TEST CONSTRUCTION

1
TEST CONSTRUCTION

• Classroom Assessment
• Chapter 16
• Blooms from Chapter 12

2
Planning

• Specify the content the test will cover.
• State test objectives in behavioral terms.
• Make sure that test items cover all 6 cognitive
  levels outlined in Blooms taxonomy.

3
Ideally,

• Create items for test after each unit taught
• (not the day before the test)
• Create a test blueprint

4
Test Blueprint

• A table that lists important objectives to be
  taught
• The percentage or number of items that cover a
  topic
• Can be used to decide the number of items that
  should be written for each objective

5
Sample Blueprint for Final

• Learning theorists 11 questions
• Info processing 8
• Planning and instruction 6
• Motivation 7
• Classroom Assessment 10
• Standardized tests 8

6
By Blooms Taxonomy

• When you create your own test, will that be
  application or synthesis?
• For assessment, will be asked to apply what you
  have learned to interpret a students scores.
  (Application).

7
Essays and Short-Answer Items

• To be objective, write your intended answer first
• Write comments so you can justify grade
• Score all of the students on one essay before
  moving to the next.

8
Completion items

• Fill-in-the-blank
• Be careful on these (students should not have to
  be psychic to be correct)
• Hard to use for higher-order thinking

9
Examples

• Bad The largest city in Puerto Rico is ___.
• Why is it bad? Because you could write The
  capital or San Juan.
• Corrected The name of the largest city in Puerto
  Rico is____.

10
2nd example

• Armstrong was the first American to_____.
• Is this bad or good?

11
Bad because.

• Too many correct answers are possible
• To win the Tour de France 5x in a row is one.
• To walk on the moon is another.
• Need to carefully re-read these for this error.

12
Other examples

• WW II ended in ____.
• Need to suggest what you are looking for, or I
  could say defeat of the Japanese, September, or
  1945 and be equally correct.
• WW II ended in the year ____.

13
Fill-in Example

• The number of eggs most species of penguins lay
  is ___eggs, while the King Emperor penguins lay
  only ___egg.

14
2nd Real Life Example

• One misconception about penguins is that they are
  not really birds because unlike other birds they
  do not have ____.

15
Above all

• Do NOT have more than one blank in the sentence.

16
Good items

• Should pose a problem
• Blank should be near the end of the sentence
• If problem requires a numerical answer, indicate
  the units for the response
• And consider why not ask a direct question
  instead?

17
Direct questions

• Text p. 532 recommends this then has
• The freezing point of water is
• A. 25 F b. 32 F c. 39 F d. 46 F
• The freezing point of water is
• A. 30 F 31 F c. 32 F d. 33 F
• Why not ask What is the freezing point of water?

18
True-false

• Should only be used with lower grades
• Never use always or Never
• Use shorter statements
• Avoid double negatives

19
Matching Items

• Good for factual items
• Not good for higher-order thinking
• Seem easy but they are not
• Column A should be the one with the longer items
  B should be the responses
• Lists should be homogeneous

20
To avoid easy guessing,

• The lists should NOT be evenly matched
• Should be about 3 more options than descriptions
• Or you may say that each option may be used more
  than once

21
Good idea to

• Introduce some order into the lists
  (alphabetical, chronological order)
• Use both names, not Ford, but Gerald Ford or
  Henry Ford or Evelyn Ford
• Include directions about how to match

22
Sample items

• 1. Lincoln
• 2. Ford
• 3. Bell
• 4. Washington
• 5. Whitney

• A. invented the telephone
• B. invented the auto
• C. President in 20th century
• D. Civil war president
• E. invented the cotton gin

23
Last matching was poor for several reasons

• List not homogenous
• Needed more options

24
Better matching match the inventor with his
invention

• 1. A.G. Bell
• 2. Jacques Cousteau
• 3. George deMestral
• 4. Thomas Edison
• 5. Guglielmo Marconi

• A. scuba gear
• B. phonograph
• C. wireless
• D. hearing aid
• E. velcro
• F. bicycle
• G. airplane
• H. automobile

25
Match each country with its role in WWII from the
U.S. perspective

• 1. England
• 2. France
• 3. Ireland
• 4. Italy
• 5. Sweden
• 6. Soviet Union
• 7. Germany

• 1. Ally
• 2. enemy
• 3. declared neutrality

26
Multiple Choice items

• Consists of a stem with a question or incomplete
  statement
• Followed by 4 responses
• 3 distractors, 1 correct answer
• Each distractor should be plausible

27
First, the Donts

• Dont use the word NOT in stems. The item should
  be reworded.
• Ex. Which is not a characteristic of females?
• Hint if it isnt a characteristic of females,
  then it probably is of males and could be
  reworded which one is a male characteristic?

28
Concepts are taught

• Not non-concepts
• Which is not a characteristic of giraffes?
• Why not ask about what they are, not what they
  are not.

29
Dont

• Use all of the above
• None of the above
• Or a and b but not C.
• You can combine them verbally (see p.146) but NOT
  by item number
• If you do b c, but not d, youve turned the
  question into a T/F question

30
Dont provide grammar clue

• Correct response should not be identified by
  grammar
• Ex. One African animal that is a vegetarian is an
• a. jaguar b. lion c. elephant d. tiger

31
Dos

• Put as much of the item in the stem as possible
• Keep wording in the distractors to a minimum
• Students should be able to identify the problem
  of the question

32
Foils or distractors

• Should be about the same length

33
Can you guess the right answer?

• Little Blue penguins are different from Emperor
  penguins because Little Blues
• A. stand 4 feet tall
• B. nest near humans or may even live under summer
  cottages.
• C. lay a single egg.

34
Organize the detractors chronologically

• 1. In what year did humans first walk on the
  moon?
• a. 1975 b. 1957 c. 1969 d. 1963
• Instead write
• a. 1957 b. 1963 c. 1969 d. 1975

35
Only 1 response is correct

• Reread your questions to make sure that only one
  answer is possible
• Occasionally, you may write one with no correct
  answer
• LM recommends humbly admitting your error

36
Check your test balance

• Be sure to have roughly the same number of A B C
  and D answers
• If you want to write a slightly easier test, put
  more answers in A
• Want to be tough, put them in D

37
Item analysis

• Probably want to discard any ? That gt 75-80 of
  the students fail
• May check for high/low, that is are good students
  failing the question, or poor students?

38
Alternative Assessments

• Performance-based assess.
• Authentic assessments

39
Performance Assessments

• Dioramas, book reports, oral presentations
• From knowing to showing
• Depending on subject, very good idea

40
Can do this as a formative evaluation as well

• After a lesson on dinosaurs eating habits, could
  have children sort dinosaurs by meat eating or
  plant eating.
• Watching them do this would provide an on going
  assessment

41
Performance Criteria

• Specify what the student must do
• Directs teachers observations of perf.
• Helps them decide what to do
• Develop scoring rubric

42
Authentic Assessment

• Sometimes used interchangeably w/ performance
  assessment
• Authentic however should be how something is used
  in real world

43
Authentic

• Student would prepare a cover letter for an
  application
• Student would prepare a resume
• Student use writing as writing is used in real
  world

44
Pre-service Teacher would

• Prepare a test from material provided
• Interpret standardized test scores to a parent

45
Scoring Rubric

• Take home final

46
Rubric for essay test

• 1. In T/F questions, the items are statements.
• 2. Always or never was not used.
• 3. On fill-ins, the units were mentioned.

47
Matching

• 1. directions provided
• 2. more choices on right than questions on left
  (3 suggested in lecture, due to El Ed at least
  2).
• 3. longer items on left.
• 4. at least 4 items.
• 5. list is homogeneous

48
Multiple choice

• Foils are similar length
• No double negatives
• The question is not easily guessed.
• At least 4 items.
• Do not use all of the above/none of the above.

49
Blooms Taxonomy

• Can identify correctly which of the 6 objectives
  matches their questions (p.380)
• Explains why in their own words (testing their
  comprehension)

50
Evaluate this question

• Which of the following would you expect to be
  most comfortable in an American zoo?
• A. Galapagos
• B. King
• C. Emperor
• D. Little Blue