Item difficulty modeling studies involve (a) hypothesizing item features, or item response demands, that are likely to predict item difficulty with some degree of accuracy; and (b) entering the features as independent variables into a regression equation or other statistical model to predict difficulty. In this review, we report findings from 13…

Assessment is a key lever for educational improvement. Assessments can be used to monitor, signal, and influence science teaching and learning -- provided that they are of high quality, reflect the rigor and intent of academic standards, and elicit meaningful student performances. Since the release of "A Framework for K-12 Science…

The purpose of this study is to examine the psychometric quality of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) with data collected from 554 teachers in a U.S. Midwestern state. The many-facet Rasch model was used to examine several potential contextual influences (years of teaching experience, school context, and levels of emotional exhaustion)…

This article is aimed at evaluating the possibility that Set I of the Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM-Set I) can be employed to assess fluid ability in a short time frame. The APM-Set I was administered to a sample of 1,389 primary and secondary school students. Confirmatory factor analysis attested to the unidimensionality of the scale. Item…

The evaluation of learning is a systematic process involving testing, measuring and evaluation. In the testing step, a teacher needs to choose the best instrument that can test the minds of students. Testing will produce scores or marks with many variations either in homogeneous or heterogeneous forms that will be used to categorize the scores…

This study was inspired by the final regulations for the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) indicating that each state has the option to develop a new assessment for students whose disabilities have kept them from obtaining proficiency. Sets of high school science achievement items were enhanced for the new test. A 3-by-2, within subjects,…

The population sensitivity of vertical scaling results was evaluated for a state reading assessment spanning grades 3-10 and a state mathematics test spanning grades 3-8. Subpopulations considered included males and females. The 3-parameter logistic model was used to calibrate math and reading items and a common item design was used to construct…

This study is an item analysis of the Matching Familiar Figures Test-20. We examined error scores in the Matching Familiar Figures Test-20 to determine the influence of the difficulty of the test on the assessment of reflection-impulsivity. The sample included 700 participants aged between 6 and 12 years. The results obtained from the corrected…

The IRT (Item Response Theory) has been studied and applied in computer-based test for decades. However, almost of all these existing studies evaluated focus merely on test questions with text-based (or static text/graphic) type of presentation form illustrated exclusively. In this paper, we present our study on test questions using both…

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce…