Traditional methods for detecting cheating on assessments tend to focus on either identifying cheaters or compromised items in isolation, overlooking their interconnection. In this study, we present a novel biclustering approach that simultaneously detects both cheaters and compromised items by identifying coherent subgroups of examinees and items…

Many large-scale educational surveys have moved from linear form design to multistage testing (MST) design. One advantage of MST is that it can provide more accurate latent trait [theta] estimates using fewer items than required by linear tests. However, MST generates incomplete response data by design; hence, questions remain as to how to…

Competence data from low-stakes educational large-scale assessment studies allow for evaluating relationships between competencies and other variables. The impact of item-level nonresponse has not been investigated with regard to statistics that determine the size of these relationships (e.g., correlations, regression coefficients). Classical…

Item nonresponses are prevalent in standardized testing. They happen either when students fail to reach the end of a test due to a time limit or quitting, or when students choose to omit some items strategically. Oftentimes, item nonresponses are nonrandom, and hence, the missing data mechanism needs to be properly modeled. In this paper, we…

Person-fit assessment (PFA) is concerned with uncovering atypical test performance as reflected in the pattern of scores on individual items on a test. Existing person-fit statistics (PFSs) include both parametric and nonparametric statistics. Comparison of PFSs has been a popular research topic in PFA, but almost all comparisons have employed…

When dealing with missing responses, two types of omissions can be discerned: items can be skipped or not reached by the test taker. When the occurrence of these omissions is related to the proficiency process the missingness is nonignorable. The purpose of this article is to present a tree-based IRT framework for modeling responses and omissions…

In this article, we introduce a person-fit statistic called the hierarchy consistency index (HCI) to help detect misfitting item response vectors for tests developed and analyzed based on a cognitive model. The HCI ranges from -1.0 to 1.0, with values close to -1.0 indicating that students respond unexpectedly or differently from the responses…

For measuring the face validity of a test, Nevo suggested that test takers and nonprofessional users rate items on a five point scale. This article questions the ability of those raters and the credibility of the aggregated judgment as evidence of the validity of the test. (JAZ)

A potential undesirable effect of multistage testing is differential speededness, which happens if some of the test takers run out of time because they receive subtests with items that are more time intensive than others. This article shows how a probabilistic response-time model can be used for estimating differences in time intensities and speed…

Two approaches for determining the optimal number of choices for a test item, presently in the literature, are compared with two new approaches. (Author)

Reasonable and practical solutions to two major problems confronting the developer of any test of educational achievement (what to measure and how to measure it) are proposed, defended, and defined. (Author/PN)

The testlet, a bundle of test items, alleviates some problems associated with computerized adaptive testing: context effects, lack of robustness, and item difficulty ordering. While testlets may be linear or hierarchical, the most useful ones are four-level hierarchical units, containing 15 items and partitioning examinees into 16 classes. (GDC)

The test equating accuracy of content-representative anchors (subsets of items in common) versus nonrepresentative, but substantially longer, anchors was compared for a professional certification examination. Through a chain of equatings, it was found that content representation in anchors was critical. (Author/GDC)

Five indices are discussed that should logically discriminate between situations in which: (1) the linear equating method (LEM) adequately adjusts for difference between score distributions of two approximately parallel test forms; or (2) a method more complex than the linear equating method is needed. (RL)

Statistical procedures for measuring heterogeneity of test item distractor distributions, or cultural variation, are presented. These procedures are based on the notion that examinees' responses to the incorrect options of a multiple-choice test provide more information concerning cultural bias than their correct responses. (Author/PN)