Charles Lewis

Alina A. von Davier

Duanli Yan

Devising tests that evaluate a nation’s educational standing and implement efficacious educational reforms requires a careful balance among the contributions of technology, psychometrics, test design, and the learning sciences. Unlike other forms of adaptive testing, multistage testing (MST) is highly suitable for testing educational achievement because it can be adapted to educational surveys and student testing. Computerized Multistage Testing: Theory and Applications covers the methodologies, underlying technology, and implementation aspects of this type of test design. The book discusses current scientific perspectives and practical considerations for each step involved in setting up an MST program. It covers the history of MST, test design and implementation for various purposes, item pool development and maintenance, IRT-based and classical test theory-based methodologies for test assembly, routing and scoring, equating, test security, and existing software. It also explores current research, existing operational programs, and innovative future assessments using MST. Intended for psychologists, social scientists, and educational measurement scientists, this volume provides the first unified source of information on the design, psychometrics, implementation, and operational use of MST. It shows how to apply theoretical statistical tools to testing in novel and useful ways. It also explains how to explicitly tie the assumptions made by each model to observable (or at least inferable) data conditions.

Theory and Applications

Computerized Multistage Testing

David Magis

The goal of this guide and manual is to provide a practical and brief overview of the theory on computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and multistage testing (MST) and to illustrate the methodologies and applications using R open source language and several data examples. Implementation relies on the R packages catR and mstR that have been already or are being developed by the first author (with the team) and that include some of the newest research algorithms on the topic. The book covers many topics along with the R-code: the basics of R, theoretical overview of CAT and MST, CAT designs, CAT assembly methodologies, CAT simulations, catR package, CAT applications, MST designs, IRT-based MST methodologies, tree-based MST methodologies, mstR package, and MST applications. CAT has been used in many large-scale assessments over recent decades, and MST has become very popular in recent years. R open source language also has become one of the most useful tools for applications in almost all fields, including business and education. Though very useful and popular, R is a difficult language to learn, with a steep learning curve. Given the obvious need for but with the complex implementation of CAT and MST, it is very difficult for users to simulate or implement CAT and MST. Until this manual, there has been no book for users to design and use CAT and MST easily and without expense; i.e., by using the free R software. All examples and illustrations are generated using predefined scripts in R language, available for free download from the book's website.

Using Packages catR and mstR

Computerized Adaptive and Multistage Testing with R

Mengxiao Zhu

Patrick C. Kyllonen

This edited volume provides a platform for experts from various fields to introduce and discuss their different perspectives on the topic of teamwork and collaborative problem solving. It brings together researchers in organizational teaming, educational collaboration, tutoring, simulation, and gaming as well as those involved in statistical and psychometric process modelling. This book seeks to channel this expertise towards advances in the measurement and assessment of cognitive and non-cognitive skills of individuals and teams.

Innovative Assessment of Collaboration

Paul W. Holland

Dorothy T. Thayer

KE is applied to the four major equating designs and to both Chain Equating and Post-Stratification Equating for the Non-Equivalent groups with Anchor Test Design. It will be an important reference for several groups: (a) Statisticians (b) Practitioners and (c) Instructors in psychometric and measurement programs. The authors assume some familiarity with linear and equipercentile test equating, and with matrix algebra.

Alina A. von Davier

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