Does Test Item Performance Increase with Test-to-Standards Alignment?

ABSTRACT

Variation in test performance among examinees from different regions or national jurisdictions is often partially attributed to differences in the degree of content correspondence between local school or training program curricula, and the test of interest. This posited relationship between test-curriculum correspondence, or “alignment,” and test performance is usually inferred from highly distal evidence, rather than directly examined. Utilizing mathematics standards content analysis data and achievement test item data from ten U.S. states, we examine the relationship between topic-specific alignment and test item performance. When a particular item’s content type is emphasized by the standards, we find evidence of a positive relationship between the alignment measure and proportion-correct test item difficulty, although this effect is not consistent across samples. Implications of the results for curricular achievement test development and score interpretation are discussed.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for the critical feedback of Drs. Mark Reckase, Robert Floden, Richard Houang, and Raven McCrory, as well as the suggestions of three anonymous reviewers, an Associate Editor, and the Editor on earlier drafts of this work. Their insights contributed markedly to the final form of this manuscript. This work was partially supported by a University Distinguished Fellowship from Michigan State University. Any views expressed herein are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of Michigan State University.