Item-level information, such as difficulty and discrimination are invaluable to the test assembly, equating, and scoring practices. Estimating these parameters within the context of large-scale performance assessments is often hindered by the use of unbalanced designs for assigning examinees to tasks and raters because such designs result in very…

The articles in this special issue make two important contributions to our understanding of the impact of accommodations on test score validity. First, they illustrate a variety of methods for collection and rigorous analyses of empirical data that can supplant expert judgment of the impact of accommodations. These methods range from internal…

This paper provides an overview of evidence-centered assessment design (ECD) and some general information about of the Advanced Placement (AP[R]) Program. Then the papers in this special issue are discussed, as they relate to the use of ECD in the revision of various AP tests. This paper concludes with some observations about the need to validate…

The cornerstone of evidence-centered assessment design (ECD) is an evidentiary argument that requires that each target of measurement (e.g., learning goal) for an assessment be expressed as a "claim" to be made about an examinee that is relevant to the specific purpose and audience(s) for the assessment. The "observable evidence" required to…

A simultaneous equating of four new test forms to each other and to one previous form was accomplished through a complex design incorporating seven separate equating links. Each new form was linked to the reference form by four different paths, and each path produced a different score conversion. The procedure used to resolve these inconsistencies…

The National Accessible Reading Assessment Projects (NARAP) have been conducting research and engaging in other activities to pull together a full view of the issues and potential solutions for developing reading assessments that are fully accessible and produce valid results for students with disabilities. To introduce this topic, the assumptions…

The report, "Evaluation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress", provides a number of recommendations for addressing validity concerns about NAEP. This article identifies actions that could be taken by the Congress, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the National Assessment Governing Board--which share responsibility for…

Given the changing landscape of educational accountability at the local, state, and national levels, and the changes in the uses of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), including the evolving uses of NAEP as a policy tool to interpret state assessment and accountability systems, an explicit statement of the current and potential…

The idea that formative assessments embedded in a curriculum could help guide teachers toward better instructional practices that lead to greater student learning has taken center stage in science assessment research. In order to embed formative assessments in a curriculum, curriculum developers and assessment specialists should collaborate to…

Our project to embed formative student assessments in the Foundational Approaches in Science Teaching curriculum required a close collaboration between curriculum developers at the Curriculum Research & Development Group (CRDG) and assessment developers at the Stanford Educational Assessment Laboratory (SEAL). This was a new endeavor for each…

With the exception of the procedures developed by Porter and colleagues (Porter, 2002), other methods of defining and measuring alignment are essentially limited to alignment between tests and standards. Porter's procedures have been generalized to investigating the alignment between content standards, tests, textbooks, and even classroom…

A process for judging the alignment between curriculum standards and assessments developed by the author is presented. This process produces information on the relationship of standards and assessments on four alignment criteria: Categorical Concurrence, Depth of Knowledge Consistency, Range of Knowledge Correspondence, and Balance of…

This article examines three typical approaches to alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities--portfolios, performance assessments, and rating scales. A detailed analysis of common and unique design features of these approaches is provided, including features of each approach that influence the psychometric quality of…

Under the adequate yearly progress requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (2001), states are currently faced with the challenge of demonstrating continuous improvement in student performance in reading and mathematics. Beginning in 2007 to 2008, science will be required as a component of the NCLB Act. This article describes South…

In a coherent educational assessment system, the relation between the cut scores across the grades of a content area should reflect the goals of the educational system moderated by the state of the standards within that system. In this article, we discuss the need for consistent cut scores across the grades of a content area; we present and…