Viable methods for the identification of item misfit or Differential Item Functioning (DIF) are central to scale construction and sound measurement. Many approaches rely on the derivation of a limiting distribution under the assumption that a certain model fits the data perfectly. Typical DIF assumptions such as the monotonicity and population…

This article provides a single, common-case study of a test retrofit project at one Colombian university. It reports on how the test retrofit project was carried out and describes the different areas of language assessment literacy the project afforded local teacher stakeholders. This project was successful in that it modified the test constructs…

Turkish and Foreign Languages Research and Application Center (TÖMER) is one of the important institutions for learning Turkish as a foreign language. In these institutions, proficiency tests are applied at the end of each level. However, test applications in TÖMERs vary between each center as there is no shared program in teaching Turkish as a…

This article proposes that sampling design effects have potentially huge unrecognized impacts on the results reported by large-scale district and state assessments in the United States. When design effects are unrecognized and unaccounted for they lead to underestimating the sampling error in item and test statistics. Underestimating the sampling…

High item discrimination can indicate a special kind of measurement disturbance via an item that gives high-ability persons a special advantage. The measurement disturbance is described, which occurs when an item is sensitive to individual differences on a second, undesired dimension that is correlated with the variable intended to be measured.…

Presently available test statistics for the Rasch model are shown to be insensitive to violations of the assumption of test unidimensionality. Two new statistics are presented. One is similar to available statistics, but with some improvements; the other addresses the problem of insensitivity to unidimensionality. (Author/JKS)

A table is provided and described for prorating Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory scales when the entire Form R has not been completed. Good concordance of profile types was found for 300 and 350 completed questions. Interpretations based on 200 items may be suspect. (Author)

When accurately assigned and administered appropriately, testing accommodations help ameliorate the effects of personal characteristics that limit access to critical information and prevent a person from demonstrating his or her true abilities in the tested domain. Inaccurate assignment or misuse of accommodations may counteract the benefits of…

A common problem in practical educational research is that of perfect scores which result when latent trait models are used. A simple procedure for managing the perfect and zero response problem encountered in converting test scores into measures is presented. It allows the test user to chose among two or three reasonable finite representations of…

The susceptibility to faking on the Tennessee Self Concept Scale was examined among college students. Additionally, groups of respondents, instructed to respond in a "random" fashion to pre-determined numbers of items in the TSCS, were subjected to a plausibility analysis of their test response vectors using the Rasch measurement model.…

Two indices for measuring the degree of conformity or consistency of an individual examinee's response pattern on a set of items are developed. The use of the indices for spotting aberrant response patterns of examinees is detailed. (Author/JKS)

Rescoring of Center for Occupational and Professional Assessment objective-referenced tests is decided largely by content experts selected by client organizations. A few of the test items, statistically flagged for review, are not rescored. Some of this incongruence could be due to the use of the biserial correlation (r-biserial) as an…

Latent trait test score theory is discussed primarily in terms of Birnbaum's three-parameter logistic model, and with some reference to the Rasch model. Equations and graphic illustrations are given for item characteristic curves and item information curves. An example is given for a hypothetical 20-item adaptive test, showing cumulative results…

Social and naturally occurring choice phenomena are often of the "pick any" type in which the number of choices made by a subject as well as the set of alternatives from which they are chosen is unconstrained. A model and scaling method for these data are introduced. (Author/JKS)

The pure Rasch model was compared with four modifications of the model in a number of different simulations in order to ascertain the comparative efficiencies of the parameter estimations of these modifications. Because there is always noise in test score data, some individuals may have response patterns that do not fit the model and their…