To compare different scoring algorithms for Pick-N multiple correct answer multiple-choice (MC) exams regarding test reliability, student performance, total item discrimination and item difficulty. Data from six 3rd year medical students' end of term exams in internal medicine from 2005 to 2008 at Munich University were analysed (1,255 students,…

Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors (AP/OD) is a comprehensive, 10-session parenting skills and advocacy program developed by and for low-income Latino parents with children ages 0 to 5. Drawing from the real-life experiences of Latino parents and local data about their schools and communities, sessions are filled with interactive activities that aim…

Multiple-choice (MC) reading comprehension test items comprise three components: text passage, questions about the text, and MC answers. The construct validity of this format has been repeatedly criticized. In three between-subjects experiments, fourth graders (N[subscript 1] = 230, N[subscript 2] = 340, N[subscript 3] = 194) worked on three…

The purpose of this article is to illustrate a seven-step process for determining whether inferential reading items were more susceptible to cultural bias than literal reading items. The seven-step process was demonstrated using multiple-choice data from the reading portion of a reading/language arts test for fifth and seventh grade Hispanic,…

Reusing questions on an examination is a concern because test administrators do not want to unfairly aid examinees by exposing them to questions they have seen on previous examinations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that prior exposure of questions has on the performance of repeat examinees. Two recent administrations of…

Cognitive or skills diagnosis models are discrete latent variable models developed specifically for the purpose of identifying the presence or absence of multiple fine-grained skills. However, applications of these models typically involve dichotomous or dichotomized data, including data from multiple-choice (MC) assessments that are scored as…

"Differential item functioning" (DIF) and "differential distractor functioning" (DDF) are methods used to screen for item bias (Camilli & Shepard, 1994; Penfield, 2008). Using an applied empirical example, this mixed-methods study examined the congruency and relationship of DIF and DDF methods in screening multiple-choice items. Data for Study I…

The purpose of research described in the current study is the psychological reliability, its importance, application, and more to investigate on the impact analysis of psychological reliability of population pilot study for selection of particular reliable multi-choice item test in foreign language research work. The population for subject…

Although concept inventories are among the most frequently used tools in the physics and astronomy education communities, they are rarely evaluated using item response theory (IRT). When IRT models fit the data, they offer sample-independent estimates of item and person parameters. IRT may also provide a way to measure students' learning gains…

This study aims at comparing the difficulty levels, discrimination powers and powers of testing achievement of multiple choice tests and true-false tests, and thus revealing the rightness or wrongness of the commonly believed hypothesis that multiple choice tests don't bear the same properties as true-false tests. The research was performed with…

This study focused on human-otter interactions in Slovenia. The aim of the study was to obtain data about secondary-school students' knowledge of and attitudes toward the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) and its conservation. The survey was carried out in fall 2008 and winter 2008-09 and included 273 teenagers. Their average age was 15.57 (SD = 1.01,…

Previous research overwhelmingly suggests that feelings of ease people experience while processing information lead them to infer that their comprehension is high, whereas feelings of difficulty lead them to infer that their comprehension is low. However, the inferences people draw from their experiences of processing fluency should also vary in…

End-of-Course (EOC) tests are given statewide in selected courses typically taken in high school. Results for 2009-10 (and prior years, where available) are reported in terms of both average scale scores and the percentage of students scoring proficient. For the first time in 2009-10, all students who scored at Level II on EOCs were retested.…

The following paper examined the effects of a new method of teaching for remedial mathematics, named the hybrid model of instruction. Due to increasing importance of high stakes testing, the study sought to determine if this method of instruction, that blends traditional teaching and problem-based learning, had different learning effects on…

A number of authors have presented data that challenge the validity of self-report of strategy use or choice of strategy. We created a multiple-choice measure of students' strategy use based on the work of Kozminsky, E., and Kozminsky, L. (2001), and tested it with three samples as part of a series of studies testing the fit of the DIME model of…