The most comprehensive and authoritative book in its field, this edition has been extensively revised and updated. This book is intended for anyone who develops test items for large-scale assessments, as well as teachers and graduate students who de

This is the most current and comprehensive book devoted to item writing. It addresses the related topics of multiple-choice test item development and validation of responses to these test items -- two critical steps in the development of any cognitive test. In so doing, the volume provides a conceptual basis for item writing, reviews the issue of constructed- versus selected-response testing, presents a variety of formats, provides guidance in developing items as well as a basis for reviewing, evaluating, and improving items, and speculates about the future of item development and validation. This book helps readers better understand the concepts, principles, and procedures available to build better test items that will lead to more reliable tests of ability and achievement.

Since test items are the building blocks of any test, learning how to develop and validate test items has always been critical to the teaching-learning process. As they grow in importance and use, testing programs increasingly supplement the use of selected-response (multiple-choice) items with constructed-response formats. This trend is expected to continue. As a result, a new item writing book is needed, one that provides comprehensive coverage of both types of items and of the validity theory underlying them. This book is an outgrowth of the author’s previous book, Developing and Validating Multiple-Choice Test Items, 3e (Haladyna, 2004). That book achieved distinction as the leading source of guidance on creating and validating selected-response test items. Like its predecessor, the content of this new book is based on both an extensive review of the literature and on its author’s long experience in the testing field. It is very timely in this era of burgeoning testing programs, especially when these items are delivered in a computer-based environment. Key features include ... Comprehensive and Flexible – No other book so thoroughly covers the field of test item development and its various applications. Focus on Validity – Validity, the most important consideration in testing, is stressed throughout and is based on the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, currently under revision by AERA, APA, and NCME Illustrative Examples – The book presents various selected and constructed response formats and uses many examples to illustrate correct and incorrect ways of writing items. Strategies for training item writers and developing large numbers of items using algorithms and other item-generating methods are also presented. Based on Theory and Research – A comprehensive review and synthesis of existing research runs throughout the book and complements the expertise of its authors.

This book is intended for anyone who is seriously interested in designing and validating multiple-choice test items that measure understanding and the application of knowledge and skills to complex situations, such as critical thinking and problem solving. The most comprehensive and authoritative book in its field, this edition has been extensively revised to include: *more information about writing items that match content standards; *more information about creating item pools and item banking; *a new set of item-writing rules (with examples) in chapter 5, as well as guidelines for other multiple-choice formats; *hundreds of examples including an expanded chapter 4 devoted to exemplary item formats and a new chapter 6 containing exemplary items (with author annotations); *a chapter on item generation (chapter 7) featuring item modeling and other procedures that speed up item development; and *a more extensive set of references to past and current work in the area of multiple-choice item writing and validation. This book will be of interest to anyone who develops test items for large-scale assessments, as well as teachers and graduate students who desire the most comprehensive and authoritative information on the design and validation of multiple-choice test items.

The second edition of the Handbook of Test Development provides graduate students and professionals with an up-to-date, research-oriented guide to the latest developments in the field. Including thirty-two chapters by well-known scholars and practitioners, it is divided into five sections, covering the foundations of test development, content definition, item development, test design and form assembly, and the processes of test administration, documentation, and evaluation. Keenly aware of developments in the field since the publication of the first edition, including changes in technology, the evolution of psychometric theory, and the increased demands for effective tests via educational policy, the editors of this edition include new chapters on assessing noncognitive skills, measuring growth and learning progressions, automated item generation and test assembly, and computerized scoring of constructed responses. The volume also includes expanded coverage of performance testing, validity, fairness, and numerous other topics. Edited by Suzanne Lane, Mark R. Raymond, and Thomas M. Haladyna, The Handbook of Test Development, 2nd edition, is based on the revised Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, and is appropriate for graduate courses and seminars that deal with test development and usage, professional testing services and credentialing agencies, state and local boards of education, and academic libraries serving these groups.

The College Instructor’s Guide to Writing Test Items: Measuring Student Learning addresses the need for direct and clear guidance on item writing for assessing broad ranges of content in many fields. By focusing on multiple-choice response items, this book provides college instructors the tools to understand, develop, and use assessment activities in classrooms in a way that consistently supports learning. Including dozens of example items and additional resources to support the item development process, this volume is unique in its practical-focus, and is essential reading for instructors and soon-to-be educators, professional development specialists, and higher education researchers. As teaching, assessment, and learning are inherently intertwined, The College Instructor’s Guide to Writing Test Items both facilitates the development of instructors’ own practice and improves the learning outcomes and success of students.

Constructing test items for standardized tests of achievement, ability, and aptitude is a task of enormous importance. The interpretability of a test's scores flows directly from the quality of its items and exercises. Concomitant with score interpretability is the notion that including only carefully crafted items on a test is the primary method by which the skilled test developer reduces unwanted error variance, or errors of measurement, and thereby increases a test score's reliability. The aim of this entire book is to increase the test constructor's awareness of this source of measurement error, and then to describe methods for identifying and minimizing it during item construction and later review. Persons involved in assessment are keenly aware of the increased attention given to alternative formats for test items in recent years. Yet, in many writers' zeal to be `curriculum-relevant' or `authentic' or `realistic', the items are often developed seemingly without conscious thought to the interpretations that may be garnered from them. This book argues that the format for such alternative items and exercises also requires rigor in their construction and even offers some solutions, as one chapter is devoted to these alternative formats. This book addresses major issues in constructing test items by focusing on four ideas. First, it describes the characteristics and functions of test items. A second feature of this book is the presentation of editorial guidelines for writing test items in all of the commonly used item formats, including constructed-response formats and performance tests. A third aspect of this book is the presentation of methods for determining the quality of test items. Finally, this book presents a compendium of important issues about test items, including procedures for ordering items in a test, ethical and legal concerns over using copyrighted test items, item scoring schemes, computer-generated items and more.