Viewing an Item Statistics report (TAO Advance)

The Item Statistics report feature provides educators, test administrators, and item creators with detailed analytical data on item performance. Analyzing item performance assists in improving the quality and effectiveness of assessments.

Prerequisites

This feature is only available for TAO Insights (as a part of TAO Advance).

Accessing Item Statistics

1. Navigate to the Content Bank.

2. In the Items window, select an item in the menu on the left of the interface.

3. To view the item’s statistics, select Item Statistics.

The report displays two tables with different metrics for analyzing the item:

Table 1. Executions

The Executions table displays the following details on the item’s executions:

• Number of executions: The number of times the item’s interaction was executed by a test taker.

• Correct: How many times the item’s question was answered correctly.

• Incorrect: How many times the item’s question was answered incorrectly.

• Skipped responses: How many times the item was skipped by test takers.

Table 2. Performance Statistics

The Performance Statistics table offers generated calculations on the item’s difficulty and discrimination:

• Difficulty: Percentage of correct answers out of the total number of executions for the item.

• Discrimination: The ability of a test question (or item) to differentiate between high-performing and low-performing test-takers. Discrimination measures how well an item distinguishes between individuals who have a high overall ability or knowledge in the subject being tested and those who do not.

  • High discrimination means that the item is answered correctly more often by those with high overall test scores than by those with low overall test scores. This helps ensure that the test is effectively measuring what it is intended to measure. 
Higher values are better (1 = perfect correlation). The item is perfect at distinguishing between high and low performers. High scorers on the test are much more likely to get this item correct than low scorers.


  • 0 = no correlation. The item does not effectively distinguish between high and low performers. Both groups are about equally likely to get the item correct.


  • -1 = perfect negative correlation. The item is very problematic, as low performers are more likely to get it correct than high performers. This could indicate a flaw in the item or a misunderstanding of the content by high scorers.