Invariance Item and Person Parameters of 2017 NECO BECE Mathematics

The researchers assessed comparability of item and person statistics of 2017 basic education certificate mathematics examination of National Examinations Council through Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) measurement frameworks. The paper suggested that National Examinations Council should jettison the use of Classical Test Theory and embrace utilization of Item Response Theory framework during their test development, item analysis and scoring of basic education certificate mathematics examination test items. This would enable many public examining bodies in sub-Saharan Africa to espouse the invariant advantage of Item Response Theory during estimation of item parameters and person statistics of their candidates, because pivotal decision would be made from such estimation, which need to be valid and reliable.