My dissertation research explored responder behaviors (e.g., demonstrating response styles, carelessness, and possessing misconceptions) that compromise psychometric quality and impact the interpretation and use of assessment results. Identifying these behaviors can help researchers understand and minimize their potentially construct-irrelevant…

Learning progressions (LPs) are "descriptions of the successively more sophisticated ways of thinking about a topic that can follow one another as children learn about and investigate a topic over a broad span of time" (National Research Council, 2007). One challenge that arises in LP research is the collection of evidence to ensure that…

Psychometricians at an organization named the Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC) developed a new test scoring method called the latent D-scoring method (DSM-L) where it is believed that the new method itself is much easier and more efficient to use compared to the Item Response Theory (IRT) method. However, there are no studies…

The purpose of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of the "3 x 2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Music Performance" ("3 x 2 AGQ - MP") and to determine the extent to which the 3 x 2 achievement goal model fits to two contexts of university band performance. Results from a pilot study informed…

Categorical data become increasingly ubiquitous in the modern big data era. In this dissertation, we propose novel statistical learning and inference methods for large-scale categorical data, focusing on latent variable models and their applications to psychometrics. In psychometric assessments, the subjects' underlying aptitude often cannot be…

Empathy is a consistent predictor of positive counseling outcome. As counselor educators attempted to teach and evaluate CITs' empathy competence, various conceptualizations and measurements emerged. Thus, the purpose of this study was to validate a proposed theoretical model and developed a measure based on the model. One hundred and forty-eight…

This work presents a study that used distributed language representations of test items to model test item difficulty. Distributed language representations are low-dimensional numeric representations of written language inspired and generated by artificial neural network architecture. The research begins with a discussion of the importance of item…

The study aims to examine the interplay of two critical constructs in evaluation: essential evaluator competency and evaluator practice. The research questions in this study, according to Smith (2008), are essentially, what he defined as "fundamental issues in evaluation." These issues fall into one or multiple of the four aspects…

Measurement errors attributable to cultural issues are complex and challenging for educational assessments. We need assessment tests sensitive to the cultural heterogeneity of populations, and psychometric methods appropriate to address fairness and equity concerns. Built on the research of culturally responsive assessment, this dissertation…

Significant attention is being paid to how assessments aligned to learning trajectories (LTs) can be used as a means to locate students' progress in learning big ideas in mathematics over time. Furthermore, data from LT-aligned assessments have been signaled as key to driving student-centered instruction on a day-to-day basis. For LTs and…

More robust and rigorous psychometric models, such as multidimensional Item Response Theory models, have been advocated for survey applications. However, item responses may be influenced by construct-irrelevant variance factors such as preferences for extreme response options. Through empirical and simulation methods, this study evaluates the use…

Psychologists have become increasingly interested in the intra-individual variability of psychological measures as a meaningful distinguishing characteristic of persons. Assessments of intra-individual variability are frequently based on the repeated administration of self-report rating scale instruments, and extreme response style (ERS) has the…

In general, newer educational assessments are deemed more demanding challenges than students are currently prepared to face. Two types of factors may contribute to the test scores: (1) factors or dimensions that are of primary interest to the construct or test domain; and, (2) factors or dimensions that are irrelevant to the construct, causing…

With the online assessment becoming mainstream and the recording of response times becoming straightforward, the importance of response times as a measure of psychological constructs has been recognized and the literature of modeling times has been growing during the last few decades. Previous studies have tried to formulate models and theories to…

This study evaluated a model of parent involvement in secondary special education and transition planning and identified motivators affecting a parent's decision to become involved. Survey data were collected from a national sample of 300 parents of transition-age youth with disabilities. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis indicated the…