An Adaptive Testing Strategy for Mastery Decisions. Research Report 79-5.

The theory and technology of item characteristic curve (ICC) response theory and adaptive testing were applied to judging individuals' competencies against a prespecified mastery level to determine whether each individual is a "master" or "nonmaster" of a specified content domain. Items from two conventionally administered mastery tests administered in a military training environment were calibrated using the unidimensional three-parameter logistic ICC model. Using response data from the conventional Administration of the tests, a computerized adaptive mastery testing (AMT) strategy was applied in a real-data simulation. The AMT procedure used ICC theory to transform the traditional arbitrary "proportion correct" mastery level to the ICC achievement metric in order to allow adaptation of the test to each trainee's achievement level estimate, which was calculated after each item response. A mastery decision was made for the trainee after the 95 percent Bayesian confidence interval around his achievement level estimate failed to contain the prespecified mastery level. The AMT procedure reduced the average test length over all circumstances examined, while reaching the same decision as the conventional procedure for 96 percent of the trainees. Advantages and possible applications of AMT procedures in certain classroom situations are noted and discussed. (Author/DWH)