The purpose of this book is to identify how educational tests, especially large-scale tests given to students in grades K-12, can be improved so that they produce better information about what students know and don't know. By consulting and integrating psychological research into the design of educational tests, it is now possible to create new test items that students understand better than old test items. Moreover, these new test items help identify where students may be experiencing difficulties in learning.

Automatic item generation (AIG) represents a relatively new and unique research area where specific cognitive and psychometric theories are applied to test construction practices for the purpose of producing test items using technology. This book presents up-to-date research on automatic item generation.

Automatic item generation (AIG) represents a relatively new and unique research area where specific cognitive and psychometric theories are applied to test construction practices for the purpose of producing test items using technology. This book presents up-to-date research on automatic item generation.

There is mounting hope in the United States that federal legislation in the form of No Child Left Behind will improve educational outcomes. As titanic as the challenge appears to be, however, the solution could be at our fingertips. This volume identifies visual types of cognitive models in reading, science, and mathematics for researchers, test developers, school administrators, policy makers, and teachers. In the process of identifying these cognitive models, the book also explores methodological or translation issues to consider as decisions are made about how to generate psychologically...