Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT)

Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) is an individualized assessment methodology in which a computer algorithm selects successive test items based on a running estimate of each examinee's latent ability. Grounded in Item Response Theory, CAT dynamically tailors the item sequence so that each question is optimally informative given the current ability estimate. The framework was systematized and popularized by Howard Wainer and colleagues through the foundational primer first published in 1990 and expanded in the 2000 second edition.