ABSTRACT
Inclusion of performance tasks and other types of constructed-response items on educational and psychological tests is not particularly new. What is new, however, is the dramatic increase in the use of these item types over the past 10 years. During this time, more and more large-scale testing agencies incorporated constructed-response items into their tests, prominent measurement journals devoted special issues to this topic, and several books on performance assessment have been written. The inclusion of constructed-response items on an assessment often leads to improved representation of the construct measured. For this reason, it appears these item types will remain on high-stakes tests for the foreseeable future.
