The "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" recommend an argument-based approach to validation that involves a clear statement of the intended interpretation and use of test scores, the identification of the underlying assumptions and inferences in that statement--termed the interpretation/use argument, and gathering of…

ACT requested assistance from the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment (Center for Assessment) to investigate declines of scores for states administering the ACT to its 11th grade students in 2018. This request emerged from conversations among state leaders, the Center for Assessment, and ACT in trying to understand the…

This technical report documents the processes and procedures implemented to support the Spring 2021 Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) Phase I Pilot in English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, and Science assessments by NWEA® under the supervision of the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE). The technical report shows how the…

The Spring 2020 Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) General Summative testing was cancelled due to COVID-19. This technical report documents the processes and procedures that had been implemented to support the Spring 2020 assessments prior to the cancellation. The following sections are presented in this technical report: (1)…

This technical report documents the processes and procedures implemented to support the Spring 2019 Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) General Summative English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, and Science assessments by NWEA® under the supervision of the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE). The technical report shows how the…

The following report gives the statistical findings of the July 2010 TMSL Bar results. Procedures: Data is pre-existing and was given to the Evaluator by email from the Registrar and Dean. Statistical analyses were run using SPSS 17 to address the following research questions: 1. What are the statistical descriptors of the July 2010 overall TMSL…

The Woodcock Johnson III Brief Assessment is a "maximum performance test" (Reynolds, Livingston, Willson, 2006) that is designed to assess the upper levels of knowledge and skills of the test taker using both power and speed to obtain a large amount of information in a short period of time. The Brief Assessment also provides an adequate…

The article reports on a comparative study of the abilities of aphasic speakers and normal control subjects to comprehend and produce verbs and sentences. The analysis is based on test results obtained as part of the standardization procedure for a test battery originally developed for Dutch and since translated and adapted for English and…

Attempted to improve the measurement quality of a complex performance assessment through principled assessment design using the example of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Early Childhood/Generalist examination. All indexes examined improved after revisions were made. Results show the importance of attention to assessment…

A procedure was developed for finding equating coefficients of the linear transformation of the metric of one test to that of another when nominally scored. Empirical results indicate that tests scored under a nominal response model can be placed on a common metric in horizontal and vertical equating. (SLD)

Cut scores, quartile ranking, sample size, and overall classification scheme were studied as personnel selection procedures in two samples. The first was 120 simulated observations of employee scores based on actual selection procedures for applicants for administrative assistant positions. The other sample was composed of test results for 73…

Combining student scores to form subtotals and finally a total score to determine a grade is discussed. The composite score reached by combining measures or subtotals is only valid when the scores are combined so that the actual weight of each measure or subtotal in the total score is the same as the intended weight. Three types of variability…

This paper illustrates a method to study rater severity across exam administrations. A multi-facet Rasch model defined the ratings as being dominated by four facets: examinee ability, rater severity, project difficulty, and task difficulty. Ten years of data from administrations of a histotechnology performance assessment were pooled and analyzed…

This paper presents a method for estimating the accuracy and consistency of classifications based on test scores. The scores can be produced by any scoring method, including the formation of a weighted composite. The estimates use data from a single form. The reliability of the score is used to estimate its effective test length in terms of…

When test-takers are offered a choice of essay questions, some questions may be harder than others. If the test includes a common portion taken by all test-takers, an adjustment to the scores is possible. Previously proposed adjustment procedures disregard the test-makers' efforts to create questions of equal difficulty; these procedures tend to…