Communication of International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) results is dominated by reporting average country achievement scores that conceal individual differences between pupils, schools, and items. Educational research primarily focuses on examining differences between pupils and schools, while differences between items are overlooked. Using a…

The current assessment is demanding for a more personalised and less-time consuming testing environment. Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) is seemed as a more effective alternative testing method in comparison to conventional test in meeting the current standard of assessment. This research reports on the calibration of the released Grade 8 Science…

Progress Test (PT) is a form of assessment that simultaneously measures ability levels of all students in a certain educational program and their progress over time by providing them with same questions and repeating the process at regular intervals with parallel tests. Our objective was to generate an item bank for the PT and to examine the…

This simulation study examines the measurement precision, item exposure rates, and the depth of the MAP® Growth™ item pools under various grade-level restrictions. Unlike most summative assessments, MAP Growth allows examinees to see items from any grade level, regardless of the examinee's actual grade level. It does not limit the test to items…

The author describes the steps taken by a research team, of which she was part, to develop a specific methodology for assessing student attainment in primary school, working with the Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems (PASEC) of the Conference of Ministers of Education of French-speaking Countries (CONFEMEN). This methodology provides…

This paper describes the development and validation of an item bank designed for students to assess their own achievements across an undergraduate-degree programme in seven generic competences (i.e., problem-solving skills, critical-thinking skills, creative-thinking skills, ethical decision-making skills, effective communication skills, social…

Educating children is a costly endeavor; however, when children with special needs enter kindergarten unprepared emotionally, socially, or academically, the increased costs and support systems have to be absorbed by the schools and communities. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference between the academic…

Independent schools are, for the most part, exempt from mandatory participation in standardized tests designed for state and federal comparisons, nor are they required to take part in comparative international assessments. The anxiety in the broader culture, however, is driving a growing interest among independent school parents (and prospective…

As teachers begin shaping lessons for the common standards, many are wondering how to prepare their students for tests that won't be ready for at least two years. Sample items being drafted for those exams offer early ideas of what lies ahead. Two large groups of states are using federal Race to the Top money to create new suites of exams for the…

Item banks for use in developing tests keyed to the provincial mathematics curriculum were developed at the grade 3/4, 7/8, 10/11 levels. The Rasch model calibrated all items. The banks have been used to produce 11 Ministry of Education tests and as a source for the 1981 B.C. Mathematics Assessment. (BRR)

Robitaille and O'Shea used the Rasch model in developing a set of 40-item mathematics achievement tests. The Rasch model is inappropriate for such a purpose; their article presents the model in a too favorable light and continued application of the model encourages less desirable educational practice and misdirects scarce resources. (BRR)

This pamphlet describes the exciting potential of item banking--a new approach to testing which combines both comparability of scores with flexibility of test format. Item banks are collections of items where the characteristics of each item is known and these characteristics can be summated to described a test made from such items. The principle…

Item response theory (IRT) is based on the assumption that a direct relationship exists between an examinee's total performance on a set of items and the difficulty of each item on the test. The Rasch model represents this relationship mathematically on an equal interval scale. This paper argues that IRT, under the required conditions, provides…

This paper focuses on similarities of optimal design of fixed-form tests, adaptive tests, and testlets within the framework of the general theory of optimal designs. A sequential design procedure is proposed that uses these similarities to obtain consistent estimates for the trait level distribution. (SLD)

An attempt to outline the simplest framework for achievement testing that shows the relationship between achievement tests and the instructional programs, and to show how achievement testing may be implemented within this framework. (Author/DEP)