On the Roles of Task Model Variables in Assessment Design.

Tasks are the most visible element in an educational assessment. Their purpose, however, is to provide evidence about targets of inference that cannot be directly seen at all: what examinees know and can do, more broadly conceived than can be observed in the context of any particular set of tasks. This paper concerns issues in assessment design that must be addressed for assessment tasks to serve this purpose effectively and efficiently. The first part of the paper describes a conceptual framework for assessment design, which includes models for tasks. Corresponding models appear for other aspects of an assessment, in the form of a student model, evidence models, an assembly model, a simulator/presentation model, and an interface/environment model. Coherent design requires that these models be coordinated to serve the assessment’s purpose. The second part of the paper focuses attention on the task model. It discusses the several roles tha t task model variables play to achieve the needed coordination in the design phase of an assessment, and to structure task creation and inference in the operational phase. 1 This paper was presented at the conference “Generating items for cognitive tests: Theory and practice,” co-sponsored by Educational Testing Service and the United States Air Force Laboratory and held at the Henry Chauncey Conference Center, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ, November 5-6, 1998.