Educational and psychological constructs are normally measured by multifaceted dimensions. The measured construct is defined and measured by a set of related subdomains. A bifactor model can accurately describe such data with both the measured construct and the related subdomains. However, a limitation of the bifactor model is the orthogonality…

This paper provides a history of ETS's role in developing assessment instruments and psychometric procedures for measuring change in large-scale national assessments funded by the Longitudinal Studies branch of the National Center for Education Statistics. It documents the innovations developed during more than 30 years of working with…

A new instrument, the Attitude toward Educational Measurement Inventory, was completed by 331 undergraduate education majors. Results show high internal consistency reliability for the subscales and moderate stability reliability. Interscale correlations indicate that the three scales represent related, but distinct, aspects of student's attitudes…

The idea that validity should be considered a property of inferences, rather than of assessments, has developed slowly over the past century. In early writings about the validity of educational assessments, validity was defined as a property of an assessment. The most common definition was that an assessment was valid to the extent that it…

The mean scores of English Language Learners (ELL) and English Only (EO) students in 4th and 5th grade (N = 110), across the teacher-administered Grammar Skills Test, were examined for differences in participants' scores on assessments containing single-step directions and assessments containing multiple-step directions. The results indicated no…

Reviews study that found, through use of a "performance instruction" model, a significant misalignment between the cognitive complexity levels of planned course content and that which is tested. (32 citations) (YKH)

Examines influences that might explain fluctuations in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores since 1955. Discusses the role of the following: (1) test construction; (2) race, sex, and socioeconomic status of test takers; (3) school environment; (4) family environment; and (5) social environment. (FMW)