In the last twenty-five years, the discussion surrounding validity evidence has shifted both in language and scope, from the work of Messick and Kane to the updated Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. However, these discussions haven't necessarily focused on best practices for different types of instruments or assessments, taking…

Test developers are continually exploring the possibilities Computer Based Assessment (CBA) offers the Mathematics domain. This paper describes the trial of the Place Value Assessment Tool (PVAT) and its online equivalent, the PVAT-O. Both tests were administered using a counterbalanced research design to 253 Year 3-6 students across nine classes…

This paper reports on longitudinal study regarding integrity of testing in an online format as used by e-learning platforms. Specifically, this study explains whether online testing, which implies an open book format is compromising integrity of assessment by encouraging cheating among students. Statistical experiment designed for this study…

The psychometric considerations and challenges associated with including constructed response items on tests are discussed along with how these issues affect the form assembly specifications for mixed-format exams. Reliability and validity, security and fairness, pretesting, content and skills coverage, test length and timing, weights, statistical…

A study analyzed the validity of inferential, cause/effect, and main idea questions which were asked in five selected commercial informal reading inventories (IRIs). The inventories were "Analytical Reading Inventory (3rd Edition),""Basic Reading Inventory (4th Edition)"; "Burns and Roe Informal Reading Inventory (3rd…

Many textbooks in educational measurement and classroom assessment have chapters devoted to specific item formats. There may be attempts to relate one item format to another, but the chapters and item formats are largely seem as distinct entities with only loose and uncertain connections. This paper synthesizes these discussions. An item format…

Describes an attempt to construct an ESL dictation test that would: (1) be appropriate for a wide range of ability, (2) be easy and fast to score, (3) consist of set items that would form both a unidimensional and cumulative scale, and (4) yield scores that would be directly interpretable with respect to specified levels of English proficiency.…

Provides psychometric information on the second edition of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) (A. Beck, R. Steer, and G. Brown, 1996) for internal consistency, factorial validity, and gender differences. Results indicate that the BDI-II is a stronger instrument than its predecessor in terms of factor structure. (SLD)

A behavioral domain is well-defined when it is clear to both test developers and test users which categories of performance should or should not be considered for potential test items. Only those tests that are keyed to well-defined domains meet the definition of criterion-referenced tests. The greatest proliferation of criterion-referenced tests…

A study assessed the feasibility of sequential testing of medical students using standardized patients. Sequential testing passes students who score well on the first segment of the test thus eliminating additional student-standardized patient encounters. Subjects were six classes of Southern Illinois University students (n=404). Results strongly…

Many testing programs include a section of optional questions in addition to mandatory parts of a test. These optional parts of a test are not often truly parallel to one another, and groups of examinees selecting each optional test section are not equivalent to one another. This paper provides a general method based on missing-data methods for…

An adaptation of the Foreign Service Institute's (FSI) oral interview test for oral language proficiency developed for use at the American Institute of Musical Studies' (AIMS) summer vocal institute in Austria to determine students' improvement in German language is discussed. The reasons for its selection over other major comparable tests are…

A study of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was conducted to: (1) test for the factorial validity of the French version of the BDI (BDI-FR) separately for 551 non-clinical Francophone adolescent males and 601 non-clinical Francophone adolescent females; (2) cross-validate findings across a second independent sample for each sex; and (3) test…

The National Conference of Bar Examiners commissioned American College Testing, Inc., to help them in the development and evaluation of a performance test for use in bar admissions decisions. Because it was recognized that candidate perceptions would provide valuable information, a candidate-perception questionnaire was developed to be…

Reasons for administering tests fall into two categories--decision-making and promoting learning. The two bases of tests are learning objectives and the level of learning at which training is developed. Test development involves a number of steps. The best way to tie objectives to test items is through the use of a table of specifications, which…