A variety of practical applications of item characteristic curve test theory are discussed. Among these applications are tailored testing, two stage testing, determining whether two tests measure the same latent trait, and measuring item bias towards minority or other groups. (Author/JKS)

Modifications of administration and item arrangement of a conventional test can force a match between item difficulty levels and the ability level of the examinee. Although different examinees take different sets of items, the scoring method provides comparable scores for all. Furthermore, the test is self-scoring. These advantages are obtained…

Advantages and disadvantages of joint maximum likelihood, marginal maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods of parameter estimation in item response theory are discussed and compared. (Author)