The purpose of this research was to recommend an item bias procedure when the number of minority examinees is too small to use preferred three-parameter item response theory (IRT) methods. The chi-square, Angoff delta-plot, and pseudo-IRT indices were compared with both real and simulated data. (Author/DWH)

This paper develops and illustrates a latent trait approach to constructing an item bank when responses are scored in several ordered categories. This approach is an extension of the methodology developed by Choppin, Wright and Stone, and Wright and Bell for the construction and maintenance of banks of dichotomously scored items. (Author/PN)

Biased test items were intentionally imbedded within a test and administered to large samples of Black and White college students. Three item bias detection methods (the three-parameter item characteristic curve procedure, the chi-square method, and the transformed item difficulty approach) were applied to the data. (Author/PN)

The PREPS (Program of Research and Evaluation for Public Schools) consortium in Mississippi is described. The article discusses the consortium's purpose, the role of university researchers, what kind of research is conducted, function of the PREPS staff, PREPS membership, the kinds of problems that PREPS addresses, and suggestions for developing…

Administered three item-difficulty sequence forms of an achievement test to 107 sixth-grade students. No relationship between item-difficulty sequence and test performance, reliability, or item difficulty and discrimination was discovered. (Author/JAC)

The effects of violating four item construction principles were examined to assess the validity of the principles and the importance of students' test wiseness. While flawed items were significantly less difficult than sound items, differences in item discrimination, test reliability, and concurrent validity were not observed. (Author/BW)

As a preliminary step in customizing the Stanford Achievement Test, a study was made to compare the test items at each level with the curriculum objectives of a Florida school district, classifying them as either matching, above or below grade level, or unmatching. Results are shown in table form. (TE)

Universal design of assessment has been an important step forward in making tests more accessible to students with disabilities. An issue affecting the universal design approach is the need to review individual items, potentially hundreds of them. Ideally, there would be a statistical procedure available that would first identify items that are…

A study investigated possible reasons for the low performance in 2000 on the writing portion of the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP) by students, especially in grades 3 and 5. The study also investigated ways to improve classroom instruction in writing. A panel of teachers reviewed the anchor papers and the process of testing. Panel members…

This study investigated specific conditions under which out-of-scale information improves measurement precision and the factors that influence the degree of reliability gains and the amount of bias induced in the reported scores when out-of-scale information is used. In-scale information is information that an item provides for a composite trait…

Educational assessment is a process of collecting evidence and interpreting it to provide instructors with information regarding students' learning. However, the current design and scoring of most standardized educational tests are insufficient to serve this purpose. The limitation exists primarily due to the lack of cognitive information…

The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was conducted in 1994 in seven European countries with the aim of producing literacy profiles to be used in individual national analyses as well as in international comparisons. It was assumed that the test items could be divided into three unidimensional scales corresponding to the aspects…

The relationship between differential item functioning (DIF)and test item context effects was studied in an investigation of whether the patterns of gender DIF in parcels of items are influenced by changes in item position, as seen in two forms of a test. A second aim was to determine whether performance of male and female test takers is…

In May 1972, 2,900 copies of a survey were distributed eliciting opinions about the meaning of some qualifying adjectives and phrases commonly used in "verbal communications." These same adjective phrases are commonly used in survey research. They include phrases such as "a few,""a majority,""nearly all,"…

Procedures used to establish the comparability of scores derived from the College Board Admissions Testing Program (ATP) computer adaptive Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) prototype and the paper-and-pencil SAT are described in this report. Both the prototype, which is made up of Verbal and Mathematics computer adaptive tests (CATs), and a form of…