Assessing the Utility of Item Response Models: Computerized Adaptive Testing

How has Item Response Theory helped solve problems in the development and use of computer-adaptive tests? Do we need to balance item content with computer-adaptive tests? Could we use IRT to evaluate unusual responses to computer-delivered tests?     

Psychometric and Social Issues in Admissions to Israeli Universities

How are students selected for university in Israel? What does the Psychometric Entrance Test measure? How effective is the process of translating tests? What studies have been conducted on the tests?     

Development, Implementation, and Validation of a Computerized Test for Statewide Assessment

How does a testing component function in an integrated learning system? How can you customize computerized tests to meet local specifications? How are computerized tests implemented and evaluated? Is the pay-off of computerized testing justified?     

True-False, Alternate-Choice, and Multiple-Choice Items

What does research tell us about true-false tests? Is there a place for this format in standardized tests?     

Audio Computer-Based Tests (CBTs): An Initial Framework for the Use of Sound in Computerized Tests

Are there important aspects of human ability that we have not been measuring? What are the purposes and types of audio that are possible in computerized tests? Will the use of audio in computer‐based tests lead to more valid and reliable measurement?     

Cognitive-Style Differences in Testing Situations

Why will multiple-choice tests continue to serve the needs of education, business, and government? How d o differences in cognitive style affect performance on multiple-choice tests of different types? How does clarity and care in writing multiple-choice items affect performance?     

Linking Assessments Effectively: Purpose and Design

What problems can occur in linking old and newer forms of a test? Does the length of the tests being equated affect the results of a linking study? When tests are designed for different purposes, can the scores be meaningfully interpreted after equating?     

Performance and duration differences between online and paper–pencil tests

Digital technologies have been used for measurement purposes and whether the test medium influences the user is an important issue. The aim of this study is to investigate students?? performances and duration differences between online and paper?Cpencil tests. An online testing tool was developed and administered in order to determine the differences between the traditional paper?Cpencil tests and online tests concerning students?? performances and the duration on tests. This tool enables to add questions that utilize an online database and which are in the form of multiple choice (with 5 or 4 options), true?Cfalse, matching, filling in the blanks, with multiple answers, with short answers, with long answers, and it also enables to prepare tests and to turn them into paper?Cpencil test mode. Performance test was applied with both online and paper?Cpencil modes on junior students at one of the universities in Turkey. Besides, the online testing tool developed within the context of the study was evaluated by instructors with respect to usability, relevance to the purpose and design. Instructor and student questionnaires are developed to determine the opinions on the online testing tool and online tests. Results showed that there was no significant differences between the performances on online and paper?Cpencil tests. On the other hand, the time they spent on the online test has been longer than the time they spent on paper?Cpencil test. Students found the online testing tool easy to use and stated that online test medium is more comfortable than paper?Cpencil tests. However, they complained about external noises, tiredness, and focusing problems regarding the online examination mediums. Generally, instructors have also appreciated the online testing tool??s design and they agree on the fact that it serves for its purposes.     

Court-Defined Job Analysis Requirements for Validation of Teacher Certification Tests

What are the implications for teacher certification tests as courts begin to interpret the need for using a job analysis as a basis for testing? What is the character of recent court cases related to teacher certification tests?     

Intelligence Recreated

Many of us are frustrated with the overuse of intelligence tests. But intelligence tests have become so entrenched in our society that it is hard to imagine how they realistically could be replaced. Schools would be without a well-established screening device, and intelligence research would be without an external measure of validity. But what if we started over and imagined thinking about intelligence without the benefit (some would say hindrance) of Binet? What would theories and tests of intelligence look like? The articles in this special issue address this topic; here, I discuss the articles. The discussion is divided into three sections. The first section deals with definitional issues: How can intelligence be operationally defined, and can a single definition capture cognitive abilities of individuals at all ages? The second section briefly summarizes and evaluates each of the seven theories: How intelligent are these theories of intelligence? The final section focuses on the implications of the theories and theory-based tests reported in this issue: How can future research and educational practices benefit from the views presented here?     

The Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test: Development, Use, and Research

How are entrance examinations for college used in Sweden? What is measured by these examinations? What kinds of research have been conducted? Have gender differences been found on the tests?     

NATD Survey of Testing Practices and Issues

Why do school districts use Standardized tests? What kinds of testing programs are most common? How much do school testing programs cost? Should publishers coordinate their test standardization efforts?     

Criterion Referencd Testing 30 Yeam Later: Promise Broken, Promise Kept

What promises has CRT kept or broken? Why do we need denser tests to make good, criterion-referenced interpretations? What wisdom has grown from experience with CRTs?     

Determining the Validity of Performance-Based Assessment

What criteria should be applied to the evaluation of performance measures? How consistent are the results from performance measures and norm-referenced achievement tests? How can we ensure fairness and credibility in performance measurement?     

Criterion-Referenced Tests: Part I. origins

Where were you in 1963, when this article was first published? What are the two kinds of information you can get from achievement tests? What is a‘triterion level?”     

How Is Reliability Related to the Quality of Test Scores? What Is the Effect of Local Dependence on Reliability?

What are the practical implications of small decreases in reliability coefficients? How does increased item local dependence decrease reliability? How does the new format of more “authentic” reading tests affect reliability?     

Survey of Test Security Practices

How common are securitg breaches in state testing programs? What problems are most frequently encountered? Does the number of problems seem small or large, given the nature of the tests and how they are used?     

Establishing Standards for Teacher Certification Tests

Are teacher certification tests subject to the same concerns as other licensure examinations? How should standards for such examinations be established?     

A Tale of Two Test-Specification Strategies

How detailed should we make the specifications for educational tests? What should be the role of sample or “illustrative” items? How does the nature of test specifications impact on the usefulness of that test?     

美国标准化考试反思——兼议中国大学英语四、六级考试

发轫于美国的标准化考试在世界范围内被大规模采用,但是,可以说标准化考试是在人们的批评声中走到今天的。为什么人们在如此强烈批评它的同时仍然一如既往地使用它?到底应该如何评价标准化考试?在分析美国标准化考试的现状、问题之后,从教育和文化的视角对标准化考试进行了审视,认为标准化考试有其存在的合理性,但在试题的设计、考试成绩的使用以及在教育评价指标中所在的权重应作到科学、客观。