Application of item response models to criterion-referenced assessment

Of interest in this study was the use of item response models for obtaining accurate examinee domain score estimates and for increasing the probabilities with which examinees are assigned correctly to mastery states with criterion-referenced test scores. Specifically, the purpose of this investigation was to compare the one-, two-, and three-parameter logistic test models for estimating domain scores and making mastery/nonmastery decisions. Computer simulation methods were used to recover a set of true domain scores with each of the logistic test models under a variety of testing conditions. Also, the percent of times the use of each model led to decisions which were consistent with decisions made with the true domain scores was studied. The one-parameter and three-parameter model resulted in highly comparable results for middle and high ability examinees, while for low ability examinees, the more general model always performed somewhat better