Technology and Assessment

Abstract

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) is moving toward computer-based assessment (CBA) in all its internationally conducted large-scale assessment studies. This is motivated by multiple factors, such as the inclusion of more comprehensive measures of the overall construct, increased use of online tools for instruction and assessment in IEA member countries, the need to develop assessments that are more engaging for students, and the hope that CBA will lead to increased efficiency and yield cost savings for participating countries. The transition to CBA has an impact on the design and procedures in both the international study centers and the national study centers. The very high standards in paper-based testing must be preserved throughout the transition steps. This relates not only to the layout, translation, and translation verification steps but also concerns the test administration and all associated procedures. The consistency, accuracy, and completeness of all collected data have to be achieve the same standards as paper-based testing, and the maintenance of the trend measures is of critical importance. The challenges arising from the transition to e-assessment are presented and discussed, including procedures developed to correct for any potential deviations that can be attributed to changes in the delivery mode. CBA provides potential new avenues for data analysis. Log-file and process data are of particular interest to researchers because such data provide an opportunity to increase the validity of the scales and minimize influences irrelevant to the construct being measured.