Score Reporting

• In Event: National English Ability Test in Korea

Abstract

Based on the plan to implement National English Ability Test (NEAT) as announced by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST), students may possibly take different test forms on different test dates. The use of different test forms on different test dates may cause the difference in item difficulty, and thus students’ score cannot be compared directly. In order to compare students’ score on the same scale and make it interpretable, Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) will adjust scores using a statistical procedure called equating, and then conduct standard setting for reporting students’ English ability in the form of ranks. For equating, item response theory (IRT) based method will be used, and the bookmark method will be used for standard setting. In standard setting, three bands will be used to distinguish students’ performance on the test. In order to make these processes happen automatically, KICE is currently developing the NEAT item banking system which includes the automatic system for calibration, equating, standard setting and score reporting.

Authors

• Ki-Ja Si, Ewha Womans University

• Insuk Kim, Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation

• Yongsang Lee, Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation

• Kyung-Ae Jin, Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation

• Dongkwang Shin, Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation