Improving Subscore Estimation Using a Hierarchical Item Response Theory Model: The Construction of a More Reliable Diagnostic Score Profile

• In Event: Advances in Item Response Theory Estimation

Abstract

Score reporting is a topic of importance for stakeholders in the testing industry. For those practitioners in educational assessment, effectively communicating student scores and sub scores is challenging since the stakeholders (administrators, teachers, parents, students, etc) have different needs when it comes to score reporting. Some are most interested in a final outcome or overall scores while others are interested in more granular information or knowledge that may be best addressed using sub scores or domain scores. As the testing landscape transitions to the Common Core standards, the PARCC and SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium are pushing for tests that provide more diagnostic information, in order to provide more information as to what a student knows in the current year.

Authors

• Litong Zhang, CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC

• Jessalyn Smith, CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC

• Keith A. Boughton, CTB/McGraw-Hill LLC