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Number 2 Pencil

I discovered a great blog today, Number 2 Pencil (on account of the fact that the blogger, Kimberly Swygert, linked to my SAT article and I noticed it in my referrals).

Kimberly is a psychometrician. Psychometrics is the mathematics of pyschological measurement. (Sadly, most people who call themselves "psychologists" have no clue when it comes to statistics or pyschometrics.) Kimberly writes in her blog about testing and education reform, and her perspective as an insider at a large testing organization is fascinating.

I highly respect the job she does. Most people think that test publishers just make up the grading scales on those tests. Few people realize that there is a whole branch of mathematics, known as Item Response Theory, which is specific to grading tests. Fewer still even understand Item Response Theory. (Unfortunately, her blog doesn't seem to say much about the mathematics of test scoring.)

Her blog is highly recommended reading.

posted Wednesday, November 05, 2003