Cognitive Models in Educational Measurement

I came across an interesting article in the journal Educational Measurement: Issues in Practice (Summer 2007) regarding the use of varied cognitive models in educational based assessment. Coverage goes from large scale group type assessments (like Stanford Achievement's) all the way to individual domain specific diagnostic assessments (like progressive matrices).

The article suggests that there is three primary trends in cognitive evaluation (they use the term cognitive and behavioural pretty loosely):

1. Cognitive Model of Test Specific - Academic oriented evaluations of foundational and applied achievement skill sets. Interestingly they refer to it as "curriculum" free though it very clearly is material learned in academic contexts. Test design is based on expectations of what test takers should be able to do regardless of where they attended school. This is essentially the beginning and ending of foundational hypotheses for this model. They use college based entrance exams as an example.
2. Cognitive Model of Domain Mastery - Tapping similar domains as above but is essentially the hallmark of curriculum based assessment. District specific and adaptable measures like DEBELS and AIMSWeb would be examples of this.
3. Cognitive Model of Task Performance - This is more in line with our ability/cognitive batteries in that they evaluate theoretically driven models of thinking as opposed to the resulting output of that organized thought (achievement). The article states that this is the most theoretically sound type of evaluation but that it is limited in the range of skills it covers.

The main purpose of the article was to note the limitations of each of these domains and that administrators need to be aware of them when devising measurement strategies. I found the article interesting in that it validated to me that a thorough psychoeducational assessment clearly falls within each of these domains to some degree. But are awareness of the degree in which this is true is helpful. While, achievement testing clearly involves parts of both test specific and domain mastery it is further loaded towards a norm validated test specific model. This explains to some degree the variation that we see between the results of standardized achievement testing and teacher reported and CBM results.

The article is a worthwhile read and is available online (for a fee) at THIS LINK.