These lessons are designed to familiarize students with political and legal terminology through memorization and testing. Students are required to take notes on the terms and definitions given in class on 3 by 5 cards to file alphabetically at home. They are also instructed to keep a notebook of the terms to bring to class and memorize. After one…

Conjunctive item response models are introduced such that (a) sufficient statistics for latent traits are not necessarily additive in item scores; (b) items are not necessarily locally independent; and (c) existing compensatory (additive) item response models including the binomial, Rasch, logistic, and general locally independent model are…

This bulletin provides a general description of Alberta's Grade 3 Science Achievement Test which will be taken in June 1987. Discussed in this document are: (1) the purpose of the testing program; (2) the nature of the program; (3) students tested (including concerns related to exemptions and students receiving instruction in French); (4)…

The results obtained from two basic types of pre-equatings of tests were compared: the item response theory (IRT) pre-equating and section pre-equating (SPE). The simulated data were generated from a modified three-parameter logistic model with a constant guessing parameter. Responses of two replication samples of 3000 examinees on two 72-item…

The research reported in this paper is concerned with the ability of students of English as a second language (ESL) to apply cognitive skills in reading. The paper focuses on: (1) a validation study of an experimental test designed to measure Piagetian concrete operations in reading and (2) the effects of the paragraph types (additive or…

This computer program, written in BASIC, performs three different calculations of test reliability: (1) the Kuder-Richardson method; (2); the "common split-half" method; and (3) the Rulon-Guttman split-half method. The program reads sequential access data files for microcomputers that have been set up by statistical packages such as…

Significant to a latent trait or item response theory analysis of a mental test is the determination of exactly what is being quantified. The following are practical problems to be considered in the formulation of a good theory: (1) deciding whether two tests measure the same trait or traits; (2) analyzing the relative contributions of a pair of…

This paper reviews the existing multidimensional item response theory (IRT) models and demonstrates how one of the models can be applied to estimation of abilities from a test measuring more than one dimension. The purposes of this paper were threefold. First, the fundamental concepts required when considering multidimensional models for the…

The predictive analysis approach to adaptive testing originated in the idea of statistical predictive analysis suggested by J. Aitchison and I.R. Dunsmore (1975). The adaptive testing model proposed is based on parameter-free predictive distribution. Aitchison and Dunsmore define statistical prediction analysis as the use of data obtained from an…

This study was designed to determine item bias by sex on a test of spatial visualization administered to middle school students. Two chi square techniques were used to assess item bias: the Scheuneman C2 and the Camilli chi square. The direction of bias was indicated by assigning positive signs to the chi square components contributed by one group…

Concern for enhancing construct validity of vocational interest measures provides a focus for scale construction quite distinct from that derived from a criterion-referenced strategy: Construct-oriented measurement implies: (1) substantive definitions of dimensions; (2) concern for internal consistency reliability, as well as generalizability; (3)…

To study the relationship between inferences made on standardized reading tests and item difficulty, 50 items on the reading comprehension section of the Metropolitan Achievement Test were analyzed independently in this study by two raters using four general categories of inferences: (1) reference inferences, (2) between proposition inferences,…

Real test data of unknown structure were analyzed using both a unidimensional and a multidimensional latent trait model in an attempt to determine the underlying components of the test. The models used were the three-parameter logistic model and a multidimensional extension of the two-parameter logistic model. The basic design for the analysis of…

The study was designed to examine the similarity of response options generated by different item writers using a systematic approach to item writing. The similarity of response options to student responses for the same item stems presented in an open-ended format was also examined. A non-systematic (subject matter expertise) approach and a…

A standard method for exploring item bias is the intergroup comparison of item difficulties. This paper describes a refinement and generalization of this technique. In contrast to prior approaches, the proposed method deletes outlying items from the formulation of a criterion for identifying items as deviant. It also extends the mathematical…