Foundations in Applied Measurement in Education

ACER’s Foundations in Applied Measurement in Education (FAME) is a suite of 8 short, online, modular courses with facilitated live sessions.

Rasch modelling short courses cover:

introductory concepts and theoretical understanding of educational assessment and measurement
item and test analysis
differential item functioning
test equating
psychometric analysis reports
large-scale analysis of educational data

COURSES 1 AND 2 Focus on the theoretical foundations that are essential to large-scale educational assessment.

COURSES 3 TO 8 Focus on applying the skills and require ConQuest® software. Course 7 and 8 is offered for advanced analysis of large-scale education data.

For more information about ConQuest®, please go to the ACER ConQuest webpage.

Organisations can have bespoke tailored versions of FAME delivery, suited to the needs of the individual organisation, collaborating with ACER to define scope. For more information about pricing and tailored group sizes contact fame@acer.org

FAME 1 – Foundations of educational measurement Beginner level or refresher. 1 day. No additional software.	Introduces the foundational concepts of educational assessment and measurement. Examines key concepts of reliability, validity, latent variables and measurement error. Covers basic statistical concepts used in educational measurement and reporting.
FAME 2 – Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory Advanced beginners/FAME 1. 1 day. No additional software.	Provides a broad overview of technical aspects of constructing measures, starting with a comparison of Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory. Participants learn to evaluate how different data and metrics can contribute evidence about the validity and reliability of measures, with an initial focus on the quality assurance of assessment tasks and test questions. Practical exercises teach participants to interpret a range of psychometric analysis outputs giving due consideration to measurement error.
FAME 3 – Item and test analysis using ConQuest® Intermediate-proficient level/FAME 1&2/Experienced analysts. 1.5 days. ConQuest® software.	Involves conducting and interpreting a psychometric analysis of a multiple-choice assessment using ConQuest® software to inform refinements to an existing measure. It analyses assessment items where partial credit scoring applies. Participants apply both the Rasch model and the Rasch Partial Credit Model.
FAME 4 – Differential Item Functioning (DIF) Proficient-Advanced/FAME 1–3/Experienced analysts. 2 days. ConQuest® software.	Explores important validity and comparability questions through an Item Response Theory paradigm by introducing participants to Differential Item Functioning (DIF) and requiring them to undertake a DIF analysis using ConQuest®.
FAME 5 – Test equating Advanced/FAME 1–3/Experienced analysts. 2 days. ConQuest® software.	Explores test equating methods using the Rasch model. Participants will learn to equate 2 assessments on a common measurement scale through common item equating.
FAME 6 – Automated psychometric analysis reports with conquestr Advanced/FAME 1–3/ Experienced analysts. 1.5 days. ConQuest®, conquestr and RStudio software	Introduces participants to the conquestr package that interfaces with ConQuest® software. Participants will use R and RStudio with conquestr output to produce an automated and reproducible psychometric analysis and reporting workflow for quality assuring multiple-choice assessments.
FAME 7 – Working with plausible values Advanced/FAME 1–6/ Experienced analysts. 2 days. ConQuest®, conquestr and RStudio software.	Introduces the theory behind different item response models and case ability estimation routines that can be used to estimate population parameters reliably. Participants will apply this knowledge to fit a combined item response and population model, similar to those seen in large-scale assessment programs such as NAPLAN and the Programme for International Student Assessment, and to correctly apply the law of total variance to undertake secondary analysis to yield unbiased population parameter estimates.
FAME 8 – Complex survey designs in large-scale assessment Advanced/FAME 1–6/ Experienced analysts. 2 days. ConQuest®, conquestr and RStudio software.	Introduces complex survey designs used in large scale assessment programs to accurately estimate population parameters that are representative of national or subnational populations of interest. Participants will apply this knowledge to correctly apply the law of total variance to undertake secondary analysis to yield unbiased population parameter estimates using plausible values, and in addition using replicate weights to perform re-sampling to account for sampling error.

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