Passage-Dependency Data in the Selection of Reading Comprehension Test Items

Abstract

The reading comprehension items for a revision of a widely used standardized reading test were administered to several hundred fourth and sixth-grade pupils in order to determine the passage dependency of each item. All of the field-tested reading comprehension items were divided into nine booklets, which contained one normal reading comprehension subtest and one subtest with questions about passages that had been deleted. An index of passage dependency was computed for each item, and the index was used to help the authors locate items that were weak. The index also indicated the effect of passage dependency on skill categories.