While score comparability across test forms typically relies on common (or randomly equivalent) examinees or items, innovations in item formats, test delivery, and efforts to extend the range of score interpretation may require a special data collection before examinees or items can be used in this way--or may be incompatible with common examinee…

Originally designed for students in Grades 3 through 5, MOCCA (formerly the Multiple-choice Online Causal Comprehension Assessment), identifies students who struggle with comprehension, and helps uncover why they struggle. There are many reasons why students might not comprehend what they read. They may struggle with decoding, or reading words…

As the largest and most innovative international assessment of adults, PIAAC marks an inflection point in the evolution of large-scale comparative assessments. PIAAC grew from the foundation laid by surveys that preceded it, and introduced innovations that have shifted the way we conceive and implement large-scale assessments. As the first fully…

The rise of computer-based testing has brought with it the capability to measure more aspects of a test event than simply the answers selected or constructed by the test taker. One behavior that has drawn much research interest is the time test takers spend responding to individual multiple-choice items. In particular, very short response…

The framework and tools used for classroom assessment can have significant impacts on teacher practices and student achievement. Getting assessment right is an important component in creating positive learning experiences and academic success. Recent government reports (e.g., United States, Australia) call for the development of systems that use…

"The Woodcock-Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities" (WJ IV COG) is an individually administered measure of psychometric intellectual abilities designed for ages 2 to 90+. The measure was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt-Riverside in 2014. Frederick Shrank, Kevin McGrew, and Nancy Mather are the authors. Richard Woodcock, the…

Views on testing--its purpose and uses and how its data are analyzed--are related to one's perspective on test takers. Test takers can be viewed as learners, examinees, or contestants. I briefly discuss the perspective of test takers as learners. I maintain that much of psychometrics views test takers as examinees. I discuss test takers as a…

The Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-Second Edition (GARS-2) is a screening tool for autism spectrum disorders for individuals between the ages of 3 and 22. It was designed to help differentiate those with autism from those with severe behavioral disorders as well as from those who are typically developing. It is a norm-referenced instrument that…

Focuses on the practical effects of using different statistical treatments with omitted and not-reached items in an item-response theory application. The strategy selected for scoring such items has considerable impact on the interpretation of results for individual or group-level assessments. (Author/SLD)

Traditionally, the test score represented by the number of items answered correctly was taken as an indicator of the examinee's ability level. Researchers still tend to think that the number-correct score is a way of ordering individuals with respect to the latent trait. The objective of this study is to depict the benefits of using ability…

The Career Maturity Inventory was revised in 1995 using previously unpublished longitudinal data for item selection. The new inventory has 25 attitude and 25 competence items, each yielding a score that measures degree of career maturity of conative and cognitive variables, respectively. (SK)

When test-takers are offered a choice of essay questions, some questions may be harder than others. If the test includes a common portion taken by all test-takers, an adjustment to the scores is possible. Previously proposed adjustment procedures disregard the test-makers' efforts to create questions of equal difficulty; these procedures tend to…

Procedures for conducting functional level testing have been available for use by practitioners for some time. However, the Title I Evaluation and Reporting System (TIERS), developed in response to the educational amendments of 1974 to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), has provided the impetus for widespread adoption of this…

A method for determining invariant item parameters is presented, along with a scheme for obtaining test scores which are interpretable in terms of a common metric. The method assumes a unidimensional latent trait and uses a three parameter normal ogive model. The assumptions of the model are explored, and the methods for calculating the proposed…

In 1999, Rhode Island students in grades 3, 7, and 10 took a performance assessment in writing as part of the Rhode Island State Assessment Program. These two documents, a guide for educators and a guide for parents, describe the test and its scoring. The test is called a performance assessment because it requires the students to demonstrate their…