The efficiency of mastery tests of fixed length which sorts students into two categories is analyzed. For the sort of the students, an index, suggested by Fisher's linear discriminant function for two groups, is provided. (DB)

Achievement tests which are specifically linked to an instructional program and have been developed in relation to an objectives base and/or to an item generation rule are considered, as well as student response data. Three types of studies are outlined and the kind of procedures thought useful illustrated. As various methods for examining…

Livingston's work is a careful analysis of what occurs when one pools two populations with different means, but similar variances and reliability coefficients. However, his work fails to advance reliability theory for the special case of criterion-referenced testing. See ED 042 802 for Livingston's paper. (MS)

The implications of a mathematical model of test scores are explored where the data are limited to a random sample of items without replacement from an indefinitely large population or item domain in which items are scored either zero or one. The purpose is to obtain an unbiased estimate of a student's proportion of items correct in the item…