ULACIT 11-7003 LEARNING ASSESSMENT

Professor: MSc. Giselle Herrera Gmez

PURPOSE OF A TEST
To establish a basis for assigning grades To determine how well each student has achieved the course objectives To diagnose student problems for remediation To determine where instruction needs improvement To measure the student's cognitive ability

HOW TO WRITE GOOD TEST ?

1.Determine which type of test format to utilize. The most common test formats include:
multiple choice questions, true or false questions, fill in the blank questions and

open-ended questions.

HOW TO WRITE GOOD TESTS ?

Choose the format that best measures the student's cognitive ability

eg. 1 = to compare and contrast an issue taught during a history lesson

open ended questions may be the best option to evaluate the student's understanding of the subject matter.

HOW TO WRITE GOOD TEST ?

e.g. 2 = to measure the student's reasoning or analysis skills, or general comprehension of a subject matter

multiple choice test questions

HOW TO WRITE GOOD TEST ?

2.Time a. available to take the test b. teacher to score them

For larger classrooms, essay format or open ended questions will be more difficult to manage both the student's time and your own as you grade them

HOW TO WRITE GOOD TEST ?

3.Review instructional objectives

need to be aware if an objective that you wrote was not covered in class, or implied a different process than what was taught BEFORE you write the test!

HOW TO WRITE GOOD TEST ?

4.Delimit the content and skill areas to be tested Design a Table of Specifications:

a.To ensure that quiz/test is representative of what was covered in class and,
b.To ensure that it gives an adequate sampling of student capabilities

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

STEP 1 Write Objectives & Plan Test

An objective is a communication device that specifies the knowledge, skills, and attitudes expected of students at the end of an instructional unit

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

Objectives include three components:
CONDITIONS PERFORMANCE

CRITERIA

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

STEP 2 DEVELOP TEST ITEMS SUBJECTIVE

OBJECTIVE

(true or false, multiple-choice, matching, and completion) easy to write and score, can sample large amounts of content; however, are limited to facts, encourage guessing, and fail to measure higher levels of cognitive learning

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

SUBJECTIVE

allow students to express their thoughts and require demonstration of mastery of instructional objectives in the higher levels of the cognitive domain.

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

STEP 3 ESTABLISH TEST VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY Validity is the Reliability extent to which provides an a test measures estimate of what it was consistency of intended to test results measure to accurately measure student achievement

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

STEP 4 ASSEMBLE TEST ITEMS AND WRITE DIRECTIONS should be assembled by type and increasing difficulty should also be checked for inconsistencies and follow a parallel format should develop clear and concise test directions

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

should have content experts read the test for understanding and clarity prior to administration Step 5 ADMINISTER TEST Prior to administration, consider: 1. physical setting (e.g., space, lighting, ventilation, and temperature) of the testing environment

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

2. Consider the psychological factors (test anxiety and pressure) 3. Discuss the instructional content areas to be covered by the test as well as the format of the test 4. Discuss the parameters of the test (e.g., number and type of test items) before administration.

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

5. Provide students with practice test items (and similar directions) prior to the test 6. Indicate to students that you expect them to succeed on the test and that you are available to help them

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

STEP 6 INTERPRET TEST RESULTS AND ANALYZE TEST ITEMS

Descriptive statistics summarize test results through: measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode)

STEPS FOR GOOD TESTS

measures of dispersion (range, percentiles/quartiles, ranks, standard deviation, and Z-scores)

DETERMINE SCORES