Patent ID: 7418458

Claim:
A method for determining one or more examinee attribute mastery levels from an assessment, the method comprising: receiving a covariate vector for an examinee, wherein the covariate vector includes a value for each of one or more covariates for the examinee; and for each of one or more attributes: computing an examinee attribute value based on at least the covariate vector and one or more responses made by the examinee to one or more questions pertaining to the attribute on an assessment; and assigning an examinee attribute mastery level for the examinee with respect to the attribute based on whether the examinee attribute value surpasses one or more thresholds, wherein a value in the covariate vector comprises the sum of a uniqueness term and the product of a second order factor and a factor loading, wherein the uniqueness term has a mean of zero across a set of examinees and a variance equal to one minus the factor loading squared, wherein the second order factor has a mean of zero and a variance of one.