ERIC Number: EJ1150146
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1062-7197
EISSN: N/A
Does Test Item Performance Increase with Test-to-Standards Alignment?
Educational Assessment, v22 n3 p171-188 2017
Variation in test performance among examinees from different regions or national jurisdictions is often partially attributed to differences in the degree of content correspondence between local school or training program curricula, and the test of interest. This posited relationship between test-curriculum correspondence, or "alignment," and test performance is usually inferred from highly distal evidence, rather than directly examined. Utilizing mathematics standards content analysis data and achievement test item data from ten U.S. states, we examine the relationship between topic-specific alignment and test item performance. When a particular item's content type is emphasized by the standards, we find evidence of a positive relationship between the alignment measure and proportion-correct test item difficulty, although this effect is not consistent across samples. Implications of the results for curricular achievement test development and score interpretation are discussed.
Descriptors: Test Items, Test Construction, Alignment (Education), Curriculum, Content Analysis, Achievement Tests, Scores, Difficulty Level, Test Interpretation, Test Use, National Competency Tests, Elementary Secondary Education, Foreign Countries, Academic Standards, Predictor Variables, Regression (Statistics), Middle School Students, Secondary School Mathematics, Mathematics Tests, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Middle Schools; Secondary Education; Junior High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Alabama; Indiana; Kansas; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; New Jersey; Ohio; Oregon; Vermont
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: National Assessment of Educational Progress; Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A