Patent ID: 7493077

Claim:
A computerized method for generating evaluative or formative statements for test-takers with respect to skills assessed on a test, the method comprising: (a) obtaining as inputs for a first probabilistic function the test-takers' overall scores on the test as a whole; (b) obtaining as inputs for the first probabilistic function a set of skills assessed on the test; (c) obtaining as inputs for first probabilistic function the test-takers' skill-by-skill scores on each skill assessed on the test, wherein said skill-by-skill scores are obtained by generating multiple potential skill sets, whereby each skill set includes one or more skills tested on the test; producing an item skill coding matrix for the test with respect to each of the skill sets, wherein each test item is assigned to a single skill of said skill set; implementing an iterative procedure in which pedagogical experts and statistical experts engage in a joint selection process whereby a single skill set and a single item skill coding matrix are selected from among the aforementioned skill sets and corresponding coding matrices; and applying the selected skill set and the selected item skill coding matrix to each test-taker's set of item responses in order to determine skill-by-skill scores for each test taker (d) obtaining as inputs for the first probabilistic function a score-to-statement mapping between (i) individual test-takers' possible scores on the test as a whole, and (ii) a set of overall evaluative or formative statements used to describe individual test-takers' overall performance on the test as a whole; (e) employing the first probabilistic function to select at least one of the overall evaluative or formative statements to describe each test-taker's performance on each skill assessed on the test, wherein the overall evaluative or formative statements are chosen based on the inputs obtained in (a) through (d); and (z) displaying at least one selected overall evaluative or formative statement.