Developing a Numerical Ability Test for Students of Education in Jordan: An Application of Item Response Theory

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is developing a test to measure the numerical ability for students of education. The sample of the study consisted of (504) students from 8 universities in Jordan. The final draft of the test contains 45 items distributed among 5 dimensions. The results revealed that acceptable psychometric properties of the test; items parameters (difficulty, discrimination) were estimated by item response theory IRT, the reliability of the test was assessed by: Cronbach’s Alpha, average of inter-item correlation, and test information function (IRT), and the validity of the test was assessed by: arbitrator's views, factor analysis, RMSR, and Tanaka Index. The numerical ability test can be used to measure the strength and weaknesses in numerical ability for educational faculty students, and the test can be used to classify students on levels of numerical ability.