Response time information has recently attracted significant attention in the literature as it may provide meaningful information about item preknowledge. The methods that use response time information to identify examinees with potential item preknowledge make an implicit assumption that the examinees with item preknowledge differ in their…

A readily and widely applicable procedure is discussed that can be used to point and interval estimate the probabilities of particular responses on polytomous items at pre-specified points along underlying latent continua. The items are assumed thereby to be part of unidimensional multi-component measuring instruments that may contain also binary…

In order to detect a wide range of aberrant behaviors, it can be useful to incorporate information beyond the dichotomous item scores. In this paper, we extend the l[subscript z] and l*[subscript z] person-fit statistics so that unusual behavior in item scores and unusual behavior in item distractors can be used as indicators of aberrance. Through…

The use of the aggregate scoring method for scoring concordance tests requires the weighting of test items to be derived from the performance of a group of experts who take the test under the same conditions as the examinees. However, the average score of experts constituting the reference panel remains a critical issue in the use of these tests.…

In a justice-oriented antiracist assessment process, attention to the disruption of white supremacy must occur at every stage--from construct articulation to score reporting. An important step in the assessment development process is the item review stage often referred to as Bias/Fairness and Sensitivity Review. I argue that typical approaches to…

The part of responses that is absent in the nonequivalent groups with anchor test (NEAT) design can be managed to a planned missing scenario. In the context of small sample sizes, we present a machine learning (ML)-based imputation technique called chaining random forests (CRF) to perform equating tasks within the NEAT design. Specifically, seven…

Though a substantial amount of research exists on imputing missing scores in educational assessments, there is little research on cases where responses or scores to an item are missing for all test takers. In this paper, we tackled the problem of imputing missing scores for tests for which the responses to an item are missing for all test takers.…

This study was conducted to further research into the impact of student-group item parameter drift (SIPD) --referred to as subpopulation item parameter drift in previous research-- on ability estimates and proficiency classification accuracy when occurring in the discrimination parameter of a 2-PL item response theory (IRT) model. Using Monte…

This article provides a process to carefully evaluate the suitability of a content domain for which diagnostic classification models (DCMs) could be applicable and then optimized steps for constructing a test blueprint for applying DCMs and a real-life example illustrating this process. The content domains were carefully evaluated using a set of…

A simulation study was conducted to investigate the heuristics of the SIBTEST procedure and how it compares with ETS classification guidelines used with the Mantel-Haenszel procedure. Prior heuristics have been used for nearly 25 years, but they are based on a simulation study that was restricted due to computer limitations and that modeled item…

This study offers an approach to testing for differential item functioning (DIF) in a recently developed measurement framework, referred to as "D"-scoring method (DSM). Under the proposed approach, called "P-Z" method of testing for DIF, the item response functions of two groups (reference and focal) are compared by…

This dissertation was designed to foster a deeper understanding of population invariance in the context of composite-score equating and provide practitioners with guidelines for addressing score equity concerns at the composite score level. The purpose of this dissertation was threefold. The first was to compare different composite equating…

This case study applied the "weak theory" of Automatic Item Generation (AIG) to generate isomorphic item instances (i.e., unique but psychometrically equivalent items) for a large-scale assessment. Three representative instances were selected from each item template (i.e., model) and pilot-tested. In addition, a new analytical framework,…

Response anchoring, the tendency for respondents to provide item responses equivalent (or in close proximity) to immediately preceding responses, can reflect disengaged responding and/or cognitive challenges in comprehending test items. Using Grade 4-12 student responses to a survey measure of four social-emotional learning constructs collected…

Educational tests often have a cluster of items linked by a common stimulus ("testlet"). In such a design, the dependencies caused between items are called "testlet effects." In particular, the directional testlet effect (DTE) refers to a recursive influence whereby responses to earlier items can positively or negatively affect…