Despite agreement about the central importance of validity for educational and psychological testing, consensus regarding the definition of validity remains elusive. Differences in the definition of validity are examined and reveals that a potential cause of disagreement stems from differences in word use and meanings given to key terms commonly…

Test-takers, policymakers, teachers, and institutions are increasingly demanding that testing programs provide more detailed feedback regarding test performance. As a result, there has been a growing interest in the reporting of subscores that potentially provide such detailed feedback. Haberman developed a method based on classical test theory…

Buros' "Mental Measurements Yearbook (MMY)" has provided professional reviews of commercially published psychological and educational tests for over 80 years. It serves as a kind of conscience for the testing industry. For a random sample of 50 entries in the "19th MMY" (a total of 100 separate reviews) this study determined…

Aberrant behavior refers to any type of unusual behavior that would not be expected under normal circumstances. In educational and psychological testing, such behaviors have the potential to severely bias the aberrant examinee's test score while also jeopardizing the test scores of countless others. It is therefore crucial that aberrant examinees…

This dissertation aims to bridge the gap between validity theory and the practice of validation. The dissertation employs a three-article approach. Following the introduction in Chapter I, three independent manuscripts representing three empirical studies are presented (i.e., Chapters II - IV). Each chapter is a stand-alone publishable manuscript,…

Establishing a cut score is a crucial aspect of the test development process since the selected cut score has the potential to impact students' performance outcomes and shape instructional strategies within the classroom. Therefore, it is vital for those involved in test development to set a cut score that is both fair and justifiable. This cut…

In educational and psychological measurement, a person-fit statistic (PFS) is designed to identify aberrant response patterns. For parametric PFSs, valid inference depends on several assumptions, one of which is that the item response theory (IRT) model is correctly specified. Previous studies have used empirical data sets to explore the effects…

Fairness in assessment is seen as increasingly important but there is a need for greater clarity in use of the term 'fair'. Also, fairness is perceived through a range of 'lenses' reflecting different traditions of thought. The lens used determines how fairness is seen and described. This article distinguishes different uses of 'fair' which have…

Response time models (RTMs) are of increasing interest in educational and psychological testing. This article focuses on the lognormal model for response times, which is one of the most popular RTMs. Several existing statistics for testing normality and the fit of factor analysis models are repurposed for testing the fit of the lognormal model. A…

Response-time models are of increasing interest in educational and psychological testing. This paper focuses on the lognormal model for response times (van der Linden, 2006), which is one of the most popular response-time models. Several existing statistics for testing normality and the fit of factor-analysis models are repurposed for testing the…

Many test developers try to ensure the content validity of their tests by having external experts review the items, e.g. in terms of relevance, difficulty, or clarity. Although this approach is widely accepted, a closer look reveals several pitfalls need to be avoided if experts' advice is to be truly helpful. The purpose of this paper is to…

Often, important decisions regarding accountability and placement of students in performance categories are made on the basis of test scores generated from tests, therefore, it is important to evaluate the validity of the inferences derived from test results. One of the threats to the validity of such inferences is aberrant responding. Several…

Response-time models are of increasing interest in educational and psychological testing. This article focuses on the lognormal model for response times, which is one of the most popular response-time models, and suggests a simple person-fit statistic for the model. The distribution of the statistic under the null hypothesis of no misfit is proved…

Response-time models are of increasing interest in educational and psychological testing. This paper focuses on the lognormal model for response times (van der Linden, 2006), which is one of the most popular response-time models, and suggests a simple person-fit statistic for the model. The distribution of the statistic under the null hypothesis…

Quality assessment is an essential component of preschool education. The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing provide benchmarks for evaluating the validity of inferences made from assessment or test results (AERA, APA & NCME, 2014). According to the Standards, test developers should investigate and document information related…