Louisiana Educational Assessment Program for the 21st Century (LEAP 21) is an integral part of the Louisiana school and district accountability system passed by the state legislature and signed into law in 1997. In March 2004, students in grade 8 took LEAP 21 English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies tests. This document…

Five types of multiple-choice items that can be used to assess higher-order educational objectives are examined. The item types do not exhaust the possibilities, but they are standard forms found helpful in writing items to measure more than recognitive memory. (Author/CM)

Ratings given to questionnaire items on four types of rating scales were compared. This study shows that the differences between scales are contingent upon the particular anchors used for the intermediate options. The results suggest that the mean score is predictably influenced by changes in the intermediate anchors. (Author/PN)

Assessed the validity of short forms that reduce the number of items within subtests rather than the number of subtests. Used data from the standardization samples for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, WISC-Revised, and WAIS-Revised. (Author)

Presents modifications of the Pleasant and Unpleasant Events Schedules for use with an elderly population. Constructed two revised schedules by selecting only items that met endorsement criteria with an elderly sample. Both possessed excellent internal consistency and correlated well to the original schedules. (Author)

The test-item bias literature is summarized, emphasizing the conceptual basis for bias detection methods and the technical issues involved in choosing among methods. It describes both judgmental and statistical methods for identifying biased items, and discusses the reconciliation of these two types of evidence. (Author/BW)

In many personality and interest inventories, a score profile, rather than a single score, is attributed to each subject. Six applicable criteria are suggested for use in examining the adequacy of items in such inventories. These criteria relate to the items' response distributions, internal consistency, and discriminative value. (Author/BW)

Presents a table of discriminatory values for selecting test items based on mean differences in responses between upper and lower scorers in an normally distributed population. Provides a means for classifying items as poor, fair, or good. Describes a simple method for rank ordering accepted items. (Author/MJL)

This paper discusses how full model dummy variables can be used with partial correlation or multiple regression procedures to compute matrices of pooled within-group correlations. (Author/CTM)

Presents two exam questions dealing with: (1) Huckel orbitals and energies of cyclic phosphonitrillic halides; and (2) pressure and the exploding beverage container. (CS)

The influence of test format on retention of research concepts and procedures on a final examination was investigated. The test formats studied were multiple choice and short answer. (Author/JKS)

Concludes that inferential reading test questions are as likely to be passage dependent as factual test questions. (MKM)

Lists five objectives in creating an item bank for language proficiency test items and describes the design of an item bank card. Briefly discusses item analysis and population distribution in this system and points out the numerous advantages of the system and conditions for its success. (PMJ)

The rationale for use of instructional sensitivity in the empirical review of test items is examined, and the results of a study that distinguishes instructional sensitivity from other item concepts are presented. Research is reviewed which indicates the existence of instructional sensitivity as a unique criterion-referenced test item concept. (RL)