This book is intended for anyone who is seriously interested in designing and validating multiple-choice test items that measure understanding and the application of knowledge and skills to complex situations, such as critical thinking and problem solving. This edition has been extensively revised to include: more information about writing items that match content standards; more information about creating item pools and item banking; a new set of item-writing rules (with examples) in chapter 5, as well as guidelines for other multiple-choice formats; hundreds of examples including an expanded chapter 4 devoted to exemplary item formats and a new chapter 6 containing exemplary items (with author annotations); a chapter on item generation featuring item modeling and other procedures that speed up item development; and a more extensive set of references to past and current work in the area of multiple-choice item writing and validation. The book will be of interest to anyone who develops test items for large-scale assessments, as well as teachers and graduate students who desire the most comprehensive and authoritative information on the design and validation of multiple-choice test items.

Introduction --I.A foundation for multiple-choice testing. 1. The importance of item development for validity -- 2. Content and cognitive processes -- 3. Item formats -- II. Developing MC test items. 4. MC formats -- 5. Guidelines for developing MC items -- 6. A casebook of exemplary items and innovative item formats -- 7. Item generation -- III. Validity evidence arising from item development and item response validation. 8. Validity evidence coming from item development procedures -- 9. Validity evidence coming from statistical study of item responses -- 10. Using item response patterns to study specific problems -- IV. The future of item development and item response validation. 11. New directions in item writing and item response validation -- References -- Author index -- Subject index.