The multiple-choice (MC) item format has been widely used in educational assessments across diverse content domains. MC items purportedly allow for collecting richer diagnostic information. The effectiveness and economy of administering MC items may have further contributed to their popularity not just in educational assessment. The MC item format…

Item parameter drift (IPD) is the systematic differentiation of parameter values of items over time due to various reasons. If it occurs in computer adaptive tests (CAT), it causes errors in the estimation of item and ability parameters. Identification of the underlying conditions of this situation in CAT is important for estimating item and…

By means of computer simulation of test responses, the reliability of item analysis data and the accuracy of equating were examined for hypothetical samples of 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 subjects for two tests with 20 equating items plus 60 additional items on the same scale. Birnbaum's three-parameter logistic model was used for the simulation. The…

When criterion-referenced tests are used to assign examinees to states reflecting their performance level on a test, the better known methods for determining test length, which consider relationships among domain scores and errors of measurement, have their limitations. The purpose of this paper is to present a computer system named TESTLEN, which…

In the spring of 1991 the first full-scale National Household Education Survey (NHES:91) was conducted for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The NHES:91 was a national random digit dial telephone survey of about 14,000 parents of 3- to 8-year-old children concerning the educational experiences of young children. A reinterview…