The report is the first systematic evaluation of the sentence equivalence item type introduced by the "GRE"® revised General Test. We adopt a validity framework to guide our investigation based on Kane's approach to validation whereby a hierarchy of inferences that should be documented to support score meaning and interpretation is…

Although there is considerable activity in developing assessment protocols for undergraduate learning, there are few established models for assessment of student progress in multidisciplinary doctoral-level graduate education. To resolve this impediment in tracking graduate student development, we created a simple assessment tool based on the…

This comprehensive "Handbook" focuses on the most used polytomous item response theory (IRT) models. These models help us understand the interaction between examinees and test questions where the questions have various response categories. The book reviews all of the major models and includes discussions about how and where the models…

The authors center their presentation of material around a conceptual understanding of psychometric issues, such as validity and reliability, and on purpose rather than procedure, the "why" rather than the "how to." Their goal is to introduce psychometric principles at a level that is deeper and more focused than found in introductory…

This research examined goal attainment as it is related to client stability in the process of counseling adolescents admitted to a crisis residence. Data were collected from licensed master's-level clinicians treating adolescent clients admitted to an acute care psychiatric program at 1 of 2 hospitals located in the mid-South. There was a…

This paper contends that school psychologists often are expected to reconcile, interpret, and evaluate the cognitive and behavioral functioning of children with neurologically related disorders. In this light, it is suggested that students in graduate programs in school psychology could benefit from specialized education and experience in applied…

This book uses concepts familiar to those with a working knowledge of basic statistics and classical test theory to present item response theory models that are currently in wide use in both practical testing and research. The book would serve as a good entry-level graduate text in psychometrics and measurement methods. (SLD)

Reliability and validity of 4-point and 6-point scales were assessed using a new model-based approach to fit empirical data from 165 graduate students completing an attitude measure. Results suggest that the issue of four- versus six-point scales may depend on the empirical setting. (SLD)

"Item models" (LaDuca, Staples, Templeton, & Holzman, 1986) are classes from which it is possible to generate/produce items that are equivalent/isomorphic to other items from the same model (e.g., Bejar, 1996; Bejar, 2002). They have the potential to produce large number of high-quality items at reduced cost. This paper introduces…

We describe the item modeling development and evaluation process as applied to a quantitative assessment with high-stakes outcomes. In addition to expediting the item-creation process, a model-based approach may reduce pretesting costs, if the difficulty and discrimination of model-generated items may be predicted to a predefined level of…