Mapping multiple dimensions of student learning: the ConstructMap program

In the past, many assessments, especially standardized assessments, tended to be composed of items with specific right and wrong answers, such as those found in multiple choice, true-false and short response items. Performance-based questions that require students to construct answers rather than select correct responses introduce the complexities of multiple correct answers, dependence on teacher judgment for scoring, and requisite ancillary skills such as language fluency, which are technically difficult to handle, and may even introduce problems such as bias against certain groups of students. Recent developments in assessment design and psychometrics have improved the feasibility of assessing performance-based tasks more efficiently and effectively, thereby providing a rich domain of information from which interpretations can be made about what students know and what they can do when they draw upon that knowledge. We developed the ConstructMap computer program specifically to assist teachers in interpreting and representing this type of performance data. The program accepts as input student scores on items associated with one or multiple performance variables, computes proficiencies using multidimensional item response methods, and produces graphical representations of students' estimated proficiency on each of the variables.