The Content Validation Form is presented as a means of proving that occupational tests provide a representative work sample or knowledge, skill, or ability necessary for a job. It is best used during test construction by a panel of subject matter experts. (SK)

The use of the "none of the above" (NOTA) option in test items is explored. Empirical research on use of this option is obscuring the fact that, when NOTA is the correct answer, it can reward examinees with serious knowledge deficiencies or misinformation. This option should not be used. (SLD)

Examination of the role of psychometrics in the development of multiple-choice tests and performance-based assessments and consideration of validity and reliability issues leads to this conclusion: Choice of assessments for instruction or large-scale accountability depends on which is more appropriate for the particular purposes. Taxonomic…

Critiques the over-emphasis on multiple choice testing in some large first-year college classes, as well as the poor design and construction of many tests, and calls for a broader and more diverse range of assessment measures. Argues that multiple choice tests to not allow students to develop communicative competence in the academic disciplines.…

Used mathematics achievement data from the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to examine the sex difference by item difficulty interaction. The predicted negative correlation was found for all eight populations and was…

Scores of 220 students on assessment instruments used for admission to a business management department (multiple-choice test, case analysis, executive summary, business presentation) were analyzed. Multiple choice was not a reliable measure of knowledge. The other three methods reliably measured knowledge, skills, and abilities for management…

The closed-interval signed area (CSA) and closed-interval unsigned area (CUA) statistics were studied by Monte Carlo simulation to detect differential item functioning (DIF) when the reference and focal groups had different parameter distributions. Different behaviors of the CSA and CUA as functions of the parameters are discussed. (SLD)

Proposes a factorial procedure for investigating differential distractor functioning in multiple choice items that models each distractor with a distinct distractibility parameter. Results of a simulation study show that the parameters of the proposed modeling were recovered very well. Analysis of 10 4-choice items from a college entrance…

Compared performances of 3,300 third graders on a performance-based writing test and a multiple choice test of writing skills. Overall, results support the view that performance-based writing assessment is relatively fair and that it measures learning tasks that are related to the school's curriculum. (SLD)

Compared performances of third graders (n=3,300) on a performance-based writing test and a multiple choice test of writing skills. Overall, results support the view that performance-based writing assessment is relatively fair and that it measures learning tasks that are related to the school's curriculum. (SLD)

There are many ways of assessing students and the work they do, and many ways of getting them ready for those assessments. Special needs students provide an extra challenge to educators because they have difficulty preparing for assessment and often more difficulty communicating what they know. It is not enough to be a thoughtful, lab-focused…

Score equity assessment (SEA) is introduced, and placed within a fair assessment context that includes differential prediction or fair selection and differential item functioning. The notion of subpopulation invariance of linking functions is central to the assessment of score equity, just as it has been for differential item functioning and…

The recent increase in the use of constructed-response items in educational assessment and the dissatisfaction with the nature of the decision that the judges must make using traditional standard-setting methods created a need to develop new and effective standard-setting procedures for tests that include both multiple-choice and…

This study investigates the effect of method of assessment on student performance. Five research conditions go together with one of four assessment modes, namely: portfolio, case-based, peer assessment, and multiple choice evaluation. Data collection is done by means of a pre-test/post-test-design with the help of two standardised tests (N=816).…

Many speakers with repaired cleft palate have reduced intelligibility, but there are limitations with current procedures for assessing intelligibility. The aim of this study was to construct a single-word intelligibility test for speakers with cleft palate. The test used a multiple-choice identification format, and was based on phonetic contrasts…