Conclusions
Since January 1999 the MATHCAT testing system has been available to Dutch colleges for basic adult education. The use of MATHCAT has several advantages: greater accuracy, shorter test lengths, and greater ease of use. Decisions based on these tests are slightly more accurate than for the previous two-stage paper-and-pencil placement test (89.9% vs. 87.3% of correct placements). At the same time, however, the placement tests are considerably shorter. The software has been proven simple to use in practice. All correction work, previously done by hand, is now done by the software. Unlike the previous two-stage test, no manual scoring after a first subtest is necessary. In sum, the main advantage of the system is that test administration has become less time consuming, both for the students and the teachers. Thus teachers can now spend more time on their core activity: teaching.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Lord, F.M. (1971). A theoretical study of two-stage testing. Psychometrika, 36, 227–242.
Straetmans, G.J.J.M., & Eggen, T.J.H.M. (1998). Computerized adaptive testing: what it is and how it works. Educational Technology, 38, 45–52.
Verhelst, N.D., & Glas, C.A.W. (1995). The generalized one parameter model: OPLM. In: G.H. Fischer & I.W. Molenaar (Eds.). Rasch models: their foundations, recent developments and applications (pp. 215–237). New York: Springer.
Wainer, H. (1992). Some practical considerations when converting a linearly administered test to an adaptive format. (Research Report No. 92–13). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Weiss, D. J. (1974). Strategies of adaptive ability measurement. (Research Report No. 74–5). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Dep. of Psychology, Psychometric Methods Program.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Verschoor, A.J., Straetmans, G.J. (2000). MATHCAT: A flexible testing system in mathematics education for adults. In: van der Linden, W.J., Glas, G.A. (eds) Computerized Adaptive Testing: Theory and Practice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47531-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47531-6_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-6425-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-306-47531-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive