In this article I advocate for a new discussion in the field of international large-scale assessments; one that calls for a reexamination of international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) and their use. Expanding on the high-quality work in this special issue I focus on three inherent limitations to international large-scale assessments noted by…

A variety of differential item functioning (DIF) methods have been proposed and used for ensuring that a test is fair to all test takers in a target population in the situations of, for example, a test being translated to other languages. However, once a method flags an item as DIF, it is difficult to conclude that the grouping variable (e.g.,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of dimensionality, common-item set format, and different scale linking methods on preserving equity property with mixed-format test equating. Item response theory (IRT) true-score equating (TSE) and IRT observed-score equating (OSE) methods were used under common-item nonequivalent groups design.…

Across Europe we can observe the reinforcement of monolingual education policies, despite increasing multilingualism. Recent research has shown that the emphasis is on language proficiency in the socially dominant language. This is viewed as the key to educational success. The use of other languages or linguistic repertoires is not valued in…

In international achievement studies, questionnaires typically ask about the presence of particular household assets in students' homes. Responses to the assets questions are used to compute a total score, which is intended to represent household wealth in models of test performance. This study uses item analysis and confirmatory factor analysis…

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is a comparative assessment of the achievement of students in many countries. In the present study, a rigorous independent evaluation was conducted of a representative sample of TIMSS science test items because item quality influences the validity of the scores used to inform…

Five interrelated papers that explore the theme of validity within the context of cross-national assessments are grouped in this collection. These papers were presented at a symposium at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. These papers draw on data from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).…

Science assessment has been included with mathematics and language assessment on the international level since the 1970s. This paper discusses techniques of assessment that have been utilized to measure science process skills. The first section discusses the Assessment Performance Unit, a British project with the aim of developing innovative…