In educational and psychological research, we are often interested in discrete latent states of individuals responding to an assessment (e.g., proficiency or non-proficiency on educational standards, the presence or absence of a psychological disorder). Diagnostic classification models (DCMs; also called cognitive diagnostic models [CDMs]) are a…

A course with good learning outcomes is one in which most of the enrolled students achieve the mastery specified in the predefined learning objectives. Since the enrolment is invariably a mix of students with heterogeneous capabilities, the class average grade is a poor indicator of how the class is divided into at least two groups, of high- and…

Although much research has been conducted on the psychometric properties of cognitive diagnostic models, they are only recently being used in operational settings to provide results to examinees and other stakeholders. Using this newer class of models in practice comes with a fresh challenge for diagnostic assessment developers: effectively…

Statistical competence is defined as the leader's feature of character, which characterizes his willingness and ability to organize, to process and interpret information, needed to implement management processes. Statistical competence should be considered as a substructure of functional competence of the leader as it is shown in the article. The…

Low motivation to perform well on a test is a potentially problematic source of construct-irrelevant variance (Messick, 1980), especially when there are low or no stakes attached to performance. That is, interpretations of test scores as indicators of students' knowledge and skills may be compromised if those students do not put forth the effort…