Psychometricians have devoted much research and attention to categorical item responses, leading to the development and widespread use of item response theory for the estimation of model parameters and identification of items that do not perform in the same way for examinees from different population subgroups (e.g., differential item functioning…

Allowing item review in computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is getting more attention in the educational measurement field as more and more testing programs adopt CAT. The research literature has shown that allowing item review in an educational test could result in more accurate estimates of examinees' abilities. The practice of item review in…

Events such as curriculum changes or practice effects can lead to item parameter drift (IPD) in computer adaptive testing (CAT). The current investigation introduced a point- and weight-adjusted D[superscript 2] method for IPD detection for use in a CAT environment when items are suspected of drifting across test administrations. Type I error and…

Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) can provide multidimensional diagnostic feedback about students' mastery levels of knowledge components or attributes. One advantage of using DCMs is the ability to accurately and reliably classify students into mastery levels with a relatively small number of items per attribute. Combining DCMs with…

Purpose: This study aims to reveal effects of content balancing and item selection method on ability estimation in computerized adaptive tests by comparing Fisher's maximum information (FMI) and likelihood weighted information (LWI) methods. Research Methods: Four groups of examinees (250, 500, 750, 1000) and a bank of 500 items with 10 different…

This study compared four item-selection procedures developed for use with severely constrained computerized adaptive tests (CATs). Severely constrained CATs refer to those adaptive tests that seek to meet a complex set of constraints that are often not conclusive to each other (i.e., an item may contribute to the satisfaction of several…

a-Stratified computerized adaptive testing with b-blocking (AST), as an alternative to the widely used maximum Fisher information (MFI) item selection method, can effectively balance item pool usage while providing accurate latent trait estimates in computerized adaptive testing (CAT). However, previous comparisons of these methods have treated…

The intent of this research was to find an item selection procedure in the multidimensional computer adaptive testing (CAT) framework that yielded higher precision for both the domain and composite abilities, had a higher usage of the item pool, and controlled the exposure rate. Five multidimensional CAT item selection procedures (minimum angle;…

This study compares the four existing procedures handling the item selection in severely constrained computerized adaptive tests (CAT). These procedures include weighted deviation model (WDM), weighted penalty model (WPM), maximum priority index (MPI), and shadow test approach (STA). Severely constrained CAT refer to those adaptive tests seeking…

Computerized classification tests (CCTs) often use sequential item selection which administers items according to maximizing psychometric information at a cut point demarcating passing and failing scores. This paper illustrates why this method of item selection leads to the overexposure of a significant number of items, and the performances of…

In this study we compared five item selection procedures using three ability estimation methods in the context of a mixed-format adaptive test based on the generalized partial credit model. The item selection procedures used were maximum posterior weighted information, maximum expected information, maximum posterior weighted Kullback-Leibler…

Managing test specifications--both multiple nonstatistical constraints and flexibly defined constraints--has become an important part of designing item selection procedures for computerized adaptive tests (CATs) in achievement testing. This study compared the effectiveness of three procedures: constrained CAT, flexible modified constrained CAT,…

To date, exposure control procedures that are designed to control test overlap in computerized adaptive tests (CATs) are based on the assumption of item sharing between pairs of examinees. However, in practice, examinees may obtain test information from more than one previous test taker. This larger scope of information sharing needs to be…

In this study we evaluated and compared three item selection procedures: the maximum Fisher information procedure (F), the a-stratified multistage computer adaptive testing (CAT) (STR), and a refined stratification procedure that allows more items to be selected from the high a strata and fewer items from the low a strata (USTR), along with…

In most operational computerized adaptive testing (CAT) programs, the Sympson-Hetter (SH) method is used to control the exposure of the items. Several modifications and improvements of the original method have been proposed. The Stocking and Lewis (1998) version of the method uses a multinomial experiment to select items. For severely constrained…