1. Item Specifications

2. Test Specifications ‘Blueprints’ for creating test items
Ensure that item content matches objectives (or criteria) to be assessed
Though usually associated with CRTs, can also be useful in NRT development (Davidson & Lynch, 2002)
Recent criticism: Many CRT specs (and resulting tests) are too tied to specific item types and lead to ‘narrow’ learning

3. Considerations for CRTs
Unlike NRTs, individual CRT items are not ‘expendable’ because they have been written to assess specific areas of interest
“If a criterion-referenced test doesn’t unambiguously describe just what it’s measuring, it offers no advantage over norm-referenced measures.” (Popham, 1984, p. 29)
Popham, W. J. (1984). Specifying the domain of content or behaviors. In R. A. Berk (Ed.), A guide to criterion-referenced test construction (pp ). Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

4. CRT score interpretation
‘Good’ CRT
‘Bad’ CRT
(Popham, 1984, p. 31)

5. Specification components
General Description (GD) – brief statement of the focus of the assessment
Prompt Attributes (PA) – details what will be given to the test taker
Response Attributes (RA) – describes what should happen when the test-taker responds to the prompt
Sample Item (SI)
Specification Supplement (SS) – other useful information regarding the item or scoring
(Davidson & Lynch, 2002)

6. Item – specification congruence
(Brown, 1996, p. 78)