Setting standards for the purpose of certification is frequently performed using judgmental techniques such as the Angoff method. This study was performed to identify types of items that judges find hard to rate accurately, that is, types of items on which examinees perform differently than predicted by the judges. Once identified these item types…

An investigation of the effect on the difficulty value of an item due to position placement within a test was made. Using a 60-item operational test comprised of 5 subtests, 60 items were placed as experimental items on a number of spiralled test forms in three different positions (first, middle, last) within the subtest composed of like items.…

Some minimum competency testing programs were created chiefly as a vehicle to improve the quality of basic skills instruction. In these programs, the tests are used to define instructional targets clearly and, thereby, enhance the quality of instruction. Few testing programs have included readability levels in their test specifications. In 1979…

The influence of anchor length on the accuracy of test equating was studied using Tucker's linear method and two Item-Response-Theory (IRT) based methods, focusing on whether equating accuracy improved with more anchor items, whether the anchor effect depended on the equating method used, and the adequacy of the inclusion of the guessing parameter…

In a study concerned with the function of test wiseness in competency testing and with the impact of question stem structure within a reading competency test, 43 fourth grade students and 38 sixth grade students were administered one form each of the experimental material. This material consisted of ten questions presented in the stylized language…

A writing competency exam has been developed at a Vermont state college as a uniform method of judging attainment of a specified minimum standard for writing. The test was designed to meet four primary criteria: to judge student ability to create discourse, to yield specific evaluative information, to involve all academic divisions in test design…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of log-linear models in detecting test item bias. The evaluation of the log-linear approach in this regard will focussed on the following: (1) the stability of the procedure across replications--the effect of sampling error across random samples of ethnic groups; (2) the amount of artifactual…

The present study examines the influence of judges' item-related knowledge on setting standards for competency tests. Seventeen judges from different professions took a 122-item teacher-certification test in economics while setting competency standards for the test using the Angoff procedure. Judges tended to set higher standards for items they…

The development and implementation of the Dallas Independent School District's Basic Objectives Assessment Test (BOAT) are described. Beginning in 1979, this minimum competency test was administered system-wide to all students in grades 8-12 (except for those enrolled as special education students), and beginning in 1983 it will be used in…

To consolidate the diversity of opinion about the definition of competency, an operational definition and skills classification matrix is presented. Although most people agree that competency tests should measure student ability to transfer academic training to life situations, the fact that life skills and school skills represent different…

The reliability of item bias estimates was studied for four methods: (1) the transformed delta method; (2) Shepard's modified delta method; (3) Rasch's one-parameter residual analysis; and (4) the Mantel-Haenszel procedure. Bias statistics were computed for each sample using all methods. Data were from administration of multiple-choice items from…

The procedures projected to be used in the spring and summer of 1982 to establish passing standards for the Maryland Functional Mathematics Test are described. The development of the test as a prerequisite for high school graduation to be implemented in 1987 is described. The maximum involvement of diverse constituencies and multiple informed…

Studies of the Angoff method of standard setting suggest that judges agree in their estimates of the relative difficulties of test questions for minimally competent examinees and that each judge's estimates correlate well with the observed item difficulties for examinees whose total test scores are near the judge's personal standard (G. E.…

Four item bias methods were studied. The methods compared include the Mantel-Haenszel statistic, the plot method, the route mean squared difference method, and the total area method; the latter two methods are based on item response theory. The test consisted of item responses of 451 male and 486 female ninth graders to 75 test items on the 1985…

The effect of increased writing or planning time on a test of basic college level writing ability was studied. The essay portion of the New Jersey College Basic Skills Placement Test was given to students in nine New Jersey public colleges and three New Jersey public high schools. Each student wrote two essays on two different topics. The first…