Describes tailored testing (in which a computer selects appropriate items from an item bank while an examinee is taking a test) and shows it to be superior to paper-and-pencil tests in such areas as reliability, security, and appropriateness of items. (IRT)

A live tailored testing study was conducted to compare the results of using either the one-parameter logistic model or the three-parameter logistic model to measure the performance of college students on multiple choice vocabulary items. The results of the study showed the three-parameter tailored testing procedure to be superior to the…

The overall purpose of this research was to compare a maximum likelihood based tailored testing procedure to a Bayesian tailored testing procedure. The results indicated that both tailored testing procedures produced equally reliable ability estimates. Also an analysis of test length indicated that reasonable ability estimates could be obtained…

Tailored testing increases the efficiency of tests by individually selecting for each person a set of items from an item pool so that the difficulty of the items selected will be such as to maximize the information provided by the score. The tailored testing procedure designed by Cliff orders persons and items on a common ordinal scale and…

Discusses the use of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) in the classroom. Highlights include item response theory; sequential probability ratio test (SPRT); combining SPRT with expert system reasoning, resulting in EXSPRT; and a study of college students that examined the efficiency and accuracy of the various CAT methods discussed. (Contains 16…

The development of a Spanish computerized adaptive placement test at Brigham Young University (Utah) is described. The test is based on an approach that locates an examinee's ability along a continuum of latent ability rather than determining the degree to which an individual's ability differs from the abilities of others taking the test, as in…

The reliability and validity of a tailored testing procedure based on the simple logistic model was determined for an achievement test in statistics and measurement. The test was administered on a CRT terminal to students from graduate and undergraduate measurement courses. Equivalent form reliability over a one-week interval was found to be 0.595…

The reliability and validity of a cloze procedure used as an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) test in China were improved by applying traditional item analysis and selection techniques. The 'best' test items were chosen on the basis of item facility and discrimination indices, and were administered as a 'tailored cloze.' 29 references listed.…

This report describes a study comparing the classification results obtained from a one-parameter and three-parameter logistic based tailored testing procedure used in conjunction with Wald's sequential probability ratio test (SPRT). Eighty-eight college students were classified into four grade categories using achievement test results obtained…

The reliability of four branching algorithms commonly used in computer adaptive testing (CAT) was examined. These algorithms were: (1) maximum likelihood (MLE); (2) Bayesian; (3) modal Bayesian; and (4) crossover. Sixty-eight undergraduate college students were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions using the HyperCard-based CAT program,…

The measurement precision, efficiency, and validity of an adaptive test and four conventional listening tests designed to assess musical ability were compared. The conventional tests were the Seashore Tonal Memory Test and three tests (peaked, rectangular, and maximum discrimination) constructed from items in the 278-item adaptive test pool. The…

The Broad-Range Tailored Test (BRTT) is a computerized adaptive test. Each testee responds to 25 items; at the conclusion of the test the computer calculates a verbal ability score for the individual. The test was designed to yield a verbal ability score from the fifth grade level to the graduate school level. Two forms of the BRTT were…

The extensive computer simulation work done in developing the computer adaptive versions of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Board General Test and the College Board Admissions Testing Program (ATP) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is described in this report. Both the GRE General and SAT computer adaptive tests (CATs), which are fixed length…

This study explores the test-retest consistency of computer adaptive tests of varying lengths. The testing model used was designed as a mastery model to determine whether an examinee's estimated ability level is above or below a pre-established criterion expressed in the metric (logits) of the calibrated item pool scale. The Rasch model was used…

A study was conducted to compare tailored testing procedures based on a Bayesian ability estimation technique and on a maximum likelihood ability estimation technique. The Bayesian tailored testing procedure selected items so as to minimize the posterior variance of the ability estimate distribution, while the maximum likelihood tailored testing…