The psychometric considerations and challenges associated with including constructed response items on tests are discussed along with how these issues affect the form assembly specifications for mixed-format exams. Reliability and validity, security and fairness, pretesting, content and skills coverage, test length and timing, weights, statistical…

This manual contains information about the American College Test (ACT) Plan® program. The principal focus of this manual is to document the Plan program's technical adequacy in light of its intended purposes. This manual supersedes the 2011 edition. The content of this manual responds to requirements of the testing industry as established in the…

This technical report provides an overview of the New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA), including a description of the purpose of the NYSAA, the processes utilized to develop and implement the NYSAA program, and Stakeholder involvement in those processes. The purpose of this report is to document the technical aspects of the 2013-14 NYSAA.…

In this article, I specify a conceptual framework for test validity research on content assessments taken by English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools in grades K-12. This framework is modeled after one previously delineated by Willingham et al. (1988), which was developed to guide research on students with disabilities. In this framework…

Purpose: To review the content and psychometric characteristics of 6 published tests currently available to aid in the study, diagnosis, and treatment of motor speech disorders in children. Method: We compared the content of the 6 tests and critically evaluated the degree to which important psychometric characteristics support the tests' use for…

In this article, the author reviews the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS), an individually administered test of intelligence appropriate for ages 3 through 94 years with a conormed, supplemental measure of memory. The RIAS should be administered by examiners who have formal training in assessment. In this regard, the RIAS is a…

In this article, the authors review the Clinical Assessment of Depression (CAD), a 50-item self-report measure of depressive symptoms designed for children, adolescents, adults, and elderly adults from 8 to 79 years of age. Purporting to be sensitive to depressive symptomatology across the lifespan, the test items were written to reflect the…

Within the field of psychological assessment, the Wechsler scales continue to be the most widely used intelligence batteries. The concepts, methods, and procedures inherent in the design of the Wechsler scales have been so influential that they have guided most of the test development and research in the field for more than a half century. This…

In this article, the author reviews the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Four Edition Spanish (WISC-IV Spanish), an individually administered measure of intelligence for Spanish-speaking children who are English language learners and relatively new to American culture. The WISC-IV Spanish, like its English counterpart, the WISC-IV, is…

Traditionally, the fixed-length linear paper-and-pencil (P&P) mode of administration has been the standard method of test delivery. With the advancement of technology, however, the popularity of administering tests using adaptive methods like computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and multistage testing (MST) has grown in the field of measurement…

This article follows the development of test items (see "Language Assessment Quarterly", Volume 3 Issue 1, pp. 71-79 for the article "Test and Item Specifications Development"), beginning with a review of test and item specifications, then proceeding to writing and editing of items, pretesting and analysis, and finally selection of an item for a…

A study involving 570 individuals with mental retardation developed the Screening Tool of Feeding Problems, an assessment designed to identify feeding problems presented by persons with mental retardation, and thus facilitate the process of identifying who would benefit from some type of behavioral or medical intervention. Psychometric data are…

TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study) is the largest, most ambitious study of comparative education ever attempted. Despite the TIMSS Subject Matter Advisory Committee's best efforts, not all test items truly reflect student math and science achievement. Some items have more than one correct response; some are not grounded in…

The Inventory of Potential Communicative Acts (IPCA) was given to 20 children with developmental and physical disabilities. Results indicate the IPCA is an efficient means for collecting accurate, verifiable data of the potential communicative acts of children with severe communication impairment associated with a range of developmental and…

Spurred in part by University of California (UC) President Richard Atkinson's February 2001 proposal to drop the SAT I for UC applicants, more attention is being paid to other tests such as the SAT II and ACT. Proponents of these alternative exams argue that the SAT I is primarily an aptitude test measuring some vague concept of "inherent…