Pseudo Bayes probability estimates are weighted averages of raw and modeled probabilities; these estimates have been studied primarily in nonpsychometric contexts. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pseudo Bayes probability estimates as applied to the estimation of psychometric test score distributions and chained equipercentile equating…

Small sample equating remains a largely unexplored area of research. This study attempts to fill in some of the research gaps via a large-scale, IRT-based simulation study that evaluates the performance of seven small-sample equating methods under various test characteristic and sampling conditions. The equating methods considered are typically…

This study examined the effect of including or excluding repeaters on the equating process and results. New forms of two tests were equated to their respective old forms using either all examinees or only the first timer examinees in the new form sample. Results showed that for both tests used in this study, including or excluding repeaters in the…

Presented at the Annual Meeting of National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in 2010. The focus of the research is to investigate the effect of applying the Sinharay & Holland (2007) midi-test idea for building anchor tests to an on-going testing program with a series of versions of the test and comparing these results to the more…

This study examines the stability of the "SAT Reasoning Test"™ score scales from 2005 to 2010. A 2005 old form (OF) was administered along with a 2010 new form (NF). A new conversion for OF was derived through direct equipercentile equating. A comparison of the newly derived and the original OF conversions showed that Critical Reading…

Scope and Method of Study: This study focused on the development and use of the AT-SAT test battery and the Initial En Route Qualification training course for the selection, training, and evaluation of air traffic controller candidates. The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to measure the linear relationship between the…

This study uses the results of two previous papers (Kane, Mroch, Suh, & Ripkey, this issue; Suh, Mroch, Kane, & Ripkey, this issue) and the literature on linear equating to evaluate five linear equating methods along several dimensions, including the plausibility of their assumptions and their levels of bias and root mean squared difference…

Holland and colleagues derived a formula for analytical standard error of equating using the delta-method for the kernel equating method. Extending their derivation, this article derives an analytical standard error of equating procedure for the conventional percentile rank-based equipercentile equating with log-linear smoothing. This procedure is…

This article suggests a method for estimating a test-score equating relationship from small samples of test takers. The method does not require the estimated equating transformation to be linear. Instead, it constrains the estimated equating curve to pass through two pre-specified end points and a middle point determined from the data. In a…

Incorrect handling of item parameter drift during the equating process can result in equating error. If the item parameter drift is due to construct-irrelevant factors, then inclusion of these items in the estimation of the equating constants can be expected to result in equating error. On the other hand, if the item parameter drift is related to…

This article describes two methods for obtaining the standard errors of two commonly used population invariance measures of equating functions: the root mean square difference of the subpopulation equating functions from the overall equating function and the root expected mean square difference. The delta method relies on an analytical…

Both theoretical and practical considerations have led the revision of the Graduate Record Examinations® (GRE®) revised General Test, here called the rGRE, to adopt a multistage adaptive design that will be continuously or nearly continuously administered and that can provide immediate score reporting. These circumstances sharply constrain the…

There has been a steady increase in the use of mixed-format tests, that is, tests consisting of both multiple-choice items and constructed-response items in both classroom and large-scale assessments. This calls for appropriate equating methods for such tests. As Item Response Theory (IRT) has rapidly become mainstream as the theoretical basis for…

Many examination agencies, policy makers, media houses, and the public at large make high-stakes decisions based on test scores. Unfortunately, in some cases educational tests are not statistically equated to account for test differences over time, which leads to inappropriate interpretations of students' performance. In this study we illustrate…

Lack of psychometric equivalence of oral reading fluency (ORF) passages used within a grade for screening and progress monitoring has recently become an issue with calls for the use of equating methods to ensure equivalence. To investigate the nature of the nonequivalence and to guide the choice of equating method to correct for nonequivalence,…