Passage-Dependency Data in the Selection of Reading Comprehension Test Items

Abstract

The reading comprehension items for a revision of a widely used standardized reading test were administered to several hundred fourth and sixth-grade pupils in order to determine the passage dependency of each item. All of the field-tested reading comprehension items were divided into nine booklets, which contained one normal reading comprehension subtest and one subtest with questions about passages that had been deleted. An index of passage dependency was computed for each item, and the index was used to help the authors locate items that were weak. The index also indicated the effect of passage dependency on skill categories.

A Comparison of Equal Percentile and Partial Credit Equatings for Performance‐Based Assessments Composed of Free‐Response Items

“…Second, clustering of items around a common task is known to lead to some level of response dependency (Ferrara, Huynh, & Baghi, 1992;Yen, 1992). Response dependency has also been noted for multiple-choice items based on a common reading passage (Green & Langhorst, 1986;Hanna & Oaster, 1980;Nicholas & Brookshire, 1987;Scherich & Hanna, 1977).…”

An Empirical Evaluation of Three Definitions of Context Dependence

“…As described elsewhere (Scherich & Hanna, 1977), each student first took one of the four experimental forms of the reading comprehension test under standard procedures. Next, each examinee took a different one of these experimental tests, but with its passages removed.…”