Item Writing & Analysis
Create valid and reliable items that perform better.
High-quality, high-performing items require expertise to craft and manage. They can also be one of your most valuable assets. Our item writing and analysis experts ensure every item on your exam is performing at its best.
Everything You Need in Item Development
Start with the basics.
Item writing begins with sound competency profiles and a solid test blueprint. We’ll help you create these roadmapss to determine what type and how many items you need to develop.
Unlock potential with traditional and innovative item types.
Our psychometricians help you develop items that accurately and reliably measure a test-taker’s knowledge and skills in each area of expertise. We’ll ensure your exam competencies are precisely assessed regardless of whether you use traditional items — such as multiple choice, multiselect, or short answer items — or more advanced item types that measure higher cognitive functions and critical thinking skills.
Recruit and manage your subject matter experts (SMEs).
It’s impossible to create a valid, reliable, and defensible exam without recruiting and engaging valuable SMEs. Our team is here to guide your SMEs through the entire item workflow cycle, from initial writing to review, approval, analysis, implementation, and maintenance.
Write items with security and accessibility in mind.
Believe it or not, creating exam security and accessibility begins during the first stages of exam development, including item writing. We’ll coach you in best practices to embed security measures in the blueprinting, item writing, and exam assembly processes. And we’ll guide you in using inclusive verbiage (e.g., neutral pronouns) to increase accessibility, show respect to test-takers from diverse backgrounds, and lower the chances of inadvertent item distractors.
Have confidence in your item performance.
Our psychometricians follow proven methodologies to review, edit, analyze, and manage items to ensure they are performing as expected. We’re here to help with a full range of services, including:
- Item analysis review for existing exams
- Item writing workshops and guides
- Professional item development
- Item development project management
- Item translation services
- Exam validation
- Practice test development
- Post-exam item analysis and review
“Our item discrimination and our difficult values are the strongest that this exam program has ever seen.”
Creating Quality Items That Align with Your Test Blueprint
Writing strategic items can lay the foundation of your exam. It’s a science that many test developers like to keep secret. But we prefer to teach our clients this crucial step so they can be confident in their own work – and ours. This guide explores our item development process and strategies.
Key Benefits
Expertise You Can Lean on a Little or a Lot
Guided Training Workshops for Your SMEs
Transparent Reporting and Analysis to Ensure Item Effectiveness
Optimize your items.
Explore how we can better serve you.