Patent ID: 6832069
Filing Date: 2004-12-14
Classification: G09B

Abstract:
A method for diagnosing one or more latent attributes of an individual comprising:associating each of a plurality of test items of an examination with the one or more attributes being tested by said test item; administering the examination to one or more examinees and the individual and recording results thereto; constructing a first mathematical model comprising a first parameter to measure the effectiveness with which each test item tests for attribute mastery, a second parameter to measure difficulty of each test item, a third parameter to quantify to minor attributes required to correctly answer a test item but for which no first parameter exists, a fourth parameter which measures mastery of the attributes by each examinee, and a fifth parameter which measures latent abilities of each examinee, wherein the first mathematical model is constructed to determine the probability that each examinee correctly answered a test item by correctly applying the attributes associated with the test item; converting the first mathematical model into a bayesian model by and assigning prior distributions to each of the first parameter, the second parameter, the third parameter, the fourth parameter, and the fifth parameter; estimating the posterior probability distributions for each of the first parameter, the second parameter, the third parameter, the fourth parameter and the fifth parameter by applying the bayesian model to the results of the administered examination; for each attribute, calculating a mastery probability for the individual wherein the mastery probability is a measure of the likelihood that the individual has mastered the attribute; and determining that the individual has mastered the attribute if the mastery probability equals or exceeds a mastery cut-off value.