Building an intelligent recommendation system for personalized test scheduling in computerized assessments: A reinforcement learning approach

The introduction of computerized formative assessments in the classroom has opened a new area of effective progress monitoring with more accessible test administrations. With computerized formative assessments, all students could be tested at the same time and with the same number of test administrations within a school year. Alternatively, the decision for the number and frequency of such tests could be made by teachers based on their observations and personal judgments about students. However, this often results in rigid test scheduling that fails to take into account the pace at which students acquire knowledge. To administer computerized formative assessments efficiently, teachers should be provided with systematic guidance regarding effective test scheduling based on each student's level of progress. In this study, we introduce an intelligent recommendation system that can gauge the optimal number and timing of testing for each student. We discuss how to build an intelligent recommendation system using a reinforcement learning approach. Then, we present a case study with a large sample of students' test results in a computerized formative assessment. We show that the intelligent recommendation system can significantly reduce the number of testing for the students by eliminating unnecessary test administrations where students do not show significant progress (i.e., growth). Also, the proposed recommendation system is capable of identifying the optimal test time for students to demonstrate adequate progress from one test administration to another. Implications for future research on personalized assessment scheduling are discussed.