The effect of large, within-examinee item difficulty variability on estimates of the proportion of consistent classification of examinees into mastery categories was studied over 2 test administrations for 100 simulated examinees. The proportion of consistent classifications was adequately estimated using the technique proposed by M. Subkoviak…

This article discusses the development of the Kansas Adapted/Special Physical Education Manual, including the rationale for, and adaptation of, the health-related physical fitness test items selected. The manual was developed to help meet the needs of children with various disabilities and of professionals who administer fitness tests to them.…

The Achievement Anxiety Test's dimensionality was assessed using data from 378 university students. Analyses suggest the viability of a unidimensional construct, whose ability to provide extreme subject groups showing differences on other characteristics of academic achievement was assessed. Such a scale has potential for separating…

Differential drift of item location parameters over a 10-year period is demonstrated in data from the College Board Physics Achievement Test. Item content and secondary school curricula shifts are associated with drift. Statistical procedures for detecting item parameter drift in item pools for long-term testing programs are proposed. (TJH)

An investigation analyzed difficulty and discrimination statistics for 91 multiple-choice tests written by 46 business administration instructors and administered to 7,511 students. A large percentage of the tests failed the difficulty and discrimination standards proposed by several testing experts, implying that teachers need more preparation in…

A taxonomy of 43 rules for writing multiple-choice test items is presented, based on a consensus of 46 textbooks. These guidelines are presented as complete and authoritative, with solid consensus apparent for 33 of the rules. Four rules lack consensus, and 5 rules were cited fewer than 10 times. (SLD)

Addresses common pitfalls in homogeneous scale construction in clinical and social psychology. Offers suggestions about item writing, answer scale formats, data analysis procedures, and overall scale development strategy. Emphasizes effective use of factor-analytic methods to select items for scales and to determine its proper location in…

Hierarchical Bayes procedures for the two-parameter logistic item response model were compared for estimating item and ability parameters through two joint and two marginal Bayesian procedures. Marginal procedures yielded smaller root mean square differences for item and ability, but results for larger sample size and test length were similar.…

Psychometric analyses of data from 230 individuals yielded a 29-item 4-scale revision of the original 50-item 5-scale Mental Retardation Attitude Inventory. Results showed adequate item characteristics; adequate reliability and homogeneity; adequate reliability, homogeneity, specificity, and independence of the four scales; and initial validity…

Whether judges on bias review committees can identify test items that function differently for blacks and whites was studied using items from teacher certification tests with 42 judges from 3 committees. Results indicate that agreement between judges and empirical indices are not more than would be expected by chance. (SLD)

Over 5,000 students participated in a study of the dimensionality and stability of the item parameter estimates of a mathematics performance assessment developed for the Quantitative Understanding: Amplifying Student Achievement and Reasoning (QUASAR) Project. Results demonstrate the test's dimensionality and illustrate ways to examine use of the…

This study evaluated the Bielefeld Developmental Test for Blind Infants and Preschoolers by comparing cognitive performance of blind and sighted children (ages three and four). Results indicated that even this test (with "blind-neutral" items) did not permit a fair comparative assessment, though it did prove suitable for within-group…

The role of self-referencing was investigated in 3 experiments using a 5-term linear ordering task designed to simulate certain aspects of mathematics education for 228 college students. Beneficial effects of self-referencing were found for questions involving self-referencing themselves, but not for questions not involving self-referencing. (SLD)

Two investigations involving 700 candidates for medical specialty certification suggest that test items with only 4 options perform as well as the same items with 5 options. Results also suggest that five-option multiple-choice items can be reduced to four-option items by removing a nonfunctioning item. (SLD)

Accounting students (n=127) were randomly assigned one of two exams: one with multiple-choice items in an order corresponding to the sequence of class coverage of the topics, the other in random order. No differences appeared in test scores or time of completion. (SK)