Keys to Effective Testing

Module 3 Keys to Effective Testing

Module 3: Keys to Effective Testing

Lesson 1: Test and Their Uses in Educational Assessment

To define what is a Test and to know the types of test

To know how to prepare an effective tests

To know the things to be considered in preparing a test

And to classify a test and its uses

Test defined

A test is a systematic procedure for measuring an individual’s behavior (Brown, 1991). This definition implies that it has to be developed following specific guidelines. It is a formal and systematic way of gathering information about learners’ behavior, usually through paper-and-pencil procedure (Airisan, 1989).

Uses of Test

Tests serve a lot of function for school administrators, supervisors, teachers, and parents, as well (Arends, 1994; Escarilla & Gonzales, 1990).

School administrators utilize test results for making decisions regarding the promotion or retention of students; improvement or enrichment of the curriculum; and conduct of staff development programs for teachers.

Supervisors use test results in discovering learning areas needing special attention and identifying teachers’ weaknesses and learning competencies not mastered by the students.

Teachers, on the other hand, utilize tests for numerous purposes. Through testing, teachers are able to― gather information about the effectiveness of instruction; give feedback to students about their progress; and assign grades.

Parents, too, derive benefits from test administered to their children. Through test scores, they are able to determine how well their sons and daughters are faring in school and how well the school is doing its share in educating their children.

Types of Tests

Numerous types of tests are used in school. There are different ways of categorizing tests, namely: ease of quantification of response, mode of preparation, mode of administration, test constructor, mode of interpreting results, and nature of response ( Manarang & Manarang, 1993; Louisell & Descamps, (1992).

As to mode of response, tests can be oral, written, or performance.

1. Oral test- it is a test wherein the test taker gives his answer orally.2. Written tests- it is a test where answers to questions are written by test

taker.3. Performance test- it is one in which the test taker creates an answer or

a product that demonstrates his knowledge or skill, as in cooking and baking.

Ava Clare Marie O. Robles Ph.D Educ 103: Keys to Effective Testing©for MSU Students


As to ease of quantification of response, test can either be objective or subjective.

1. Objective test- it is a paper and pencil test wherein students’ answers can be compared and quantified to yield a numerical score.

2. Subjective test- it is a paper-and-pencil test which is not easily quantified as students are given the freedom to write their answer to a question, such as an essay test.

As to mode of administration, 1. Individual test- it is a test administered to one student at a time.2. Group test- it is one administered to a group of students simultaneously.

As to test constructor: 1. Standardized test- it is a test prepared by an expert or specialist.2. Un-standardized test- it is one prepared by teachers for use in the

classroom, with no established norms for scoring and interpretation of results.

As to mode of interpreting results:1. Norm-referenced test- it is a test that evaluates a student’s

performance by comparing it to the performance of a group students on the same test.

2. Criterion-referenced test- it is a test that measures a student’s performance against an agreed upon or pre-established level of performance.

As to nature of the answer:1. Personality test- it is a test designed for assessing some aspects of an

individual’s personality.2. Intelligence test- it is a test that measures the mental ability of an

individual.3. Aptitude test- it is test designed for the purpose of predicting the

likelihood of an individual’s success in a learning area or field of endeavor.4. Achievement test- it is a test given to students to determine what a

student has learned from formal instruction in school.5. Summative test- it is a test given at the end of instruction to determine

students’ learning and assign grades.6. Diagnostic test- it is a test administered to students to identify their

specific strengths and weaknesses in past and present learning.7. Formative test- it is a test given to improve teaching and learning while

it is going on.8. Socio-metric test- it is a test used in discovering learners’ likes and

dislikes, preferences, and their social acceptance, as well as social relationships existing in a group.

9. Trade test- it is a test designed to measure an individual’s skill or competence in an occupation or vocation.

Lesson 2: Generals steps in preparation of test

Preparing for a test can be a very overwhelming experience, particularly if you are studying difficult or complicated subject matter. It doesn't have to be that



way. Good study techniques go a long way toward improving your readiness for an exam. If you spend a few minutes organizing your materials and developing a realistic study plan time, you'll find that you will feel more confident and better prepared when you take those important tests.

1. Take clear, detailed notes in class and review your notes every night. A nightly review will help reinforce the concepts you learned that day and allow you to identify any areas that are causing you problems well before the test.

2. Set aside a specific time for studying each day. Choose a quiet place and

allot a certain amount of time for each subject.

3. Get up and take a break from time to time. If you are too tired or bored, you'll never follow through with studying. If you have trouble concentrating, arrange your study schedule in several shorter time periods rather than one long study session.

4. Attempt to master the most important or difficult concepts first. Those will be the area’s most likely to be covered by the test and should occupy a significant percentage of your study time.

5. Take notes as you read though chapters in your textbook. Writing down information can help you retain it better and can make it easier to review key facts.

6. Work with a classmate and quiz each other on the material. If you can't find anyone to work with, develop your own review questions.

7. Listen closely when your professor or teacher tells you that certain subject matter will be on the test. It probably will be and it will be a good idea to make sure that you understand that information completely.

8. Practice for the test. If you know from past experience that your teacher likes to include essay questions on the test, write out a few essay answers pertaining to the main concepts of the chapter. Chances are that one of those concepts will be covered on the test.

9. Maintain a positive attitude on the day of the test. Remind yourself that you are well-prepared, confident and ready to face the challenges that the test presents.

Tips & Warnings

· Increase your study time several days before the test. Don't overload yourself, but start focusing more on the subject. Get a good night's sleep the night before the test. When you are tired, it is harder to concentrate and remember facts. Study independently the night before the exam. This is not the time for all-night cramming sessions. By preparing for the exam weeks in advance, the final night should be dedicated to going over the study guide and other notes. It should be a time of refreshing your mind, not trying to comprehend or understand information. Make sure you have all needed supplies for the exam before going to bed the night before. This may include pencils, paper, calculators, extra erasers, or any other items your instructor requires. Get a good night’s sleep and have a healthy breakfast on the morning of the exam. Try doing some relaxation techniques like



deep breaths, yoga or listening to music. This will help you start the exam with a calm, focused mind

· Don't wait until the last minute to study. Studying every day helps you commit concepts to your long-term memory. If you try to remember too many facts in one night, chances are that you will forget many of them.

Lesson 3: The Keys to Effective Testing

The Key to Effective Testing

Objectives: The specific statements of the aim of the instruction; it should express what the students should be able to do or know as a result of taking the course; the objectives should indicate the cognitive level, affective level and psychomotor level of expected performance.

Instruction: It consists all the elements of the curriculum designed to teach the subject including the lesson plans, study guide, and reading and homework assignment, the instruction should corresponds directly to the objectives.

Assessment: The process of gathering, describing or quantifying information about the performance of the learner; testing components of the subject; weight given to the different subject matter areas.

Evaluation: Examining the performance of students and comparing and judging its quality. Determining whether or not the learner has met the objectives of the lesson and the extent of understanding.

Lesson 4: Factors to Consider when Constructing a Good Test

1. Validity is the degree to which the test measures what is intended to measure the usefulness of the test for a given purpose. A valid test is always reliable.

2. Reliability refers to the consistency of score obtained by the same person when retested using the same instrument.

3. Administrability the test should directed uniformly to all students so that the scores obtained will not vary due to factors other than differences of the students’ knowledge and skills. There should a clear provision for instruction for the students, proctors and even the one one who will check the test.

4. Scorability the test should be easy to score, directions for scoring is clear, provide the answer sheet and the answer key.



5. Appropriateness the test item that the teachers construct must assess the exact performances called for in the learning objectives. The test item should require the same performance of the student as specified in the learning objectives.

6. Adequacy the test should contain a wide 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.

7. Fairness the test should not be biased to the examinees. It should not be offensive to any examinees subgroups. A test can only be good if it is also fair to all test takers.

8. Objectivity represents the agreement of two or more raters or a test administrator concerning the score of a student. If the two raters who assess the same student on same test cannot agree on score, the test lacks objectivity and the score of neither judge is valid, thus, lack of objectivity reduces test validity in the same way that lack reliability influence validity.

Lesson 4: Factors to Consider when Constructing a Good Test

1. Validity is the degree to which the test measures what is intended to measure the usefulness of the test for a given purpose. A valid test is always reliable.

2. Reliability refers to the consistency of score obtained by the same person when retested using the same instrument.

3. Administrability the test should directed uniformly to all students so that the scores obtained will not vary due to factors other than differences of the students’ knowledge and skills. There should a clear provision for instruction for the students, proctors and even the one one who will check the test.

4. Scorability the test should be easy to score, directions for scoring is clear, provide the answer sheet and the answer key.

5. Appropriateness the test item that the teachers construct must assess the exact performances called for in the learning objectives. The test item should require the same performance of the student as specified in the learning objectives.

6. Adequacy the test should contain a wide 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.

7. Fairness the test should not be biased to the examinees. It should not be offensive to any examinees subgroups. A test can only be good if it is also fair to all test takers.



8. Objectivity represents the agreement of two or more raters or a test administrator concerning the score of a student. If the two raters who assess the same student on same test cannot agree on score, the test lacks objectivity and the score of neither judge is valid, thus, lack of objectivity reduces test validity in the same way that lack reliability influence validity.

Lesson 5: Uses and Classification of Test.

Uses of Test

There are two uses of test. These are the productive and unproductive uses of test.

Productive Uses of Tests

Learning Analysis: Test are used to identify the reasons or causes why students do not learn and the solutions to help them learn.

Improvement of Curriculum: Poor performance in a test may indicate that the teacher is not explaining the material effectively, the textbook is not clear, the students are not properly taught.

Selection: When enrolment opportunity or any other opportunity is limited, a test can be used to screen those who are more qualified.

Research: Tests can be feedback tools to find effective methods of teaching and learn more about students, their interests, goals and achievements.

Evaluation of Learning Program: Tests should evaluate the effectiveness of each element in a learning program.

Unproductive Uses of Tests

Grading: Tests should not be used as the only determinants in grading student.

Labelling: It is often a serious disservice to label a student, even if the label is positive.

Threatening: Tests lose their validity when used as disciplinary measures.

Unannounced Testing: Surprise Test are generally not recommended.

Allocating Funds: Some schools exploit tests to solicit for funding.

Classification of Tests

Throughout the years, psychologist and educators have cooperatively produced new and better test and scales that measure the students’ performance with greater accuracy. These tests may be classified according to:

1. Administration

a. Individual- given orally and requires the examinees’ constant attention since the manner of answering may be as important as the score.

b. Group- for measuring cognitive skills to measure achievement. Most tests in schools are considered group tests where different test takers can take the tests as a group.

2. Scoring



a. Objective- independent scores agree on the number of points the answer should receive.

b. Subjective- answers can be scored through various ways. These are then the given different values by scores, the essays and performance tests.

3. Sort of Response being emphasized

a. Power- allows examinees a generous time limit to be able to answer every item. The questions are difficult and this difficulty is what is emphasized.

b. Speed- with severely limited time constraints but the items are easy and only a few examinees are expected to make errors.

4. Types of Response the Examinees must make

a. Performance- requires students to perform a task. This is usually administered individually so that the examiner can count the errors and measure the time the examinee has performed in each task.

b. Paper and pencil- examinees are asked to write on paper.

5. What is measured

a. Sample- limited representative test designed to measure the total behaviour of the examinee, although no test an exhaustively measure all the knowledge of an individual.

b. Sign test- diagnostic test designed to obtain diagnostic signs to suggest that some form of remediation is needed.

6. Nature of the Groups being compared

a. Teacher-made-test- for use within the classroom and contains the subject being taught by the same teacher who constructed the test.

b. Standardized test- constructed by test specialist working with curriculum experts and teachers.

Lesson 6. Table of Specifications

The writing of test items should be accompanied with a carefully prepared set

of test specifications. The function of the specifications is to describe the

achievement domain being measured and to provide guidelines for obtaining a

representative sample of test tasks.

A Table of Specifications is:

a plan to help teachers decide the subject matter in which to test.

the teacher’s blueprint in constructing a test for classroom use.

a test map that guides the teacher, TOS ensures that there is a

balance between items that test lower level thinking skills and those

with higher order thinking skills in the test.

TOS acts in the same way as concept map to analyze content areas.



a two-way chart which describes the topics to be covered by a test and

the number or points which will be associated with each topic / written

in a grid or matrix.

To ensure that classroom tests measure a representative sample of

instructionally relevant tasks, it is important to develop specifications that can

guide the selection of test items and assessment tasks.

The simplest TOS consist of four columns: (a) level of objective to be tested,

(b) statement of objective, (c) item numbers where such an objective is being

tested, and (d) number of items and percentage out of the total for that particular

objective

Steps in Preparing TOS

1. List down the topics covered for inclusion in the test.

2. Determine the objectives (Bloom’s Taxonomy) to be assessed by the test.

3. Determine the percentage allocation of the test items for each topic.

Guidelines in Writing Test Items

1. Avoid wording that is ambiguous and confusing.

2. Use appropriate vocabulary and sentence structure.

3. Keep questions short and to the point.

4. Write items that have one correct answer.

5. Do not provide clues to the answer.

A Table of Specifications benefits students in two ways:

1. It improves the validity of a teacher-made tests; and

2. It can improve student learning.

A Table of Specifications help to ensure that there is a match between what is

taught and what is tested. Classroom assessment should be driven by classroom

teaching which itself is driven by course goals and objectives.

Its purpose is to identify the achievement domains being measured and to

ensure that a fair and representative sample of questions appear in the test.

Teachers cannot measure every topic or objective and cannot ask every question

they wish to ask.

It allows the teacher to construct a test which focuses on the key areas and

weighs those different areas based on their importance. A Table of Specifications



provides the teacher with evidence that a test has content validity, that it covers

what it should be covered.

Referenced:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4913690_steps-preparing-test.html

How to Prepare for Final Exams | eHow.comhttp://www.ehow.com/how_4510068_prepare-final-exams.html#ixzz1soKW0g

Ronaldo SP. Elicay, Ph.D, and Cresencia C. Laguerta, M.S, Assessment of student learning, 1, cognitive learning.

MET REVIEW (2011).

Conception, Benjamin.et.al (2011). LET Reviewer. MET Center, Manila.

Oriondo, Leonora L. and Antonio, E (1984).. Evaluating Educational Outcomes (Tests, Measurement and Evaluation). Rex Book Store, Manila

Garcia, Carlito D., Ed.D., Measuring and Evaluating Learning Outcomes: A Textbook in Assessment of Learning 1 & 2, Books Atbp. Publishing Corp. 436 Leyva St.,Mandaluyong City, 2008, pages 58-59.

Reganit, Arnulto R., Ed. D., Elicay, Ronaldo, Ph. D., Laguerta, Cresencia, M. S. Assessment of Student Learning. Cognitive Learning: 22-27.


Keys to Effective Testing

Education

Transcript of Keys to Effective Testing