ITEMS Corner Update: The New ITEMS Module Development Process

This issue marks 1 year into my tenure as editor of Instructional Topics in Educational Measurement Series (ITEMS). I will summarize and reflect on the achievements from the past year, outline the new ITEMS module production process, and introduce the new module published in this issue of Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice (EM:IP).

Over the past year, there have been three new modules published: Unusual Things That Usually Occur in a Credentialing Testing Program (Feinberg et al., 2022), Multidimensional Item Response Theory Equating (Kim, 2022), and Validity and Educational Testing: Purposes and Uses of Educational Tests (Lewis & Sireci, 2022). Each of these modules has been a great addition to the ITEMS library, with the latter two being in the new format released in mid-2022.

Among the many benefits of the new format, modules are now more accessible on a variety of devices (e.g., desktop, phone, tablet) in both online and offline mode. The production process has also been simplified. Over the next few issues of EM:IP, I will take a deep dive into the process of designing a module for this nontraditional publication. The goal is threefold: (1) to educate readers of the behind-the-scenes process; (2) to showcase the extensive work that module development requires; and (3) to attract readers as potential authors, understanding the value of taking time to produce such a useful resource.

As noted, I will discuss these steps in more detail in the upcoming issues of EM:IP. Reconceptualizing ITEMS modules into this new form was only one of two initiatives I undertook in 2022. For the other, I worked to shift the ITEMS portal from a stand-alone website to the NCME website. As noted in the last issue of EM:IP, this has successfully been completed with evidence of several learners accessing the new ITEMS portal.

For 2023, I look forward to the production of several new and engaging ITEMS modules. I am excited to announce the first module of 2023, Digital Module 31: Testing Accommodations for Students with Disabilities, authored by Dr. Benjamin Lovett. In this module, Dr. Lovett describes common testing accommodations, explains how testing accommodations can reduce constructive-irrelevant variance and increase fairness, and describes best practices along with current common problems in practice. In this five-section module, Dr. Lovett provides video versions of the content as well as an interactive activity using two case studies.

If you are interested in learning more about the ITEMS module development process, authoring a module, or being involved in some other capacity, please reach out to me at [email protected].