Patent ID: 8550822

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for determining examinee attribute mastery levels, the method comprising: (a) for each item on an assessment, determining an estimated value for each of one or more item parameters with a computer; (b) for each proficiency space parameter for an attribute tested via the assessment, determining an estimated value for the proficiency space parameter with the computer; (c) for each examinee parameter, determining an estimated value for the examinee parameter for each examinee with the computer, wherein determining the estimated value for the examinee parameter for each examinee includes: for each attribute, performing a Metropolis-Hastings within Gibbs step to update an estimate of an overall skill level weighting factor, for each attribute, performing a Metropolis-Hastings within Gibbs step to update an estimate of a mastery threshold, for each examinee, performing a Metropolis-Hastings within Gibbs step to update an estimate of an overall skill level for an examinee, and for each covariate, attribute and continuous examinee parameter, performing a Metropolis-Hastings within Gibbs step to update an estimate of each element of a covariate weighting vector; (d) repeating (a) through (c) a predetermined number of iterations; and (e) determining one or more examinee attribute mastery levels with the computer based on the item parameters, proficiency space parameters, and examinee parameters.