Multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) models have generated increasing interest in the psychometrics literature. Efficient approaches for estimating MIRT models with dichotomous responses have been developed, but constructing an equally efficient and robust algorithm for polytomous models has received limited attention. To address this gap,…

In organizational studies involving multiple levels, the association between a covariate and an outcome often differs at different levels of aggregation, giving rise to widespread interest in "contextual effects models." Such models partition the regression into within- and between-cluster components. The conventional approach uses each…

Some standard-setting methods require judges to estimate the probability that an examinee who just meets an achievement standard will answer each of a set of items correctly. These probability estimates are then used to infer the values on some latent scale that, in theory, determines an examinee's responses. The paper focuses on the procedures…