Items with the highest discrimination parameter values in a logistic item response theory (IRT) model do not necessarily give maximum information. This paper shows which discrimination parameter values (as a function of the guessing parameter and the distance between person ability and item difficulty) give maximum information for the…

The most useful method of item selection for making pass-fail decisions with a Computerized Adaptive Test (CAT) was studied. Medical technology students (n=86) took a computer adaptive test in which items were targeted to the ability of the examinee. The adaptive algorithm that selected items and estimated person measures used the Rasch model and…

The relationship between test item characteristics and testing time was studied for a computer-administered licensing examination. One objective of the study was to develop a model to predict testing time on the basis of known item characteristics. Response latencies (i.e., the amount of time taken by examinees to read, review, and answer items)…

A study evaluated the effect software for self-assessment and management of reading practice had on reading achievement and motivation in two primary schools in Aberdeen, Scotland. The program utilized was The Accelerated Reader (AR) which was designed to enable curriculum based assessment of reading comprehension within the classroom. Students…

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT), while well-grounded in psychometric theory, has had few large-scale applications for high-stakes, secure tests in the past. This is now changing as the cost of computing has declined rapidly. As is always true where theory is translated into practice, many practical issues arise. This paper discusses a number…

In this study some alternative item selection criteria for adaptive testing are proposed. These criteria take into account the uncertainty of the ability estimates. A general weighted information criterion is suggested of which the usual maximum information criterion and the suggested alternative criteria are special cases. A simulation study was…

The quality of fit between the data and the measurement model is fundamental to any discussion of results. Fit has been the subject of inquiry since as early as the 1920s. Most early explorations concentrated on assessing global fit or subset fits on fixed length, traditional paper and pencil tests given as a single unit. The detection of aberrant…

Previous studies have shown that, when administered a self-adapted test, a few examinees will choose item difficulty levels that are not well-matched to their proficiencies, resulting in high standard errors of proficiency estimation. This study investigated whether the previously observed effects of a self-adapted test--lower anxiety and higher…

This document provides printed instructions for teachers to use with an IBM-compatible microcomputer to construct tests and then have the computer give the tests, grade them, and print the test results. Computerized tests constructed in this way may contain true-false questions, multiple-choice questions, or a combination of both. The questions…

This paper describes a project for the development of instructional and assessments systems to increase user-proficiency levels for the software created by WordPerfect Corporation. The project was part of an effort by WordPerfect and the Institute for Computer Uses in Education/Evaluation to create and establish standards of proficiency in the use…

Two experiments were conducted to investigate why lecture notes aid expository writing after a 1-week delay between lecture acquisition and essay writing. Experiment 1 examines the context hypothesis that deactivation of lecture schema must occur before attempts to reinstantiate context can aid writing. Results with 74 undergraduate students did…

The effect of the use of interactive videodisc technology to present aural tests was studied in the context of college music appreciation classes. Both experimental and control groups were given study guides that identified the aural objectives for each test and specified the location of the musical examples that were to be used to illustrate the…

Expert systems can be used to aid decisionmaking. A computerized adaptive test is one kind of expert system, although not commonly recognized as such. A new approach, termed EXSPRT, was devised that combines expert systems reasoning and sequential probability ratio test stopping rules. Two versions of EXSPRT were developed, one with random…

To investigate the psychometric feasibility of replacing a paper-and-pencil licensing examination with a computer-administered test, a validity study was conducted. The computer-administered test (Cadm) was a common set of items for all test takers, distinct from computerized adaptive testing, in which test takers receive items appropriate to…

The graded response model for two-stage testing was applied to an attitudes toward science scale using real-data simulation. The 48-item scale was administered to 920 students at a grade-8 equivalent in Singapore. A two-stage 16-item computerized adaptive test was developed. In two-stage testing an initial, or routing, test is followed by a…