In an attempt to determine the level of questioning according to Bloom's taxonomy, generated by test items that accompany selected fifth-grade science textbooks, an analysis of the tests provided by three of the most commonly used elementary science textbooks was completed. Additionally this analysis examined the extent to which each series…

Errors in item parameter estimates have a negative impact on the accuracy of item and test information functions. The estimation errors may be random, but because items with higher levels of discriminating power are more likely to be selected for a test, and these items are most apt to contain positive errors, the result is that item information…

Two studies investigated factors affecting the scores of Hawaii students taking the verbal subtest of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). For the past several years, the mean verbal scores of Hawaii students have consistently been among the lowest 10% of all states. The first study addressed the identification of items and types of items that have…

In the context of Phase Four of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Science Attribute Study, this report includes a discussion of item attributes, an overview of the item attributes used in the study, some psychometric characteristics of the blocks analyzed, a general description of the rule-space methodology, the results…

Often, educational and psychological measurement instruments must be translated from one language to another when they are administered to different cultural groups. The translation process often necessarily introduces measurement inequivalence. Therefore, an examination may be said to exhibit differential functioning if the test provides a…

In computerized adaptive testing, updating parameter estimates using adaptive testing data is often called online calibration. In this paper, how to evaluate whether the adaptive testing model used for online calibration fits the item response model used sufficiently is studied. Three approaches are investigated, based on a Lagrange multiplier…

R. J. Owen (1975) proposed an approximate empirical Bayes procedure for item selection in adaptive testing. The procedure replaces the true posterior by a normal approximation with closed-form expressions for its first two moments. This approximation was necessary to minimize the computational complexity involved in a fully Bayesian approach, but…

This manual is designed to assist both special and regular educators with mastering the skills for developing quality teacher-made tests consistent with content-oriented instruction. The manual presents tips for constructing both objective and subjective, supply and select test questions--namely, short answer, essay, fill in the blanks or…

This document contains 20 competency-based examinations with student and instructor manuals for computer science microcomputer-related occupations. For each of the examinations, the student manual contains the following: the competency, the performance objective, directions, the facility to be used, the materials and equipment needed, a space to…

Two analyses of variance (ANOVA) models for item scores are compared. The first is an items by subject random effect ANOVA. The second is a mixed effects ANOVA with items fixed and subjects random. Comparisons regarding reliability, Cronbach's alpha coefficient, psychometric inference, and inter-item covariance structure are made between the…

The usefulness of response latency data for biographical inventory items was assessed for improving the inventory's validity. Focus was on assessing whether weighting item scores on the basis of their latencies improves the predictive validity of the inventory's total score. A total of 120 items from the Armed Services Applicant Profile (ASAP)…

Three experiments were conducted, all employing undergraduates in college courses taught according to personalized system of instruction (PSI) principles. Experiment I examined retention as a function of the feedback delay interval in an introductory anthropology course using short-answer essay tests. Experiment II varied the feedback delay…

An adaptation of the Foreign Service Institute's (FSI) oral interview test for oral language proficiency developed for use at the American Institute of Musical Studies' (AIMS) summer vocal institute in Austria to determine students' improvement in German language is discussed. The reasons for its selection over other major comparable tests are…

This document presents a series of five papers describing issues in educational measurement. "A Simple Model for Diagnostic Testing When There Are Several Types of Misinformation" directly addresses the diagnostic issue. It describes a simple latent trait model for testing, examines use of erroneous algorithms, and illustrates the…

An extension of the Bock-Samejima model for multiple choice items is introduced. The model provides for varying probabilities of the response alternative when the examinee guesses. A marginal maximum likelihood method is devised for estimating the item parameters, and likelihood ratio tests for comparing more and less constrained forms of the…