ITEM RESPONSE THEORY MODELS AND TESTING PRACTICES - CURRENT INTERNATIONAL STATUS AND FUTURE-DIRECTIONS

Psychological testing has been undergoing major changes. One of the ma in changes is the transition from the use of classical to modern test models and methods in test development. The purposes of this paper ore to describe the shortcomings of classical test models which are overc ome with modern test theory, i.e., item response theory, to introduce the basic concepts of item response theory, to describe several import ant international applications of item response theory models, and fin ally, to describe some likely IRT directions in the next century.