Chapter 8: Latent Trait Theories and the Assessment of Educational Achievement

Several more-or-less elementary expositions (Allen & Yen, 1979; Baker, 1977; Gustafsson, 1977; Hambleton, 1979; Hambleton & Cook, 1977; Hashway, 1978; Van den Wollenberg, 1979; Warm, 1978; Wright & Stone, 1979) as well as at least two technically sophisticated treatments (Andersen, 1980b; Lord, 1980a) have appeared during the time since Subkoviak and Baker prepared their review, which was focused on the period from January 1970 to January 1976. Also, several computer programs are now well known and widely available. What is undoubtedly more a consequence of computer program availability than of understanding fostered by the available expositions is the fact that the number of applications of latent trait theory to educational problems has multiplied several times during the past 5 years. As crude evidence of this, we note that at the AERA Annual Meetings of 1975 and 1980 the number of sessions with "latent trait" in their titles was one and nine, respectively. Our assessment of many applications leaves us skeptical, however, that the improved practice hoped for by Subkoviak and Baker has been realized. Many educational researchers, in their eagerness

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