Methods of Item Analysis in Standardized Student Assessment: an Application to an Italian Case Study

The aim of the paper is to outline how different psychometric methods can be used for item analysis in the field of standardized educational assessment, with reference to an Italian case study. The research is stimulated by the increasing relevance acknowledged to standardized tests within the Italian context in the last few years. Further, the authors believe that conducting a rigorous analysis of pretested items represents a fundamental requirement for a fair and effective learning evaluation. In particular, the joint use of indicators derived from classical test theory and item response theory models is discussed. The main results of analysis of pretested items for the 2009 Italian National Test of reading comprehension in the second grade of primary school show that, despite the two methods being consistent, both proved important in highlighting different item properties and in detecting weak items.