The item-total point-biserial correlation is a common psychometric index regarding the quality of a test item, namely how well it differentiates between examinees with high vs low ability. What is item discrimination? While the word “discrimination” has a negative connotation, it is actually a really good thing for an item to have. It means that […]
The California Department of Human Resources (CalHR, calhr.ca.gov/) has selected Assessment Systems Corporation (ASC, assess.com) as its vendor for an online assessment platform. CalHR is responsible for the personnel selection and hiring of many job roles for the State, and delivers hundreds of thousands of tests per year to job applicants. CalHR seeks to migrate to a […]
Nathan Thompson, Ph.D., was recently invited to talk about ASC and the future of educational assessment on the Ednorth EdTech Podcast. EdNorth is an association dedicated to continuing the long history of innovation in educational technology that has been rooted in the Twin Cities of Minnesota (Minneapolis / Saint Paul). Click below to listen online, […]
A standard setting study is a formal process for establishing a performance standard. In the assessment world, there are actually two uses of the word standard – the other one refers to…
Item analysis is the statistical evaluation of test questions to ensure they are good quality, and fix them if they are not. This is a key step in the test development cycle; after items have been delivered to examinees (either as a pilot, or in full usage), we analyze the statistics to determine if there […]
So, yeah, the use of “hacks” in the title is definitely on the ironic and gratuitous side, but there is still a point to be made: are you making full use of current technology to keep your tests secure? Gone are the days when you are limited to linear test forms on paper in physical […]
Do you conduct adaptive testing research? Perhaps a thesis or dissertation? Or maybe you have developed adaptive tests and have a technical report or validity study? I encourage you to check out the Journal of Computerized Adaptive Testing as a publication outlet for your adaptive testing research. JCAT is the official journal of the International […]
The IRT Test Information Function is a concept from item response theory (IRT) that is designed to evaluate how well an assessment differentiates examinees, and at what ranges of ability. For example, we might expect an exam composed of difficult items to do a great job in differentiating top examinees, but it is worthless for […]
The standard error of measurement (SEM) is one of the core concepts in psychometrics. One of the primary assumptions of any assessment is that it is accurately and consistently measuring whatever it is we want to measure. We, therefore, need to demonstrate that it is doing so. There are a number of ways of quantifying […]
What is a question bank? A question bank refers to a pool of test questions to be used on various assessments across time. ..
