Standard procedures for estimating item parameters in Item Response Theory models make no use of auxiliary information about test items, such as their format or content, or the skills they require for solution. This paper describes a framework for exploiting this information, thereby enhancing the precision and stability of item parameter…

Techniques to identify the degree to which a response pattern is unusual and the pattern's relationship to examinee background are presented. Sato's caution index and modified caution index use clusters of items for comparisons of observed performance outcomes and do not require the use of item response theory. Correlation between the indices was…

Procedural documentation is presented for administering, scoring and analyzing data gathered to examine the construct validity of a set of superitems developed to assess student levels of mathematical reasoning ability. Each superitem includes a mathematical situation and a structured set of questions about that situation. The questions were based…

The analysis of fit of data to a measurement model for graded responses is described. The model is an extension of Rasch's dichotomous model to formats which provide more than two levels of response to items. The model contains one parameter for each person and one parameter for each "step" in an item. A dichotomously-scored item…

A procedure for assessing content-area and total-test dimensionality which uses response function discrepancies (RFD) was studied. Three different versions of the RFD procedure were compared to Bejar's principal axis content-area procedure and Indow and Samejima's exploratory factor analytic technique. The procedures were compared in terms of the…

The Knowledge of Child Development Inventory (KCDI), which is appended, is a 56-item multiple choice test of knowledge of child development from birth to age three. Test items were based on authoritative materials covering the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development of young children. The KCDI was meant to be appropriate for use…

The TESTFACT computer program and full-information factor analysis of test items were used in a computer simulation conducted to correct for the guessing effect. Full-information factor analysis also corrects for omitted items. The present version of TESTFACT handles up to five factors and 150 items. A preliminary smoothing of the tetrachoric…

Empirical evidence is presented related to the effects of using a stratified sampling of items in multiple matrix sampling on the accuracy of estimates of the population mean. Data were obtained from a sample of 600 high school students for a 36-item mathematics test and a 40-item vocabulary test, both subtests of the Iowa Tests of Educational…

Although actual or projected satisfaction with parenting is important in determining whether a couple will become parents and how large their family will be, only minimal research has assessed parental satisfaction. The Cleminshaw-Guidubaldi Parent Satisfaction Scale, a 50-item Likert-type instrument designed to measure components of satisfaction…

A study was commissioned to develop and validate a test to assess the attitudes of Alberta (Canada) students toward the world of work. The following five dimensions were delineated for consideration: (1) attitudes toward earning a living; (2) perceptions about employer expectations; (3) perceptions about available opportunities; (4) relevance of…

Tailored testing provides the same information as group-administered standardized tests, but can do so using fewer items because the items administered are selected for the ability of the individual student. Thus, tailored testing offers several advantages over traditional methods. Because individual tailored tests are not timed, anxiety is…

Problems and procedures in assessing and obtaining fit of data to the Rasch model are treated and assumptions embodied in the Rasch model are made explicit. It is concluded that statistical tests are needed which are sensitive to deviations so that more than one item parameter would be needed for each item, and more than one person parameter would…

A student questionnaire is presented that is designed to measure attitudes toward school, with subscales for attitudes towards self, other students, teachers, the principal, and the school in general: The Battle Student Attitude Scale. Attitudes are discussed briefly, telling what they are, how they develop, and what effect they may have on…

On the basis of past research efforts to improve multiple-choice test information through differential weighting of responses to wrong answers (distractors), two statistical indices are developed. Each describes the properties of response distributions across the options of an item. Jaspen's polyserial generalization of the biserial correlation…

Literature on the development of classroom achievement tests for high school and college level hearing impaired students is reviewed, with emphasis on achievement tests designed to ascertain whether a particular unit of instruction has been understood as it was presented. The paper reviews: the syntactical structure and vocabulary of test items;…