An NCME Instructional Module on Booklet Designs in Large‐Scale Assessments of Student Achievement: Theory and Practice

Abstract

In most large‐scale assessments of student achievement, several broad content domains are tested. Because more items are needed to cover the content domains than can be presented in the limited testing time to each individual student, multiple test forms or booklets are utilized to distribute the items to the students. The construction of an appropriate booklet design is a complex and challenging endeavor that has far‐reaching implications for data calibration and score reporting. This module describes the construction of booklet designs as the task of allocating items to booklets under context‐specific constraints. Several types of experimental designs are presented that can be used as booklet designs. The theoretical properties and construction principles for each type of design are discussed and illustrated with examples. Finally, the evaluation of booklet designs is described and future directions for researching, teaching, and reporting on booklet designs for large‐scale assessments of student achievement are identified.