With an increase in the number of online tests, the number of interruptions during testing due to unexpected technical issues seems to be on the rise. For example, interruptions occurred during several recent state tests. When interruptions occur, it is important to determine the extent of their impact on the examinees' scores. Researchers…

The intent of this research was to find an item selection procedure in the multidimensional computer adaptive testing (CAT) framework that yielded higher precision for both the domain and composite abilities, had a higher usage of the item pool, and controlled the exposure rate. Five multidimensional CAT item selection procedures (minimum angle;…

With an increase in the number of online tests, interruptions during testing due to unexpected technical issues seem unavoidable. For example, interruptions occurred during several recent state tests. When interruptions occur, it is important to determine the extent of their impact on the examinees' scores. There is a lack of research on this…

Computerized adaptive testing offers the possibility of gaining information on both the overall ability and cognitive profile in a single assessment administration. Some algorithms aiming for these dual purposes have been proposed, including the shadow test approach, the dual information method (DIM), and the constraint weighted method. The…

The development of statistical methods for detecting test collusion is a new research direction in the area of test security. Test collusion may be described as large-scale sharing of test materials, including answers to test items. Current methods of detecting test collusion are based on statistics also used in answer-copying detection.…

A rapidly expanding arena for item response theory (IRT) is in attitudinal and health-outcomes survey applications, often with polytomous items. In particular, there is interest in computer adaptive testing (CAT). Meeting model assumptions is necessary to realize the benefits of IRT in this setting, however. Although initial investigations of…

Successful administration of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) programs in educational settings requires that test security and item exposure control issues be taken seriously. Developing an item selection algorithm that strikes the right balance between test precision and level of item pool utilization is the key to successful implementation…

Computer-based tests (CBTs) often use random ordering of items in order to minimize item exposure and reduce the potential for answer copying. Little research has been done, however, to examine item position effects for these tests. In this study, different versions of a Rasch model and different response time models were examined and applied to…

This paper proposes two new item selection methods for cognitive diagnostic computerized adaptive testing: the restrictive progressive method and the restrictive threshold method. They are built upon the posterior weighted Kullback-Leibler (KL) information index but include additional stochastic components either in the item selection index or in…

In automated test assembly (ATA), the methodology of mixed-integer programming is used to select test items from an item bank to meet the specifications for a desired test form and optimize its measurement accuracy. The same methodology can be used to automate the formatting of the set of selected items into the actual test form. Three different…

In this study we evaluated and compared three item selection procedures: the maximum Fisher information procedure (F), the a-stratified multistage computer adaptive testing (CAT) (STR), and a refined stratification procedure that allows more items to be selected from the high a strata and fewer items from the low a strata (USTR), along with…

Much recent psychometric literature has focused on cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs), a promising class of instruments used to measure the strengths and weaknesses of examinees. This article introduces a genetic algorithm to perform automated test assembly alongside CDMs. The algorithm is flexible in that it can be applied whether the goal is to…

In computerized adaptive testing (CAT), ensuring the security of test items is a crucial practical consideration. A common approach to reducing item theft is to define maximum item exposure rates, i.e., to limit the proportion of examinees to whom a given item can be administered. Numerous methods for controlling exposure rates have been proposed…

The accuracy of CAT scores can be negatively affected by local dependence if the CAT utilizes parameters that are misspecified due to the presence of local dependence and/or fails to control for local dependence in responses during the administration stage. This article evaluates the existence and effect of local dependence in a test of…

A potential undesirable effect of multistage testing is differential speededness, which happens if some of the test takers run out of time because they receive subtests with items that are more time intensive than others. This article shows how a probabilistic response-time model can be used for estimating differences in time intensities and speed…