The current study expands on previous research on gender differences and similarities in science test scores. Using three different approaches -- differential item functioning, differential distractor functioning, and decision tree analysis -- we examine a high school science assessment administered to 3,849 10th-12th graders, of whom 2,021 are…

Formative assessments are an important component of massive open online courses (MOOCs), online courses with open access and unlimited student participation. Accurate conclusions on students' proficiency via formative, however, face several challenges: (a) students are typically allowed to make several attempts; and (b) student performance might…

Two models are presented in this article for estimating the proportion of students who would pass all of three or more content area tests given that none have actually been tested in more than two of the content areas. The first model allows one to estimate the proportion of students who would pass all of three or more content area tests from the…

A critical, but often neglected, component of any large-scale assessment program is the reporting of test results. In the past decade, a body of evidence has been compiled that raises concerns over the ways in which these results are reported to and understood by their intended audiences. In this study, current approaches for reporting…

Psychometricians continue to develop and evaluate methods for linking test scores, both horizontally and vertically. This article describes a social moderation process for articulating (i.e., linking) performance standards across grade levels for an operational state assessment program. The researchers used generated data to evaluate the likely…

The effects of presenting a choice of writing tasks on the quality of essays produced by eleventh graders were studied with 34,200 students in Georgia. The choice condition had no substantive effect on the quality of essays, but race, gender, and the writing task variable did. (SLD)

The University of California's (Los Angeles) Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing survey of state assessment directors reveals that about 25 states currently study or develop performance assessments. Obstacles to statewide use of performance assessments were expressed. The new Student Assessment Exchange should…