Memphis State University conducted a study for the Tennessee Department of Education to determine the validity of 11 previously unvalidated, extensively revised, or new Educational Testing Service (ETS) tests as measures of the skills and knowledge required for specific initial certification endorsements of public school personnel in Tennessee.…

This paper presents a method for estimating the accuracy and consistency of classifications based on test scores. The scores can be produced by any scoring method, including the formation of a weighted composite. The estimates use data from a single form. The reliability of the score is used to estimate its effective test length in terms of…

This study explores the potential for using a computer-based scoring procedure for the formulating-hypotheses (F-H) item. This item type presents a situation and asks the examinee to generate explanations for it. Each explanation is judged right or wrong, and the number of creditable explanations is summed to produce an item score. Scores were…

A United States Employment Service (USES) General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) plan was formulated to evaluate and develop additional job-related assessment methods. Eighteen alternative predictors were reviewed, from which biodata was selected for development. The literature indicates that biodata provides increased validity with little or no…

This study investigated the extent of agreement between MicroPROUST, a prototype microcomputer-based expert scoring system, and human readers for two Advanced Placement Computer Science free-response items. To assess agreement, a balanced incomplete block design was used with 2 groups of 4 readers grading 43 student solutions to the first problem…

Conditional item independence, also known as local independence, is necessary for the accurate estimation of item parameters within item response theory (IRT). Given that the condition of local independence will be violated to at least some degree when unidimensional models are used to represent multidimensional data, it is important to study the…

This digest presents a list of recommendations for writing multiple-choice test items, based on psychometrics statistics are typically provided by a measurement, or test scoring, service, where tests are machine-scored or by testing software packages. Test makers can capitalize on the fact that "bad" items can be differentiated from…

When individuals are given tests that are too hard or too easy, the resulting scores are likely to be poor estimates of their performance. To get valid and accurate test scores that provide meaningful results, one should use functional-level testing (FLT). FLT is the practice of administering to an individual a version of a test with a difficulty…

An overview of teaching portfolios is presented so that principals and other school administrators can make informed choices about their use. In its most basic form, a teaching portfolio is a collection of information about a teacher's practice. It becomes a structured documentary history when it is supported by reflective writing, deliberation,…

Three mathematics scoring methods are being used or explored in large scale assessment programs: (1) item-by-item scoring; (2) holistic scoring; and (3) "trait" scoring. This study investigated all three methods of scoring on three mathematics performance-based assessments. Mathematics assessment tasks were selected from a pool of pilot tasks…

A discussion of the differences between the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), an American test battery, and the Cambridge English Examinations (Cambridge), a British battery, focuses on the different approaches to language test development embodied in the tests as the source of difficulty in translating between them for individual…

An analytical technique from the field of market research called conjoint analysis was applied to a psychological measurement of student testing design preferences. Past concerns with testing design are reviewed, and a newer approach to testing is identified--the modified confidence weighted-admissible probability measurement (MCW-APM) test…

States that final exams can best motivate students if the exams are counted substantially toward the final course grade. Proposes a weighting system in which a performance on the final which exceeds the student's average would be weighed more heavily than a poor performance. (CP)

This study was designed to test and expand Holland's vocational development theory by utilizing more than a single high point code in classification of personality patterns of jobs. A more "refined" and/or "subtle" difference was shown in the personality-job relationships when two high point codes were used. (Author)

Recently, there has been an increasing level of interest in reporting subscores. This paper examines the issue of reporting subscores at an aggregate level, especially at the level of institutions that the examinees belong to. A series of statistical analyses is suggested to determine when subscores at the institutional level have any added value…