Guangzhou, China Modern Foreign Languages (Quarterly) Vol. 26 No.

1 January 2003: 69-75

Rasch Model Applied to Score Equating in the College English Test

ZHU Zheng-cai, YANG Hui-zhong, YANG Hao-ran

Of all the facets of Item Response Theory, the Rasch model for dichotomously scored items is
probably the most widely recognized by practitioners. In College English Test (CET) of China, this model
has been used for 15 years and a lot of data yielded about score equating. This paper presents a description
in detail of CET score equating process based on Rasch model and a pilot study with the CET test data.
For equating purposes, a comparative test is given to a randomly sampled group of candidates at
selected observation universities one week before each of the live CET test. The trial test paper is the one
used on the norm group (e.g., the 1987 paper). Insignificant variance between the performances of
candidates on the comparative test and performances of the norm group would indicate little change in
ability level; if, then, significant differences resulted from the live CET test, it would mean a change in the
difficulty level of the test. Since 1990, the Rasch model has been adopted to equate CET scores. As the
comparative test paper and the present test paper are administered on the same group of candidates, items
from both papers can be put on the same ability scale, making equating possible. In this process, an equating
model is built on a random sample of candidature before it is applied to the whole test population. It is
essential that the comparative test should be administered under quality control so that the data gathered are
also reliable. As the comparative test and the live test are administered on the same group of candidates,
with a time interval of only one week, time and proficiency level cannot be the main factors that affect the
test results. Besides, since items used on the CET are designed by well-trained specialists under thorough
quality control, and since they have been pre-tested and analyzed, with the overall difficulty level of the test
rigorously controlled, no significant differences should exist between the results of these two tests. The
above factors excluded, only two reasons could lead to significant variance between the scores the same
group of candidates gain from the comparative test and the scores they gain from the live test. One reason is
their attitude towards the tests (for example, they may take the live test seriously but treat the comparative
test as an exercise); another reason is possible exposure of the comparative test paper (even partial leakage
of the paper to the candidates would cause the data to become meaningless). In view of the above two
factors, two measures have been taken since 1994 to increase the degree of precision of the equating model.
First, before the comparative test is administered, an announcement is made to the candidates who take it
that their scores gained from both the comparative test and the live test will be valid and the higher score
from either test will be reported as their final test result. This is done to eradicate the influence of test attitude
on test results. The next measure goes that if a candidates score difference (Xd) between the comparative
and live tests is too big, then this candidate is considered unfit and his/her scores are not taken into
consideration in the equating procedure.
As a fixed-s equating design, CET score equating process appears to be very simple and reasonable
and the score equating results are satisfactory as well. In the final part, this paper also discusses a few
disadvantages of the score equating method.
Key words: Item Response Theory, Score equating, Rasch model

Correspondence: School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai

200030, P. R. China
2003 1 Jan. 2003
26 1 Modern Foreign Languages (Quarterly) Vol. 26 No.1

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(BILOG, LPCM-WIN, MULTILOG, PARSCALE, RASCAL,
RUMMFOLDss and RUMMFOLDpp, T-Rasch, WINMIRA 32, http://www.gamma.rug.nl internet
newsgroupRichard Perline, University of Chicago, Benjamin D. Wright, University of Chicago, Howard
Wainer, Bureau of Social Science Research http://www.rasch.org)
Rasch

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