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Technical excellence is CTB/McGraw-Hill's foundation.
We design and test every assessment to meet the highest standards of validity and reliability. Our industry-leading technical expertise ensures CTB tests provide the basis for meaningful, high-confidence inferences and conclusions.
Careful research is paramount throughout the development process for CTB's standardized assessment series--in test design, item development, tryout studies, national standardization, and standard setting. Our attention to detail, proven procedures, leadership, and innovation ensure dependable test results. CTB assessments deliver information you can trust--data that can become a solid foundation for informed instruction.
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 | Sound policies, procedures, and standards ensure a high degree of validity and reliability for every CTB test. |
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| CTB promotes adherence to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing defined by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME); NCME's Code of Professional Responsibilities in Educational Measurement; and the Joint Committee on Testing Practices' (JCTP) Code of Fair Testing Practices. |
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| Every test item used in each CTB standardized assessment series is evaluated in a national tryout study. |
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| CTB pioneered the use of statistical methods to minimize bias in tests. We address the diversity of today's student population through stringent anti-bias procedures. We also provide guidance about accommodations for students with special needs. |
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| CTB invests the time and resources needed to establish up-to-date empirical norms based on a nationally representative, stratified sample of the nation's school population. Solid participation from schools across the country ensures effective comparisons of student performance, within a district or state or with students nationwide. |
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| CTB was a pioneer in the practical application of Item Response Theory (IRT) to large-scale assessment in the 1970s, and was the first publisher to offer norm- referenced and criterion-referenced scores from a single test. |
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| CTB is the only K-12 test publisher to use the three-parameter IRT model for selected-response tests, the most precise model available. We have also pioneered the scaling of mixed-format tests, placing selected-response and constructed-response items on the same scale. These state-of-the-art procedures parallel those used with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). |
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| Our widely used Bookmark standard-setting procedure introduced clearer, more consistent standards for assessing student achievement. The procedure assists customers in setting cut scores to define performance levels for today's mixed-format tests--a major advance. |
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| CTB is the first K-12 test publisher to conduct research on page design, formatting, graphics, and test directions as part of the development process. We carry out extensive pilot testing and usability analyses--including navigational and cognitive studies--to ensure easy use by teachers and students. |
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| Our Objectives Performance Index (OPI) enhances the accuracy of objective-level data for instructional planning and improvement. No other test publisher provides this precise measurement which takes into account the general ability level of the student. |
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