Instructional Sensitivity

A test item is deemed instructionally sensitive if, when controlling for other factors, students who receive high-quality instruction on the content of the item do better than students who have not received high-quality instruction. Although some specialized achievement tests, such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, are designed to estimate the distribution of a state or nation’s scores rather than the scores of individuals, in general, academic achievement tests are designed to measure the knowledge of the individual students to whom the tests are administered. This entry discusses the increasing focus on instructional sensitivity as part of teacher evaluation systems that incorporate student test scores, data collection designs and data ...