ItemBanken

ItemBanken is a term used to describe a digital repository of assessment items—questions, tasks, and prompts—intended for the design, administration, and analysis of examinations and quizzes. In practice, an ItemBanken stores not only the text of items but also metadata and supporting materials, enabling consistent test development across subjects and grades. Items may include multiple-choice, short answer, essay prompts, performance tasks, and multimedia-based items, and they are tagged with information such as subject, grade level, language, cognitive level, difficulty, discrimination index, author, version, and review status.

Key functions include item creation and review workflows, field testing, calibration and scaling using psychometric models (such as item response theory), test assembly, and form equivalent generation. Item exposure management helps preserve security by controlling how often items are used. Item banks also support computer-based testing and adaptive testing by selecting items that match a test form or a test-taker's ability level.

Technically, ItemBanken relies on structured data models and often adheres to interoperability standards for assessments, such as QTI, and may integrate with learning management systems or examination platforms. Access is typically restricted to authorized users, though some institutions publish subsets of items for research or sample purposes.

Governance combines content expertise, psychometrics, and quality assurance. Editors, psychometricians, language editors, and subject specialists review items, translate them when needed, and track revisions. Ongoing analytics help monitor item performance, prevent bias, and support comparability across tests.

Variations exist where national or institutional versions of ItemBanken are used to support standardized testing programs, classroom assessments, or higher-stakes admissions, often with tailored security and reporting features.