International assessments inform education policy debates, yet little is known about their floor effects: To what extent do they fail to differentiate between the lowest performers, and what are the implications of this? TIMSS, SACMEQ, and LLECE data are analyzed to answer this question. In TIMSS, floor effects have been reduced through the…

A psychological framework for different types of items commonly used with mixed-format exams is proposed. A choice model based on signal detection theory (SDT) is used for multiple-choice (MC) items, whereas an item response theory (IRT) model is used for open-ended (OE) items. The SDT and IRT models are shown to share a common conceptualization…

In this research, the effect of an item's type and cognitive level on its difficulty index was investigated. The data source of the study consisted of the responses of the 12535 students in the Turkey sample (6079 and 6456 students from eighth and fourth grade respectively) of TIMSS 2015. The responses were a total of 215 items at the eighth-grade…

The purpose of this study was to examine eighth-grade students' science performance in terms of two test design components, item format, and cognitive domain. The portion of Taiwanese data came from the 2011 administration of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), one of the major international large-scale assessments…

Over the last two decades, the educational use of digital devices, including digital assessments, has become a regular feature of teaching in primary education in the Netherlands. However, researchers have not reached a consensus about the so-called "mode effect," which refers to the possible impact of using computer-based tests (CBT)…

Wording effects associated with positively and negatively worded items have been found in many scales. Such effects may threaten construct validity and introduce systematic bias in the interpretation of results. A variety of models have been applied to address wording effects, such as the correlated uniqueness model and the correlated traits and…

TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) is a long-standing international assessment of mathematics and science at the fourth and eighth grades that has been collecting trend data every four years since 1995. About 70 countries use TIMSS trend data for monitoring the effectiveness of their education systems in a global…

The chapters in this online volume comprise the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center's technical report of the methods and procedures used to develop, implement, and report the results of TIMSS 2019. There were various technical challenges because TIMSS 2019 was the initial phase of the transition to eTIMSS, with approximately half the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of dimensionality, common-item set format, and different scale linking methods on preserving equity property with mixed-format test equating. Item response theory (IRT) true-score equating (TSE) and IRT observed-score equating (OSE) methods were used under common-item nonequivalent groups design.…