Summer Intern: Computer Based Testing Research, Measurement Research

Job Description

Recently, ACT has developed a new computer adaptive testing (CAT) algorithm called generalized scripted testing (GST). For the GST to be successfully implemented, the effect of the essential components of the GST needs to be investigated prior to the actual deployment. For this summer internship project, CBTR is going to research how to optimize the essential components of the GST for an internal ACT test. We plan to address optimal conditions (e.g, test length, pool size, item collection size, step size, and selection factor…..) for the test under study.

Typical job related activities include: The summer intern will do simulation research under CBT-R staff supervision and analyze the results to address research questions identified above. The evaluation criteria will be test reliability, item usage, item exposure rate, and conditional SEM. We expect to provide some guidelines on how to make a new test blueprint for a scripted COMPASS that will make the best assessment from the available item pool.Typical job activities include: (a) writing programs and conducting simulation studies, (b) summarizing the results, (C) revising the programs and redoing simulation studies if necessary, (d) writing up research reports, and (e) presenting the outcome of the research.

Job Requirements

To qualify, candidates must be a Doctoral-level graduate student in educational measurement, quantitative psychology, and/or statistics. Knowledge about test theory (IRT and CTT) and computer programming skill (e.g, SAS, R) are preferred. Finalist(s) for this position will be subject to a pre-employment criminal background check as a condition of employment.

Please see Internship Program Guidelines for more information and the full list of qualifications: http://www.act.org/humanresources/jobs/intern.html