The potential of item response theory (IRT) for solving a number of testing problems in the Maryland Functional Reading Program would appear to be substantial in view of the many other promising applications of the theory. But, it is well-known that the advantages derived from an IRT model cannot be achieved when the fit between an item response…

This package consists of an information booklet for job candidates preparing to take California's Corrections Officer Examination and a user's manual intended for those who will administer the examination. The candidate information booklet provides background information about the development of the Corrections Officer Examination, describes its…

This report presents an analysis of the content validity of a series of secondary school mathematics tests designed by university mathematicians in California to help improve the articulation between secondary and postsecondary mathematics instruction. The purpose in conducting this analysis was to improve understanding of what it means to…

In order to evaluate our methods and approaches of estimating the operating characteristics of discrete item responses, it is necessary to try other comparable methods on similar sets of data. LOGIST 5 was taken up for this reason, and was tried upon the hypothetical test items, which follow the normal ogive model and were used frequently in…

On well-constructed multiple-choice tests, the most serious threat to measurement is not variation in item discrimination, but the guessing behavior that may be adopted by some students. Ways of ameliorating the effects of guessing are discussed, especially for problems in latent trait models. A new item response model, including an item parameter…

In a study to determine whether a shift from Formula scoring to Rights scoring can be made without causing a discontinuity in the test scale, the analysis of special administrations of the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Chemistry Achievement Test and the variable section of an operational form of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is…

A few multi-dimensional items were found to be more efficient than a larger number of uni-dimensional items in tests for participant selection and evaluation of such compensatory educational programs as Title I. A multi-dimensional scaling technique is described which derives scores for each item on three dimensions, and allows multiple scores to…

The Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) was equated to the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) using item response theory (IRT) in a three-parameter logistic model. Estimated true formula score equating was used. Only the mathematical sections of the PSAT/NMSQT and SAT were used because the…

An experiment investigated the effects of the instruction rubric at the beginning of an examination paper and of the format of the examination questions themselves. A history test whose questions originally differed widely in format was modified so that its rubric was as clear and concise as possible and all the short answer questions were of the…

Following instructions provided in the teacher's manual, the SCOPE Mathematics Achievement Test booklet for grade 2 presents 10 mathematical concepts. Testing items are: counting number of objects in a set to 100; using ordinals to the 31st; forming numerals correctly; writing number words to 10; identifying and naming the number of 10's and 1's…

There have been many attempts to formulate a procedure for extracting information from incorrect responses to multiple choice items, i.e., the assessment of partial knowledge. The results of these attempts can be described as inconsistent at best. It is hypothesized that these inconsistencies arise from three methodological problems: the…

The student's manual in this two-part instructional kit is designed to help the following types of students learn introductory technical material related to pneumatics: (1) groups of trade and industrial students with a variety of vocational objectives and (2) homogeneous groups in which the learning levels of individual students vary…

A sample of 234 fifth- and 259 sixth-grade students scaled the items of the Piers-Harris, Tennessee, Coopersmith, and Lipsett self-concept measures. The scaling of the Piers-Harris and the Tennessee inventories was examined in reference to their subscales. The present technique placed items on a bivariate plane of two orthogonal dimensions…

The effects of varying degrees of correlation between abilities and of various correlation configurations between item parameters on ability and item parameter estimation using the three parameter logistic model were examined. Ten two-trait configurations and one unidimensional test configuration for 30 item tests were simulated. Each…

A series of exercises were developed and used by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) second citizenship/social studies assessment (1975-76). This volume provides a copy of each exercise, as well as the complete documentation about administration and scoring procedures for each exercise that is being released. The bulk of the…