In the current study, two pools of 250 essays, all written as a response to the same prompt, were rated by two groups of raters (14 or 15 raters per group), thereby providing an approximation to the essay's true score. An automated essay scoring (AES) system was trained on the datasets and then scored the essays using a cross-validation scheme. By…

Examined the impact of using item parcels on ad hoc goodness-of-fit indexes in confirmatory factor analysis using the Arabic version of Sarason's Reactions to Tests scale. Data from 421 and 372 Arabic speaking students at an Israeli high school show that lower skewness and kurtosis and higher validity occur for parcels than for individual items.…

Studied whether differential item functioning (DIF) in translated verbal items could be reduced or eliminated by revising these items. Results for six sections of an Israeli college admission test translated from Hebrew to Russian show that revisions can reduce DIF considerably. Discusses costs of the revision process. (SLD)

Examined whether the measures used in the admission of students to universities in Israel are gender-biased, using first-year university performance as the criterion and six predictors. Results for 61,885 Hebrew speakers show that no gender bias was detected when using the admissions score but bias in favor of women was found when using school…

In recent years, there has been a large increase in the number of university applicants requesting special accommodations for university entrance exams. The Israeli National Institute for Testing and Evaluation (NITE) administers a Psychometric Entrance Test (comparable to the Scholastic Assessment Test in the United States) to assist universities…