Two studies were undertaken to demonstrate the usefulness of partitioning procedures for studying test items. Achievement test items in five content areas of educational measurement were used as stimuli to be sorted by groups of students with varying levels of sophistication with the content, with the hypothesis that sorting by classes with…

This report describes cluster analysis methodology and illustrates its potential merits for educational research by describing a study designed to identify the natural subgroups existing among students beginning a secondary level remedial mathematics course. Cluster analysis forms groups of relatively homogeneous subjects represented in large data…