Planning and Administering Classroom Tests
With the approach for increased accountability in the educational system, it is vital that educators are able to apply a wide range of psychometric skills appropriate to the assessment of the students with different pace of learning and backgrounds. It is equally critical that educators have a comprehensive understanding of current measurement and evaluative trends such as competency testing, performance assessment, curriculum-based assessment and standardized assessment.
There are six major steps in planning and conduction an assessment: defining instructional objectives, outlining course contents, developing a test specification, construction of test items, administration of assessment and interpreting test scores.
There are two types of assessment i.e. assessment of learning & assessment for learning. Assessment of learning is used to assess students learning achievement at terminal stages whereas assessment for learning enhances teaching–learning process. Tests and assessments are an essential part of the instructional process. When properly done, they can not only effectively evaluate but also enhance students' learning and teachers‘ instruction. When poorly done, they can confuse and alienate students, distort the curriculum, and hinder good instruction. Test scores and grades sometimes affect "highstakes“ decisions about students, prompting intense concern that they be accurate and fair.
Planning a Test
The main objective of classroom assessment is to obtain valid, reliable and useful data regarding student learning achievement. This requires determining what is to be measured and then defining it precisely so that assessments tasks to measure desired performance can be developed. Classroom tests and assessments can be used for the following instructional objectives:
Pre-testing
i. Pre-testing
Tests and assessments can be given at the beginning of an instructional unit or course to determine:-
weather the students have the prerequisite skills needed for the instruction (readiness, motivation etc)
to what extent the students have already achieved the objectives of planned instruction (to determine placement or modification of instruction)
ii. During the Instruction Testing
provides bases for formative assessment
monitor learning progress
detect learning errors
provide feedback for students and teachers
iii. End of Instruction Testing
measure intended learning outcomes
used for formative assessment
provides bases for grades, promotion etc
Pre-testing
Prior to developing an effective test, one needs to determine whether or not a test is the appropriate type of assessment. If the learning objectives are of primarily types of procedural knowledge (how to perform a task) then a written test may not be the best approach. Assessment of procedural knowledge generally calls for a performance demonstration assessed using a rubric. Where demonstration of a procedure is not appropriate, a test can be an effective assessment tool.
The first stage of developing a test is planning the test content and length. Planning the test begins with development of a blueprint or test specifications for the test structured on the learning outcomes or instructional objectives to be assessed by the test instrument.
For each learning outcome, a weight should be assigned based on the relative importance of that outcome in the test. The weight will be used to determine the number of items related to each of the learning outcomes.
Test Specifications
When an engineer prepares a design to construct a building and choose the materials, he intends to use in construction, he usually know what a building is going to be used for, and therefore designs it to meet the requirements of its planned inhabitants. Similarly, in testing, table of specification is the blueprint of the assessment which specifies percentages and weightage of test items and measuring constructs. It includes constructs and concepts to be measured, tentative weightage of each construct, specify number of items for each concept, and description of item types to be constructed. It is not surprising that specifications are also referred to as ‘blueprints’, for they are literally architectural drawings for test construction. Fulcher & Davidson (2009) divided test specifications into the following four elements:
Test Specifications
Typically, a specification at this sub-level contains two key elements: samples of the tasks to be produced, and guiding language that details all information necessary to produce the task.
Presentation Model: Presentation model provides information how the items and tasks are presented to the test takers.
Assembly Model: Assembly model helps the test developer to combine test items and tasks to develop a test format.
Delivery Model: Delivery Model tells how the actual test is delivered. It includes information regarding test administration, test security/confidentiality and time constraint.
