The requirements for adaptive testing are reviewed, and the question of why implementation has taken so long is examined. The concept of a testing procedure that selects items to match the level of performance of an examinee during the administration of a test had to wait for the technology necessary to apply the idea. Current procedures were…

This brief overview notes that an adaptive test differs from standardized achievement tests in that it does not consist of a certain set of items that are administered to a group of examinees. Instead, the test is individualized for each examinee. The items administered to the examinee are selected from a large pool of items on the basis of the…

Nine methods for automated test construction are described. All are based on the concepts of information from item response theory. Two general kinds of methods for the construction of parallel tests are presented: (1) sequential test design; and (2) simultaneous test design. Sequential design implies that the tests are constructed one after the…

In educational testing, one is concerned to get as much information as possible about a given examinee from each minute of testing time. Maximum information is obtained when the difficulty of each test exercise matches the estimated ability level of the examinee. The goal of adaptive testing is to accomplish this. Adaptive patterns are reviewed…

Computer simulation was used to assess the effects of item parameter estimation errors on different item selection strategies used in adaptive and conventional testing. To determine whether these effects reduced the advantages of certain optimal item selection strategies, simulations were repeated in the presence and absence of item parameter…

A new test construction method based on integer linear programming is described. This method selects optimal tests in small amounts of computer time. The new method, called the Cluster-Based Method, assumes that the items in the bank have been grouped according to their item information curves so that items within a group, or cluster, are…

In defense of retaining the "latent trait theory" term, instead of replacing it with "item response theory" as some recent research would have it, the following objectives are outlined: (1) investigation of theory and method for estimating the operating characteristics of discrete item responses using a minimum number of…

To determine which produced the most accurate item parameter estimates, four methods of item response theory were evaluated: (1) heuristic estimates; (2) the ANCILLES program; (3) the LOGIST program; and (4) the ASCAL program. LOGIST and ASCAL produced estimates of superior and essentially equivalent accuracy. (SLD)

This is a continuation of a previous study in which a new method of estimating the operating characteristics of discrete item responses based upon an Old Test, which has a non-constant test information function, was tested upon each of two subtests of the original Old Test, Subtests 1 and 2. The results turned out to be quite successful. In the…

New theory and practice in testing is replacing the standard test by the test item bank and classical test theory by item response theory. Eight papers and a commentary are presented in this special issue concerning test item banking. (SLD)

CSAR (Characteristic Storage And Retrieval) is the name of an interactive item bank system for the storage, retrieval, manipulation, and summarization of information about multiple choice test items. The purpose of the system is to facilitate the test construction process. The system has two main components: one or more item banks and an…

A nominal response model-based computerized adaptive testing procedure (nominal CAT) was implemented using simulated data. Ability estimates from the nominal CAT were compared to those from a CAT based upon the three-parameter logistic model (3PL CAT). Furthermore, estimates from both CAT procedures were compared with the known true abilities used…

The present monte carlo simulation study was designed to examine the effects of multidimensionality during the administration of computerized adaptive testing (CAT). It was assumed that multidimensionality existed in the individuals to whom test items were being administered, i.e., that the correct or incorrect responses given by an individual…

The use of item response theory (IRT) is a prerequisite to successful use of computerized test systems. In item response models, as opposed to classical test theory, the abilities of the examinees and the properties of the items are parameterized separately. Therefore, when measuring the abilities of examinees, the model implicitly corrects for…

In the answer-until-correct mode of multiple-choice testing, respondents are directed to continue choosing among the alternatives to each item until they find the correct response. There is no consensus as to how to convert the resulting pattern of responses into a measure because of two conflicting models of item response behavior. The first…