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A Pragmatic Future for NAEP Containing Costs and Updating Technologies (2022) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 62-65

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From page 62...
... The potential route for such cost savings relates to the two innovations discussed above: longer testing of two unrelated subjects and improving estimates at low proficiency levels. Saving Costs with Adaptive Testing through Longer Testing of Two Unrelated Subjects Because adaptive testing is more efficient than traditional 16 Mosquin and Chromy (2004)
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From page 63...
... . For example, urban districts that are now estimated in the Trial Urban District Assessment program have smaller samples than states and tend to perform on average at lower levels on the scale; both differences result in higher standard errors. If NAEP starts to target its statistical precision more closely to a specific level necessary for policy decisions, with a goal to reduce sample sizes, adaptive testing could help ensure that statistical precision is adequate for lower-performing populations.
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From page 64...
... In addition to problems related to the frameworks, there are some costs related to a transition to adaptive testing. They include the investments needed to develop larger item pools for the low and high ends of the ability distribution that tend to be poorly covered in traditional tests, the costs of reassembling existing items into blocks at different levels of difficulty, and the cost of developing the technology for adaptive testing.
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From page 65...
... should not pursue adaptive testing for NAEP as a way of saving costs, but the agency should continue to investigate its use for its potential to improve the precision of statistical estimates and the test-taking experiences for low-performing students. NCES should also consider that no single approach to adaptive testing may fit all subjects and that some changes to assessment frameworks may be necessary to facilitate adaptive administration.
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Key Terms

  • urban districts
  • administration costs
  • standard error
  • item types
  • statistical power

  • adaptive testing
  • standard errors
  • national assessment
  • urban district
  • trial urban

  • individual scores
  • national assessments
  • unrelated subjects
  • data collections
  • innovations discussed

  • ability distribution
  • assessment frameworks
  • student assessment
  • district assessment
  • international student

  • access file
  • public access
  • administration cost
  • child left
  • reading framework

  • based assessment
  • human scoring
  • potential cost
  • item pools
  • statistical precision


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