Planning an achievement test and assessment

1. Planning classroom test and
assessment

2. Introduction
Classroom test and assessments play a
central role in the evaluation of student
learning. They provide relevant measures
of many important learning outcomes and
indirect evidence concerning others.

3. The purpose of classroom testing and
assessment
Classroom test and assessment can be
used for a variety of instructional
purposes. These can be best described in
terms of their location in the instructional
process, which closely parallels the types
of assessment.

4. Pre-testing
Test and assessment are may be given at
the beginning of an instructional segment
(e.g., unit or course) to determine. (1)
Whether students have the prerequisite
skills needed for the instruction (to
determine readiness) or (2) to what extend
students have already achieved the
objectives of the planned instruction (to
determine student’s placement or
modification of instruction).

5.  Readiness pretests are typically limited in scope.
For example, a pretest in algebra might be
confined to arithmetic operations and concepts;
pretest physics might consist of basic physical
concepts or prerequisite skills in algebra; and a
pretest in beginning German might be limited to
knowledge of English grammar. In addition to
being confined to a limited domain, pretest items
tend to have a relatively low level of difficulty

6. Testing and assessment during
instruction
 Test and assessment during instruction provide the basis
for formative assessment. They are used to monitor
learning progress, detect learning errors, and provide
feedback to students and teacher. Teachers commonly
call these formative tests learning test, practice tests,
quizzes, and unit test, and like. These test and
assessments typically cover some predefined segment
of instruction and thus encompass rather limited sample
of learning outcomes. The mix of types of test items and
more complex performance assessment tasks needs to
be selected with care to ensure that high-priority, but
possibly difficult to assess, objectives are adequately
represented in the assessment

7. End-of-instruction test and assessment
 At the end of the segment of instruction, our main
interest is in measuring the extent to which the intended
learning outcomes and performance standards have
been achieved. Although these end-of-instruction test or
assessments are used primarily for summative
assessment, they can also serve other functions. End-of-
unit test can be used for giving feedback to students,
encouraging students to undertake more challenging
advanced work, assigning remedial work, and assessing
instruction as well as for grading purpose. In fact, they
can serve the function of both formative and summative
assessment, and in some cause serve a pretest.

8. Building a table of specifications
 Building a table of specifications
involves;
1. 1. Preparing a table of instructional
objective
2. 2. Outlining the course content
3. 3. Preparing the two-way chart.

9. Deciding what to assess and how to
assess it
What to assess
Far too many teachers simply stumble into n pattern
without giving serious consideration to why they are
assessing what they are assessing. Typically, teachers
test students in order to dispense grades in manner that
somehow resembles the levels of academic
performances students have displayed. Students who
score well on the teacher’s test are given good grades;
low-scoring students get the other kind. Traditionally, the
need to dole out grades to students has been the chief
factors spurring teachers to assess their students.

10. Decision-driven assessment
 Teacher use tests to get information about their
students. Teachers typically make score-based
inferences about their student’s states with
respect to whatever curricular aims are being
represented by the tests. Based on these
inferences, teachers then make decisions.
Sometimes the decisions are straightforward
and sometimes the decisions are more difficult,
such as how to modify an instructional unit
based on students’ performances on an end-of-
unit exam.

11. How to assess
Let’s assume you are decided what you
are going to measure in your classroom
assessments. Now the task turns to how
you are going to assess it. We will look at
several choices to consider when deciding
how to answer the how-to-assess it
question. More specifically, we will be
dealing with the following choices

12. 1 Whether to adopt a norm-referenced or a
criterion-referenced assessment
approach.
2. Whether to emphasize selected-response
or constructed-response assessment
schemes.
3 What kind of items type's) to select
alternatives as multiple-choice, short-
answer, or performance test?

13. Standards-based classroom assessment
 Actually, there are two types of educational
standards you need to know about:
 • A content standard describes the
knowledge or skill that educators want students
to learn.
 • A performance standard identifies the
desired level of proficiency at which educators
want a content standard mastered.
 It should be apparent that although we might
refer both of above as “standards”, they are very
different creatures.

14. What-to-assess considerations
We are looked at several factors that can
help classroom teachers in deciding what
they should measure in their classroom
assessment procedures. From the
discussion of those points, seven possible
ways of addressing the what-to-assess
question can be derived:

15.  1. Focus all class assessment procedures
on clearly explicated decision options.
 2. A small number of significant curricular
aims can provide a useful frame-work for
deciding what to assess.
 3. An analysis of whether assessments
should focus on cognitive, affective, or
psychomotor behavior can prove helpful.

16. 4. A review of relevant collections of
content standards prepared by national
subject-matter organization can help a
teacher identify key knowledge and skills
to be pursued.
5. A consideration of the assessment
frame-work can present a useful view of
what curricular aims to assess a number
of curriculum fields.

17. 6. Advice from a colleague about
what to assess can prove beneficial.
7. A serious analysis of the way your
state’s approved content standards are
assessed by its exams so you can plan
your classroom assessment based on that
analysis

18. Planning an achievement test and
assessment
 Grounlund & Linn (1990) have however discussed them
in a very systematic way and have suggested the
following eight basic steps in classroom testing.
 1. Determining the purpose of measurement.
 2. Developing the test specifications.
 3. Selecting appropriate assessment tasks.
 4. Preparing relevant test items.
 5. Assembling the test.
 6. Administering the test.
 7. Appraising the test.
 8. Using the results.

19. a) Determining the purpose of Testing
There are five types of tests. Each type has its own focus
of measuring, nature of sample, items of sample, items
difficulty level, item of administration, type of instrument
and use of results.
The five types are:
i. Readiness Pre-test
ii. Placement Pre-test
iii. Formative test
iv. Diagnostic test
v. Summative test
The first two types as their names shown are given at the
Pre-instructional level, the second two are given during
instruction and the last one is given at the end of course.

20. b) Developing Test Specification
 The constructor of the test should prepare a
table of specification. It is nothing but a two
dimensional grid that allows the constructor to
plan how many items should be for each content
area and what level of thinking is expected from
the examinee. How much this grid will be
specified will depend upon the test-constructor.
Thus he should prepare:
i. A list of instructional objectives
ii. An outline of the course content
iii. A two-way chart

21. Number of Test Items For Each Level of
Thinking
Content Knowledge Comprehe
nsion
Application Analysis Total
Topic No.1 8 4 4 4 20
Topic No.2 6 6 3 3 18
Topic No.3 4 5 5 3 18
Topic No.4 4 5 5 2 16
Topic No.5 4 5 5 2 16
Topic No.6 5 6 1 0 12
Total 34 31 21 14 100

22. c) Selecting Appropriate Types of Test
 here are various types of test items which are
used in classrooms. They are essay type, short
answer type and objective type. Each type has
its own merits and limitations. Each type should
be used where it is the most appropriate. For
example
 kind of Item
 Choice Items
 Completion Items
 Short Answer Items
 Essay Items

23. d) Preparing Relevant Test items
 Even if the evaluator selects the most
appropriate type of test items for measuring the
intended learning outcomes, it will not serve the
purpose unless the evaluator possesses the skill
of preparing that type of test items. So the next
important step in construction of achievement
test is preparing relevant test items.
 The preparation of relevant item requires the
following actions on the part of the test-
constructor.


24.  i. He should match the test items with
the intended learning outcome. It is possible
through,
 a) Analysis of the performance of intended
learning outcome.
 b) Assigning intended learning outcome to the
domains of knowledge, understanding,
application etc.
 c) Construction of a test items requiring to test
their performance.

25.  He should select those items which can be the best
representative. It is possible through,
 a) Developing test items which can measure all
possible situations.
 b) Selecting some of them as a sample since we
cannot select all of them due to the limitation of testing
hours.
 c) Not loading the test with a particular type of test
only.
 d) Not falling back upon those items which can be
easily constructed.
 e) Deciding the test length in accordance with the age
level of the examinees and the nature of subject matter.

26.  iii. He should prepare the test which is of proper
difficulty level. It is possible through,
 a) Deciding whether the item is meant for
criterion-referenced test of norm-referenced test.
 b) Selecting easy items if the learning task is
easy and difficult items if the learning task is
difficult in criterion-referenced test.
 c) Selected average and difficult items in Norm-
referenced test because the evaluator is
interested in determining ranking of the
examinees

27.  He should avoid all possible barriers in test
items which prevent examinees from
responding. It is possible through,
 a) Avoiding ambiguity in statements
 b) Eliminating unnecessary wordings
 c) Making use of communicative vocabulary
 d) Discouraging complex stricter of sentences
 e) Providing clear cut instructions to examinees
 f) Eliminating any type of bias

28.  a) He should not provide any clues to answer
which may help examines to answer correctly
even if they lack the necessary achievement. It
is possible through,
 a) Avoiding grammatical inconsistencies in
the form of vowel and consonant.
 b) Avoiding verbal association in stem and
responses.
 c) Lengthening or shortening the correct
responses.
 d) Not select exact words from the text book.

29. e) Assembling the Tes
 After preparing relevant test items for a test, the
constructor of the test has to assemble them
together. In assembling the test the following
process are to be performed,
 i. He should write each item on a separate
card. The card should contain the following
information:
 a) Test item
 b) Instructional objective
 c) Specific learning outcome
 d) Subjective matter tested by the item Key.

30.  ii. He should review the test items himself
after some item. Besides this he should get it
reviewed by another teacher of the test. In
reviewing he and his colleague should check the
following:
 a) The item match with the learning outcome
 b) The point of the item is clear
 c) The item is free from excess words
 d) The item is appropriately difficult
 e) The experts agree on the answer of the
item
 f) The item is free from technical errors
 g) The item does not provide clues
 h) The item does not suffer from any bias.

31.  iii. Test should arrange the items in the test properly.
 iv. He should provide proper instructions to the
examinees. If all the examinees are in the same room,
oral instructions may be given otherwise they should be
in writing. The instructions should be related to the
following:
 a) What is the purpose of the test?
 b) How much time is allowed for answering the test?
 c) How much time should be given for each item?
 d) What should be the mode of response by the
examinees?
 e) What is the result of guessing?
 f) Is there any provision of negative marking?

32. f). Administering the test
 If the test constructor himself is administering
the test and all the examinees are in the same
room, there are no problems because all the
examinees will get the same treatment. This is
much more necessary if the test is competitive
one for admission, scholarship or prize etc.
 If the test is being conducted at different places,
the task of administering the test becomes more
meaningful. However all the examinees must be
given all the opportunities to do justice with the
test. The following suggestions are made:

33.  i. The administrators of the test should not
make any long announcement before or during
the test.
 ii. If any instruction is to be given, it is better
if it is in writing, so that all the examinees get the
same opportunities.
 iii. The test administrator should not respond to
the individual problems of the examinees
otherwise any hint on their part may give unfair
chance to some examinees.
 iv. All the steps are taken to prevent cheating
by the examinees.

34. h). Appraising the Test
 The test scoring is to be manually, if the test
essay type of short answer type. After scoring
the test should be appraised for the
effectiveness of each item of the test. It is
technically known as item-analysis. The norm-
referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests
are for different purposes, so the procedure of
item analysis is also different for them. There are
various procedures but Gronlung (1991) has
given the following procedure for Norm-
referenced test.

35.  i. Arrange all test paper in descending order
group.
 ii. Select 1/3 papers from the top. It is called
upper group.
 iii. Select 1/3 papers from the bottom. It is
called lower group.
 iv. Set aside the middle group test papers.
 v. Prepare the following table for each item
for selecting the alternative in the two groups.

37.  It is the last step of planning an achievement test. There
are two important uses of test result. They are:
 I. Awarding marks to the students for making
decisions about the promotion of students to the next
higher class.
 II. Bringing improvement in teaching: the test results
not only report about the performance of individual
students in each subject but they also report about the
effectiveness of teaching of individual teachers. If
student do very well in the test results of all the subjects
except one or two, it reflects the effectiveness of
teaching the subject. In such a situation, the teacher
concerned should rethink about this method of thinking,
increase his competence in the knowledge of subject
matter, provide sufficient practice to the student and
continuously monitor their progress. He should also
review his procedure of making. It may be that there is
no co-ordination between his instructional objectives,
teaching strategies and evaluation procedure and
techniques.


38. Preparing students for classroom
assessment
 To obtain the best information, students should be
prepared for each formal assessment that is an
assessment consisting of a set of assessment tasks. A
set of guidelines that can help the teachers prepare
students for formal assessments are:
 1. Announce the assessment in advance and inform
students of the purpose, structure, format and content of
the assessment instrument or procedure.
 2. Approach the assessment positively, yet
honestly.
 3. Remind students to pay careful attention to the
directions and follow the directions exactly.

39.  4. Tell students to pace themselves so they
complete the entire assessment.
 5. Tell student to skip over items if they do not know
the answer and come back to them later, time permitting.
If they do get back to those items, tell them to make
educated guesses for as many items as possible in the
time remaining.
 6. For essay test, tall students to plan and organize
their essays before writing them.
 7. Tell students to be in good physical and mental
condition for the assessment (e.g., to get a good night’s
sleep, to eat a good breakfast). If it is high-stakes
assessment, send a note home remanding
parents/guardians about the upcoming assessment.

40. Characteristics
 Grounlund & Linn (1990) have identified the following
characteristic of a carefully constructed standardized
test.
 i. Their tests items are qualitatively very good.
They are tried out and selected on the basis of their
difficulty level and discrimination power.
 ii. Their instruction in regard to administrating and
scoring the test are so unambiguous that they become
standardized one for different users.
 iii. They are accompanied with Norms which are
developed at various levels and on various groups.

iv. They provide equivalent and comparable forms of
the test.
 v. They carry with them a test manual, guides for
administering and scoring the test.

41. importance of acquiring test Development
skills
 To help a teacher clarify the behavior that
He/she feels important for students to Learn.
 • Skills and knowledge acquired; firstly,
can be Applied to other aspects such as
curriculum Planning and development
 • Secondly, may evaluate the quality of
Commercial testing materials.
 Well constructed classroom tests can
lead to more objective and fairer procedures for
Judging and evaluating student.

42. The test development Process
 1.Classroom testing should be part to the
Teaching/learning process to provide information
to you and students.
 i) What a student is prepared to learn next
 ii) how a student’s study of a given topic might
best be carried out.
 2.-Whether a student has mastered a specific
Instructional objective.
 3.-whether review of past learning or an
integration of such learning is needed.

43. Making a blue print or table of test
specifications.
 This advanced planning allows a
teacher to view the test as a whole.
 Describing the content and the behavior
expected of the students.
 Numbers of questions on the test;
correspond to the amount of time devoted
to the objectives in class.
 The test needs not to be too easy not
too hard for the students

44. Evaluation Program
 Basis for Planning:
 1. Planning instruction-Course outline,
Specification of units and objectives
 2. Guiding instruction- Identification of possible
instructional alternatives
 Specification of mastery criteria for objectives
 -Evaluating results of
instruction
-Specification of essential content and skills

45. Check list to analyze the quality of test
items
 Is the item format appropriate for the learning outcomes
being measured?
 Does the knowledge, understanding, or thinking skills
called forth by the item match the specific learning
outcomes and subject-matter content being measured?
 Is the point of the item clear?
 Is the item free from excessive verbiage?
 Is the item of appropriate difficulty?
 Does the item have an answer that would be agree
upon by experts?
 Is the item free from technical errors and irrelevant
clues?
 Is the item free from racial, ethnic, and sexual bias?

46. Reviewing and Revising Test Items
 Matching the learning outcomes.
 Clarifying the point of the items and the
desired response.
 Removing excessive verbiage from multi-
choice alternatives.
 Removing excessive verbiage from multi-
choice stem.
 Keeping the reading level low.
 Removing verbal clues.

47. Arranging Items in Tes
 There are various methods of grouping items in
a test, and the method will vary somewhat with
the use to be made of the result. For the most
classroom purpose, the items can be arrange by
a systematic consideration of
 The types of the items used.
 The learning outcomes measured.
 The difficulty of items.
 The subject matter measured.

48.  When two or more items types are included in a
test, there are also some advantages in keeping
the simpler item types together and placing the
more complex ones in the test, as follows:
 1. True-false or alternative-response.
 2. Matching items.
 3. Short-answer items.
 4. Multiple –choice items.
 5. Interpretive exercise.
 6. Essay questions.

49. Steps to prevent cheating
Take special precaution to keep the test
secure-during preparation, storage, and
administration.§ Have pupils clear off the
tops of their desk (for adequate work
space and to prevent use of notes).§ If
scratch paper is used (e. g for math
problems), have it turned in with the test.

50.  Proctor the testing session carefully (e. g walk
around the room periodically and observe how
the pupils are doing).§ Use special seating
arrangements, if possible (e. g leave an empty
row of seats between pupils).§ Use two forms of
the test and give a different form to each row of
pupils (for this purpose, use the same test but
simply rearrange the order of the items for the
second form).§ Prepare tests that pupils will
view as relevant, fair and useful.§ Create and
maintain a positive attitude concerning the value
of tests for improving learning.