Validated a taxonomy of 31 multiple-choice item-writing guidelines through a logical process that included reviewing 27 textbooks on educational testing and the results of 27 studies and reviews published since 1990. Presents the taxonomy, which is intended for classroom assessment. (SLD)

The impact of varying levels of item omissions on Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) two-point code types was studied with MMPI-2 results from 100 psychological outpatients. Results suggest that defined code types are relatively robust for up to 30 omitted items. (SLD)

Comparison of two indices of answer copying, one using only wrong responses and the other using right and wrong responses for six tests taken by from 910 to 1,154 college students suggests that indices of copying may perform differentially well according to the size of scores of examinee pairs evaluated. (SLD)

A multidimensionality-based differential item functioning (DIF) analysis paradigm is presented that unifies substantive and statistical DIF analysis approaches by linking both to a theoretically sound and mathematically rigorous multidimensional DIF conceptualization. This approach results in the potential for DIF analysis more closely integrated…

Common strategies for dealing with flawed items in conventional testing, grounded in principles of fairness to examinees, are re-examined in the context of adaptive testing. The additional strategy of retesting from a pool cleansed of flawed items is found, through a Monte Carlo study, to bring about no practical improvement. (SLD)

Examined the influence of deviant scale items on item parameter estimates of focal scale items and person parameter estimates through a comparison of item response theory (IRT) and classical test theory (CTT) models. Used Monte Carlo methods to explore results from a pilot investigation of job attitude data. Discusses implications for researchers…

Studied the match between the Ontario (Canada) eighth grade curriculum for 1997 and the item pool of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and analyzed the matching process itself. Findings show that the 1997 curriculum is a better match to the TIMSS item pool, achieving the better match by enlarging the curriculum and…

Examined the behavior of item and person statistics from item response theory and classical test theory frameworks through Monte Carlo methods with simulated test data. Findings suggest that item difficulty and person ability estimates are highly comparable for both approaches. (SLD)

Suggests that analyses of current assessment practices need to examine the impact that testing has on teaching and the curriculum. Notes that writing assessment drives instruction. Provides basic questions to begin analyses of local and state assessments, and provides one such analysis of Illinois' assessment. Concludes that educators need to help…

An item response model for multiple-choice items is described and illustrated in item analysis. The model provides parametric and graphical summaries of the performance of each alternative associated with a multiple-choice item. The illustrative application of the model involves a pilot test of mathematics achievement items. (TJH)

The effect of 3 item arrangements (easy to hard, hard to easy, and random) on test anxiety was studied using an actual classroom examination administered to 126 graduate students (36 males and 90 females) under power conditions. Results indicate that anxiety level and test item arrangement are related. (TJH)

Some solutions are offered for three large-class testing problems: how to offer students an opportunity to be assessed in an essay format without straining the available grading resources; deal with students who miss a required examination; and generate large numbers of new, relevant examination questions regularly. (MSE)

The characteristics of unidimensional ability estimates obtained from data generated using multidimensional compensatory models were compared with estimates from non-compensatory item response theory (IRT) models. The least squares matching procedures used represent a good method of matching the two multidimensional IRT models. (TJH)

Requirements for adaptive testing are reviewed, and the reasons implementation has taken so long are explored. The adaptive test is illustrated through the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale of L. M. Terman and M. A. Merrill (1960). Current adaptive testing is tied to the development of item response theory. (SLD)

Two theorems of unidimensional item response theory are extended to describe observable item response distributions when there is conditional independence between but not necessarily within item bundles. An item bundle is a small group of multiple-choice items sharing a common reading passage or a group of items sharing distractors. (SLD)