Patent ID: 7845950

Claim:
A method for generating a test item in electronic form using an automated test creation system, comprising the steps of: electronically associating components of a test item into an extensible markup language based electronic item form using a test creation system; storing the electronic item form in an item repository of the test creation system; any of a plurality of test creators accessing the electronic item form from the item repository and utilizing the test creation system to review the content and format of the electronic item form and to update the content and format of the electronic item form as appropriate, including reviewing the electronic item form in sequence for content, fairness, and format by at least one reviewer for each of content, fairness, and format, respectively, where reviewing for fairness includes guidelines that pertain to words and phrases that are inappropriate for a population, the method further comprising the steps of: when a content reviewer has completed the content review, automatically routing the electronic item form to a fairness reviewer; when the fairness reviewer has completed the fairness review, automatically routing the electronic item form to a format reviewer; and when the format reviewer has completed the format review, automatically routing the electronic item form to a final resolver for a final review to determine whether the content, fairness, and format are acceptable for test assembly; storing the updated electronic item form in the item repository as a locked item when the content and format are deemed acceptable by the test creators for inclusion in a test, where a locked item is not to be further reviewed by any of said test creators.