TY - JOUR

T1 - Simultaneous Constrained Adaptive Item Selection for Group-Based Testing

AU - Bengs, Daniel

AU - Kroehne, Ulf

AU - Brefeld, Ulf

PY - 2021/6/1

Y1 - 2021/6/1

N2 - By tailoring test forms to the test-taker's proficiency, Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) enables substantial increases in testing efficiency over fixed forms testing. When used for formative assessment, the alignment of task difficulty with proficiency increases the chance that teachers can derive useful feedback from assessment data. The application of CAT to formative assessment in the classroom, however, is hindered by the large number of different items used for the whole class; the required familiarization with a large number of test items puts a significant burden on teachers. An improved CAT procedure for group-based testing is presented, which uses simultaneous automated test assembly to impose a limit on the number of items used per group. The proposed linear model for simultaneous adaptive item selection allows for full adaptivity and the accommodation of constraints on test content. The effectiveness of the group-based CAT is demonstrated with real-world items in a simulated adaptive test of 3,000 groups of test-takers, under different assumptions on group composition. Results show that the group-based CAT maintained the efficiency of CAT, while a reduction in the number of used items by one half to two-thirds was achieved, depending on the within-group variance of proficiencies.

AB - By tailoring test forms to the test-taker's proficiency, Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) enables substantial increases in testing efficiency over fixed forms testing. When used for formative assessment, the alignment of task difficulty with proficiency increases the chance that teachers can derive useful feedback from assessment data. The application of CAT to formative assessment in the classroom, however, is hindered by the large number of different items used for the whole class; the required familiarization with a large number of test items puts a significant burden on teachers. An improved CAT procedure for group-based testing is presented, which uses simultaneous automated test assembly to impose a limit on the number of items used per group. The proposed linear model for simultaneous adaptive item selection allows for full adaptivity and the accommodation of constraints on test content. The effectiveness of the group-based CAT is demonstrated with real-world items in a simulated adaptive test of 3,000 groups of test-takers, under different assumptions on group composition. Results show that the group-based CAT maintained the efficiency of CAT, while a reduction in the number of used items by one half to two-thirds was achieved, depending on the within-group variance of proficiencies.

KW - Business informatics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092653620&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/jedm.12285

DO - 10.1111/jedm.12285

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85092653620

VL - 58

SP - 236

EP - 261

JO - Journal of Educational Measurement

JF - Journal of Educational Measurement

SN - 0022-0655

IS - 2

ER -