving students (N = 1,893), we conducted a study to compare estimates from two…

Purpose: This study aimed to compare difficulty indices calculated for open-ended items in accordance with the classical test theory (CTT) and the Many-Facet Rasch Model (MFRM). Although theoretical differences between CTT and MFRM occupy much space in the literature, the number of studies empirically comparing the two theories is quite limited.…

Considerable research has examined the use of rapid guessing measures to identify disengaged item responses. However, little is known about students who rapidly guess over the course of several tests. In this study, we use achievement test data from six administrations over three years to investigate whether rapid guessing is a stable trait-like…

School climate is one of the significant factors determining educational achievement. However, the lack of instruments to measure it has complicated the study of this concept in Russia. We review the history of the study of the concept of "school climate," and we discuss approaches to how it can be defined. We describe the most widely…

Item response theory (IRT) has so many advantages than its precedent Classical Test Theory (CTT) such as non-changing item parameters, ability parameter estimations free from the items. However, in order to get these advantages, some assumptions should be met and they are; unidimensionality, normality and local independence. However, it is not…

The study aims to examine whether differential item function is displayed in three different test forms that have item orders of random and sequential versions (easy-to-hard and hard-to-easy), based on Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) methods and bearing item difficulty levels in mind. In the correlational research, the…

Item analysis has essential roles in the learning assessment. The item analysis program is designed to measure student achievement and instructional effectiveness. This study was aimed to develop item-analysis program and verify its feasibility. This study uses a Research and Development (R & D) model. The procedure includes designing and…

Recently there has been an increasing level of interest in subtest scores, or subscores, for their potential diagnostic value. Haberman (2008) suggested a method to determine if a subscore has added value over the total score. Researchers have often been interested in the performance of subgroups--for example, those based on gender or…

Many tests used in educational settings to identify learning difficulties endeavour to pick up only the lowest performers. Yet these tests are generally developed within a Classical Test Theory (CTT) paradigm that assumes that data do not have significant skew. Rasch analysis is more tolerant of skew and was used to validate two newly developed…

This study was inspired by the final regulations for the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) indicating that each state has the option to develop a new assessment for students whose disabilities have kept them from obtaining proficiency. Sets of high school science achievement items were enhanced for the new test. A 3-by-2, within subjects,…

This study investigated the relationships between when a test is administered and the amount of test-taking effort exhibited by examinees. Three time-related variables were investigated: the time of year the test was administered, the day of the week the test event occurred, and the time of day that the test event occurred. Mean effort did not…

Letter-name identification has been widely used as part of early screening to identify children who might be at risk for future word reading difficulty. The goal of the present study was to examine whether a reduced set of letters could have similar diagnostic accuracy rather than a full set (i.e., 26 letters) when used as a screen. First, we…

This study investigated the effects of the cooperative and competitive learning on academic performance of students in mathematics in order to find out which one of them is the more effective learning strategy. The sample of the study was 400 Senior Secondary Schools III, Mathematics students made up of 240 boys and 160 girls randomly selected…

Study compares Wechsler (WISC-R) profiles of special-education students to seven core types distinguished primarily by levels of global ability. More than 96% of these students were found to be similar to one of the core types considered to be common variants of normal intellectual ability. Based on data, it is recommended that "no way"…