STATISTICAL REPORT OF 2011 CBAL™ MULTISTATE ADMINISTRATION OF READING AND WRITING TESTS

Abstract

In the Cognitively Based Assessment of, for, and as Learning (CBAL™) research initiative, innovative K-12 prototype tests based on cognitive competency models are developed. This report presents the statistical results of the 2 CBAL Grade 8 writing tests and 2 Grade 7 reading tests administered to students in 20 states in spring 2011. Specifically, classical item statistics including rater reliabilities for human-scored items, item p+ values, item-total correlations, item response times, item omit and not-reached rates, system error rates, differential item functioning, interscore correlations, and reliabilities of subscores and total scores are reported. In addition, t-tests, multiple comparisons, correlations, and mixed models are used to examine the factors influencing test scores, including test form, test order, and various background variables at the student, teacher, and school levels. The results show that these 4 tests performed reasonably well.