Possible lack of motivation is a perpetual concern when tests have no stakes attached to performance. Specifically, the validity of test score interpretations may be compromised when examinees are unmotivated to exert their best efforts. Motivation filtering, a procedure that filters out apparently unmotivated examinees, was applied to the…

Equating two parallel forms of the College Board Biology Achievement Test using three sampling strategies was examined. For each strategy, five equating procedures were studied: Tucker and Levine equally reliable linear equatings; frequency estimation equipercentile equatings; chained equipercentile curvilinear equatings; and three-parameter…

This study provides empirical evidence about the sampling variability and generalizability (reliability) of a statewide performance assessment for grade six. Results for 600 students at individual and school levels indicate that task-sampling variability was the major source of measurement error. Rater-sampling variability was negligible. (SLD)