Test items are designed to be representative of the subject areas that they measure and to reflect the importance of specific domains or item types within those subject areas. Content validity is achieved by content specification and number of items in each content domain included in the design of the test. However, largely due to the normal…

In foreign language testing, as in all testing, validity is the primary criterion for test quality. However plausible the concept of validity, in practice it is not always easy to arrive at congruence between the test situation and the real-life situation the learner is expected to master. Some language educators make authenticity a major…

Selected cognitive science methods were used to modify existing test development procedures so that the modified procedures could in turn be used to improve the usefulness of job knowledge tests as a proxy for hands-on performance. A plan-goal graph representation was used to capture the knowledge content and goal structure of the task of using a…

Designing a test using three-parameter item response theory (IRT) is discussed. A brief review of IRT is followed by a discussion of two types of test design: (1) selecting items using confidence envelopes (confidence envelope method); and (2) using item characteristic curves and their confidence intervals (test envelope method). The confidence…

Item response theory (IRT) model parameter estimates have considerable merit and open up new directions for test development, but misleading results are often obtained because of errors in the item parameter estimates. The problem of the effects of item parameter estimation errors on the test development process is discussed, and the seriousness…

This paper examines the effect of using unidimensional item response theory (IRT) item parameter estimates of multidimensional items to create weakly parallel test forms using target information curves. To date, all computer-based algorithms that have been devised to create parallel test forms assume that the items are unidimensional. This paper…

It has been postulated that young people are open to driving accidents because of age, lack of experience and risk-taking attitudes. The Young Driver Attitude Scale (YDAS) was developed to measure attitudes likely to influence driving practices. Over 200 items relating to the risk-taking attitudes of young people were shown to a small group of…

This is a report about the first two stages of a four-stage project designed to develop procedures to assess the accomplishments of applicants to graduate school. In the first stage, trial instruments were developed after thoroughly reviewing other attempts at assessing accomplishments and carefully considering the issues involved. Three…

A study was conducted to determine to what extent college teacher-made multiple-choice tests contain test-wiseness clues that can be used to identify correct answers. A sample of 43 undergraduate teacher-made examinations was obtained from two colleges and three universities. The sample included midterm and final examinations and quizzes. The…

The Figure Location Test (FLT) developed by Donlon, Reilly and McKee to provide a machine-scorable test of the cognitive style called field dependence-field independence, was administered as the experimental section of the October 1976, Graduate Record Examination (GRE) Aptitude Test at about one third of the centers in the United States. Initial…

Describes the development of a test instrument designed to predict a student's ability to use the processes of science. Seventh grade students took the objective test, which had a significant positive correlation with actual performance on the corresponding subtest of criterion measures. (MLH)

Discussed in the report on the state of the art are the procedural, conceptual, and methodological limitations of achievement assessment of visually handicapped students. (SB)

Concludes that the "Inventory of Teacher Knowledge of Reading" is valid in discriminating between the specialist and non-specialist in reading, but that it fails to verify the seven components that the authors claim to measure. (RB)

This study tested Deiker's hypothesis that "naysaying" accounts for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Overcontrolled-Hostility (O-H) scale's ability to discriminate among criminal groups differing in their propensity for violence. It was concluded that the validity of the O-H scale is not dependent on naysaying. (Author)