GENERAL

PRINCIPLES OF
TESTING
Reported by:
ROME CHERRY S. CALA-OR
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
OF TESTING
■Ebel and Frisbie (1999) as cited by
Garcia (2008) listed five basic
principles that should guide teachers
in assessing the learning progress of
the students and in developing their
own assessment tools.
INTRODUCTION
In the previous chapter, we have discussed
the process of developing instructional
objectives. As discussed, instructional
objectives must be specific, measurable and
observable. Teachers must develop test items
that should match with instructional
objectives appropriately and accurately. In
this section, we shall discuss the general
principles of testing, the different qualities of
assessment tools, and steps in developing
assessment tool.
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
OF TESTING
1. Measure all instructional objectives
– when a teacher constructs test items to
measure the learning progress of the students,
they should match all the learning objectives
posed during instruction. That is why the first
step in constructing a test is for the teacher to
go back to the instructional objectives.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
OF TESTING
2. Cover all the learning tasks –
the teacher should construct a test that
contains a wide range of sampling of
items. In this case, the teacher can
determine the educational outcomes or
abilities that the resulting scores are
representatives of the total performance
in the areas measured.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
OF TESTING
3. Use appropriate test items
– the test items constructed
must be appropriate to measure
the learning outcomes.
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
OF TESTING
4. Make test valid and reliable – the
teacher must construct a test that is valid so
that it can measure what is supposed to
measure from the students. The test is
reliable when the scores of the students
remain the same or consistent when the
teacher gives the same test for the second
time.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
OF TESTING
5. Use test to improve learning –
the test scores should be utilized by the
teacher properly to improve learning by
discussing the skills or competencies on
the items that have not been learned or
mastered by the learners.
PRINCIPLES OF
HIGH QUALITY
ASSESSMENT
 PRINCIPLES OF HIGH
QUALITY ASSESSMENT
■Assessing the performance of every student
is a very critical task for the classroom
teacher. It is very important that a
classroom teacher should prepare the
assessment tool appropriately.
■Test constructions are believed that every
assessment tool should possess good
qualities.
 CLARITY OF LEARNING
OBJECTIVE
■When a teacher plans for his classroom
instruction, the learning target should be
clearly stated and must be focused on
student learning objectives rather than the
teacher activity. The learning outcomes
must be SMART as discussed previously.
APPROPRIATENESS OF
ASSESMENT TOOL
■The type of test used always match the
instructional objectives or learning
outcomes of the subject matter posed
during the delivery of the instruction.
Teachers should be skilled in choosing and
developing assessment methods
appropriate for instructional decisions.
 APPROPRIATENESS OF
ASSESMENT TOOL
1. Objective test – it is a type test that
requires student to select the correct
response from several alternatives or to
supply a word or short phase to answer a
question or complete a statement. It is
includes true – false, matching type, and
multiple – choice question. The word
objective refers to the scoring, it indicates
that there is only one correct answer.
APPROPRIATENESS OF
ASSESMENT TOOL
2. Subjective test – it is a type of test that
permits the student to organize and present an
original answer. It is includes either short answer
question or long general question. This type of
test has no specific answer. Hence, its is usually
scored on an opinion basis, although there will be
certain facts and understanding expected in the
answer.
APPROPRIATENESS OF
ASSESMENT TOOL
3. Performance Assessment – (Mueller,
2010) is an assessment in which students are
asked to perform real-word task that demonstrate
meaningful application of essential knowledge
skills. It can be appropriately measure learning
objectives which focus on the ability of the
students to demonstrate skill or knowledge in
real-life situation.
APPROPRIATENESS OF
ASSESMENT TOOL
4. Portfolio Assessment – it is an
assessment that is based on the systematic,
longitudinal collection of student work
created in response to specific, known
instructional objectives and evaluated in
relation to the same criteria ( Ferenz, K.,
2001) portfolio is a purposeful collection of
student’s efforts, progress and achievements
in one or more areas over a period of time. It
measures the growth and development of
APPROPRIATENESS OF
ASSESMENT TOOL
5. Oral questioning – this method is used to
collect assessment data by asking oral question. The
most commonly of all forms of assessment in class,
assuming that the learner hears and share the use of
common language with the teacher during
instruction. The ability of the student to communicate
orally is very relevant to this type of assessment. This
is also form of formative assessment.
APPROPRIATENESS OF
ASSESMENT TOOL
6. Observation technique – the teacher will observe
how student carry out certain activities either observing the
process or product. There are two types of observation
techniques: formal and informal observations. Formal
information are planned in advance like when the teacher
asses oral report or presentation in class while informal
observation is done spontaneously, during instruction like
observing the working behavior of the students while
performing a laboratory experiment in a biology class and
the like. The behavior of students involved in his
performance during instruction is systematically monitored,
described, classified, and analyzed.
APPROPRIATENESS OF
ASSESMENT TOOL

7. Self – report – the responses of the

students may be used to evaluate both
performance and attitude. Assessment tools
could be include sentence completion, Likert
scales, checklist, or holistic scales.
 DIFFERENT
QUALITIES OF
ASSESSMENT
TOOLS
 DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF
ASSESSMENT TOOLS

1. Validity – refers to the

appropriateness of score-based
inferences; or decisions made based on
the students’ test result. Extent to which
a test measures what it is supposed to
measure.
 DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF
ASSESSMENT TOOLS
2. Reliability – refers to the consistency of
measurement; that is, how consistent test results
or other assessment results from one
measurement to another. We can say that the
test id reliable when it can be used to predict
particularly the same scores when test
administered twice to the same group of students
and with a reliability index of 0.61 above.
 DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF
ASSESSMENT TOOLS

3. Fairness – means that the test item

should not have any biases. It should not
be offensive to any examinee subgroup.
A test can only be good if it fair to all
examinees.
 DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF
ASSESSMENT TOOLS
4. Objectivity – refers to the agreement of
two or more raters or test administrators
concerning the score of a student. If the two
raters who assess the same student on the
same test cannot agree on the score, the test
lacks of objectivity and neither of the score
from the judges is valid. Lack of objectivity
reduces test validity in the same way that the
lack of reliability influence validity.
 DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF
ASSESSMENT TOOLS

5. Scorability – means that the test

should be easy to score, direction for
scoring should be clearly stated in the
instruction. Provide the students an
answer sheet and the answer key for the
one who will check the test
 DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF
ASSESSMENT TOOLS

6. Adequacy – means that the test

should contain a wide range of sampling
of items to determine the educational
outcomes or abilities so that the resulting
scores are representatives of the total
performance in the areas measured.
 DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF
ASSESSMENT TOOLS
7. Administrability – means that the
test should be administered uniformly to
all the students so that the score obtained
will not vary to factors other than the
differences of the students’ knowledge and
skills. There should be a clear provision for
instruction for the students, proctors and
even the one who will check the test or the
test scorer.
 DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF
ASSESSMENT TOOLS
8. Practicality and Efficiency – refers to
the teacher’s familiarity with the methods
used, time required for the assessment
complexity of the administration, ease of
scoring, ease interpretation of the test
results and the materials used must be at
the lowest cost.
 STEPS IN DEVELOPING
ASSESSMENT TOOLS
1. Examine the instructional objectives of the topics previously
discussed.
2. Make a table of specification (TOS).
3. Construct the test items.
4. Assemble the test items.
5. Check the assembled test items.
6. Write directions.
7. Make the answer key.
8. Analyze and improve the test items.
EXAMINE THE INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
OF THE TOPICS PREVIOUSLY DISCUSSED

 the first step in developing an

achievement test is to examine and go
back to the instructional objectives so that
you can match with the test items to be
constructed
 MAKE A TABLE OF
SPECIFICATION (TOS)
Table of Specification (TOS) – is a chart or
table that details the content and level of
cognitive level assessed on test as well as the
types and emphases of the test items. (Gareis and
Grant, 2008). Table specification is important in
addressing the validity and reliability of the test
items.
THANK YOU!