3 Assessment Design and Development

Chapter 3 of the Dynamic Learning Maps^® (DLM^®) Alternate Assessment System 2015–2016 Technical Manual—Science (Dynamic Learning Maps Consortium, 2017) describes assessment design and development procedures. In preparation for the complete update to the DLM science assessments, where all new test content will be used, there are no updates pertaining to item writing, external review, field testing, the operational pool, and differential item functioning analyses, as development efforts were directed to the new test content. For a description of the operational pool that will be used until the rollout of the new operational science assessment, see Chapter 3 of the 2022–2023 Technical Manual Update—Science (Dynamic Learning Maps Consortium, 2023).