This paper describes findings from two studies involving optional use of calculators on Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) mathematical items. The first study looked at the effects of calculator use on estimates of item difficulty. The second study looked at the effect of calculator use on equating results from an anchor test design. Study 1,…

It is now seen as an economic and political necessity for countries to produce higher levels of performance across the spectrum of ability of all their students. This paper describes one example of the influence of political conditions on the process of developing assessment instruments and on measuring standards. In England, the trend is toward…

This paper focuses on methodological issues in applying equipercentile equating methods to pairs of tests that do not meet the assumptions of equating. This situation is referred to as a concordance situation, as opposed to an equating situation, and the end result is a concordance table that gives "comparable" scores between the tests.…

Distinctions were made between three classes of statistical linkage: equivalence, concordance, and prediction. These distinctions were based on rational content considerations and empirical statistical relationships. A large database involving SAT I and ACT scores was used to determine which type of linkage was best suited for different scores and…

This paper describes how results on the ACT and SAT I can be compared through statistical linking procedures.

The adequacy of equipercentile, linear, one-parameter (Rasch), and three-parameter logistic item-response theory procedures for equating 12 forms of five tests of general educational development were compared. Results indicated the equating method adequacy depends on a variety of factors such as test characteristics, equating design, and sample…

The Rasch model was used to equate reading comprehension tests of widely different difficulty for three groups of fifth grade students of widely different ability. Under these extreme circumstances, the Rasch model equating was unsatisfactory. (Author/CTM)

If annual performance assessments are to yield results that can be compared from year to year, many technical problems must be addressed. It is essential that tests to be equated measure the same construct. Methods of equating performance assessment scores, ways of equating system assessments, and standard setting are discussed. (SLD)

Effects of numbers of experts (NOEs) and common items (CIs) on the scaling of cutting scores from expert judgments were studied for 11,917 physicians taking 2 forms of a medical specialty examination. Increasing NOEs and CIs reduced error; beyond 5 experts and 25 CIs, error differences were small. (SLD)

This paper provides the basis for understanding score equating through item response theory (IRT). Theoretical justifications and practical advantages of IRT true-score test procedures are discussed. Three steps in the equating process are specified, and a self-test is included. (SLD)

Articles in this special section consider (1) flow in test taking (Craig Deville); (2) testwiseness (Thomas O'Neill); (3) test length (Benjamin Wright); (4) cross-language test equating (Richard W. Woodcock and Ana Munoz-Sandoval); (5) computer-assisted testing and testwiseness (Richard Gershon and Betty Bergstrom); and (6) Web-enhanced testing…

In setting the cut-scores on National Curriculum tests it is important to maintain standards. In the process of test development, both within and across years, changes are made to the style of the questions in order to increase their "accessibility". This raises the question of whether a more accessible test should have higher cut-scores. Purely…

Two local methods for observed-score equating are applied to the problem of equating an adaptive test to a linear test. In an empirical study, the methods were evaluated against a method based on the test characteristic function (TCF) of the linear test and traditional equipercentile equating applied to the ability estimates on the adaptive test…

Understanding that the behavior of people takes place within a context, over the past 20 years research in education and the sport sciences has witnessed an increasing development of multilevel frameworks that are both conceptually and methodologically sound. Despite these advances, the use of multilevel models and research designs in education…

Assigning letter grades in a consistent manner to tests in large classes across semesters is problematic if absolute grading standards are used. It may be unreasonable to implement the usual standard-setting approaches recommended for large-scale criterion-referenced testing due to both time constraints and a desire to have criteria that appear…