With the widespread use of computers in modern assessment, online calibration has become increasingly popular as a way of replenishing an item pool. The present study discusses online calibration strategies for a joint model of responses and response times. The study proposes likelihood inference methods for item paramter estimation and evaluates…

This research presents a novel reading fluency (rf) measurement formula that accounts for both reading rate and comprehension. Possible formulas were investigated with 68 participants in a strategic reading course in an IEP at a small Pacific Island university. The selected formula's scores demonstrated concurrent validity through strong…

The purpose of this study was to understand the impact, implementation and costs associated with a one-semester elective lab course in 9th grade, Accelerating Literacy for Adolescents (ALFA) Lab, which seeks to improve students' reading achievement, particularly for those from economically disadvantaged communities. This study used three cohorts…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the extent to which item response theory (IRT) proficiency estimation methods are robust to the presence of aberrant responses under the "GRE"® General Test multistage adaptive testing (MST) design. To that end, a wide range of atypical response behaviors affecting as much as 10% of the test items…

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines what students know in reading, mathematics and science, and what they can do with what they know. It provides the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student learning outcomes to date. Results from PISA indicate the quality and equity of learning…

Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) computer adaptive interim assessments serve many purposes, from informing instruction to identifying students for intervention to projecting proficiency on state accountability assessments. To make sure its flagship product does the latter, Northwest Evaluation Association™ (NWEA™) routinely conducts studies…

A top education priority in the United States is to address the needs of one of the fastest growing yet lowest performing student populations--English learner students (Capps et al., 2005). English learner students come from homes where a non-English language is spoken and need additional academic support to access the mainstream curriculum. These…

In order to determine which test is more appropriate to administer to elementary grade students, it is important to consider the purpose of the test in conjunction with the ability and grade level of the students. Northwest Evaluation Association™ (NWEA™) designed Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) tests mindful of the amount of learning that…

The FAIR-FS consists of computer-adaptive reading comprehension and oral language screening tasks that provide measures to track growth over time, as well as a Probability of Literacy Success (PLS) linked to grade-level performance (i.e., the 40th percentile) on the reading comprehension subtest of the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT-10) in the…

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a state-led consortium designed to create next-generation assessments that, compared to traditional K-12 assessments, more accurately measure student progress toward college and career readiness. The PARCC assessments are aligned to the Common Core State Standards…

English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities are required to participate in all state and district assessments similar to their peers without disabilities. This includes assessments used for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I accountability purposes for demonstrating proficiency in academic content, assessments used…

New items are being calibrated for the next generation of the computerized adaptive (CAT) version of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) (Forms 5 and 6). The requirements that the items be "good" three-parameter logistic (3-PL) model items and typically "like" items in the previous CAT-ASVAB tests have…

Many arguments have been made against allowing examinees to review and change their answers after completing a computer adaptive test (CAT). These arguments include: (1) increased bias; (2) decreased precision; and (3) susceptibility of test-taking strategies. Results of simulations suggest that the strength of these arguments is reduced or…

A version of sequential mastery testing is studied in which response behavior is modeled by an item response theory (IRT) model. First, a general theoretical framework is sketched that is based on a combination of Bayesian sequential decision theory and item response theory. A discussion follows on how IRT based sequential mastery testing can be…

Maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimates of proficiency, typically used in adaptive testing, use item weights that depend on test taker proficiency to estimate test taker proficiency. In this study, several methods were explored through computer simulation using fixed item weights, which depend mainly on the items difficulty. The simpler scores…