Massachusetts adult proficiency tests technical manual, version 2

摘要: Since January 2003, the Center for Educational Assessment at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMASS), under a contract awarded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, has worked closely with the Department’s Office of Adult and Community Learning Services (ACLS) to develop achievement tests in math and reading that are appropriate for adult learners in Massachusetts. Our collaborative vision in creating these tests involved ensuring the tests are (a) aligned to the National Reporting System’s (NRS) Educational Functioning Levels (EFLs),(b) aligned with the curriculum frameworks established by ACLS and the adult basic education (ABE) community in Massachusetts,(c) sensitive enough to measure gain across the EFLs within the NRS,(d) consistent with the instruction in ABE classrooms as directed by these frameworks, and (e) developed with comprehensive input from teachers and administrators from the ABE community in Massachusetts.Early on in this collaboration we realized that measuring ABE learners’ gains required a highly specialized test design. Given that ABE learners span a wide range of proficiency and typically are unable to take classes full-time, the testing system would need to measure progress along a wide spectrum of achievement and would need to be sensitive to small, but meaningful, educational gains. These two needs are best met by adaptive test designs that adjust the difficulty of an exam according to how well learners perform while taking the exam (Hambleton, Zaal, & Pieters, 1991; Sands, Waters, & McBride, 1997; Sireci, 2004; Wainer, 2000). The decision to …