DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING  a description of the results obtained from

ASSESSMENTS these measures, and

Learning Target and Assessment Method Match  a description of how these results validate
- Table of Specifications current practices or point to changes
Assessment Tools Development needed to improve student learning.
- Assessment development cycle
- Test item formulation Four Dynamic Words
- Item analysis

Table of Specification
A table of specification is also called test blueprint,
is a table that helps teachers align objectives,
instructions, and assessment. 1. Plan – answers the question “ what do I
Importance of Table of Specification want students to learn?”
 It will ensure that fair and representative 2. Do – answers the question “how do I teach
questions appear on test. effectively?”
 Improve the validity of teachers' 3. Check – answers the question “are my
evaluation based on the test constructed. outcomes being met?”
 Helps teachers identify the type of items 4. Act – answers the question “how do I use
they need to include on their test. what I have learned?”
Preparation of Table of Specification
1. TOS requires you to be familiar with Test Item Formulation
Bloom's Taxonomy. Test item - is a specific question of a specific
2. Create a TOS following a standard format nature asked the students to evaluate his or her
thinking abilities and exam preparations.
Categories of Test Questions
Test items can roughly be broken into:
1. Objective Test- A test item that has only one
right answer.
 Multiple Choice
 Alternative Response
 Matching Type
 Completion Test
2. Subjective/Essay Test- The scorer is not looking
3. TOS require simple mathematical for any one right answer, but rather for a series of
computation. factors (creativity, style, cohesion and coherence,
How to Construct a TOS? grammar, and mechanics).
1. Determine the topics to be included in the Short answer or Essay
Test. When to Use Objective or Essay Tests?
2. Determine the number of hours/minutes/days Objective tests are appropriate when:
alloted to each topic.  The group to be tested is large and the test
3. Determine the total of test items may be reused.
4. Determine the number of items per topic or  Highly reliable scores must be obtained as
content area. efficiently as possible.
Over total of hours:  Impartiality of evaluation, fairness, and
Number of hours/total number of hours * 100 freedom from possible test scoring
Number of items: influences are essential.
Number of hours*total number of items/100 Essay tests are appropriate when:
Over total items:  The group to be tested is small and the test
Number of items/total number of items *100 is not to be reused.
5. Determine the learning targets for each of  You wish to encourage and reward the
your topic. development of student skill in writing.
6. Determine the item placement you are going  You are more interested in exploring the
to give in your test. student’s attitudes than in measuring
his/her achievement.
Assessment Development Cycle Criteria for a Good Test Items
Assessment - it is the systematic collection,  It must possess a very high validity,
review, and use of information about educational  It must have a high reliability,
programs undertaken for improving student  It must be very objective in nature,
learning and development.  It must be very comprehensive,
Goal of assessment development cycle  It must be easy to use,
 a clear conceptualization of intended  Norms established on the basis of its
student learning outcomes, results must be satisfactory, and
 a description of how these outcomes are  It must pick out the good students from the
assessed and measured, poor.
Common pitfalls in writing test directions—and  Students can answer 3-4 questions per
avoiding them minute
Giving unclear directions: Disadvantages
“Choose the letter of the best answer"  They are easy
“Choose the letter of the correct answer”  It is difficult to discriminate between
students that know the material and
Guidelines for Constructing Effective Test students who do not
Items  Students have a 50-50 chance of getting
1. MULTIPLE CHOICE the right answer by guessing
The most flexible and the most effective of the  Need a large number of items for high
objective item types. A standard multiple-choice test reliability
item consists of two basic parts: Guidelines for Writing True or False Items
a. Stem (Problem) 1. Base true-false items upon statements that
b. Alternatives (List of suggested Solution) are absolutely true or false, without
i. Best Alternative (Answer) qualifications or exceptions.
ii. Inferior Alternative (Distractor) 2. Express the item statement as simply
Advantages and as clearly as possible.
 Very effective 3. Express a single idea in each test item.
 Versatile at all levels 4. Include enough background
 Minimum of writing for student information and qualifications.
 Guessing reduced 5. Avoid the use of extreme modifiers or
 Can cover broad range of content qualifiers.
Disadvantages 6. Avoid using the words “always”,
 Difficult to construct good test items “never” “often” and other adverbs that
 Difficult to come up with plausible tend to be either always true or always
distractors / alternative responses false.
Guidelines for Writing Multiple Choice 7. Avoid lifting statements from the text,
Questions lecture or other materials.
1. The stem should be meaningful by itself 8. Avoid using negatively stated item
and should present a definite problem. statements.
2. The stem should NOT contain irrelevant 9. Avoid the use of unfamiliar
material, which can decrease the reliability vocabulary.
and the validity of the test scores (Haldyna 10. Do not give a hint (inadvertently) in
and Downing 1989). the body of the question.
3. Include in the stem any words that are 11. Avoid long sentences as these tend to
repeated in every alternative. be “true”. Keep sentences short.
4. Use negatively stated questions sparingly. 12. Avoid trick statements with some
When used, underline and/or capitalize the minor misleading word or spelling
negative word. anomaly, misplaced phrases, etc.
5. Keep the specific content of items 13. Avoid a grossly disproportionate
independent of one another. number of either true or false
6. Make the alternatives plausible. statements
7. Make the alternatives mutually exclusive. 14. If true-false statements are presented
8. Make alternatives approximately equal in with a key word or brief phrase that is
length. underlined, the student must modify to
9. Use ‘All of the Above’ and ‘None of the make it supply the correct word or
Above’ with caution. phrase.
10. The alternatives should be presented in a
logical order (e.g., alphabetical or 3. MATCHING TYPE
numerical) A simple matching type item consists of two columns:
11. Avoid complex multiple choice items. one column of stems or problems to be answered, and
12. Use at least four alternatives for each item another column of responses from which the answers
to lower the probability of getting the item are to be chosen.
correct by guessing. Advantages
13. Avoid irrelevant clues, such as  Maximum coverage at knowledge level in
grammatical structure, well-known verbal a minimum amount of space/preparation
associations or connections between stem time
and answer.  Valuable in content areas that have a lot of
facts
2. ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE Disadvantages
The alternative response typically present a declarative  Time consuming for students
statement that the student must mark as either true or  May not be appropriate for higher levels
false, agree or disagree, yes or no, fact or bluff. of learning
Advantages Guidelines for Writing Matching Type Test
 Can test large amounts of content Items
 1. Include directions which clearly state the basis  Allows students to demonstrate ability to
for matching the stimuli with the responses. organize knowledge, express opinions,
2. Use only items that share the same foundation show originality.
of information. Disadvantages
3. Avoid grammatical or other clues to the  Disadvantages:
correct response.  Can limit amount of material tested,
4. The column of stimuli on the left should therefore has decreased validity.
set the question clearly.  Subjective, potentially unreliable scoring.
5. Arrange the list of responses in some  Time consuming to score.
systematic order if possible (chronological, Two Types of Essay Test Item
alphabetical). Extended Response
6. Avoid breaking a set of items (stems and  Unlimited freedom to respond
responses) over two pages.  Allows creative integration of ideas
Variations for Creating Matching Tests  Broad approach to problem solving
 Keylists or Masterlists Example  Difficult and time consuming to score
 Ranking Example Short Answer
 Limited answer
4. COMPLETION OR FILL-IN-THE-BLANK  Easy to prepare and score
The completion item requires the student to answera  Relate directly to learning outcome
question or to finish an incomplete statement by filling  Little opportunity for higher order
in a blank with the correct word or phrase. activities
Advantages Guidelines for Writing Essay Test Items
 Good for who, what, where, when content 1. Prepare essay items that elicit the type of
 Minimizes guessing behaviour you want to measure.
 Encourages more intensive study. Student 2. Phrase each items so that the student’s
must know the answer vs. recognizing the task is clearly indicated.
answer. 3. Indicate for each item appoint or weight
 Can usually provide an objective measure and an estimated the limit for answering.
of student achievement or ability 4. Ask questions that will elicit responses on
Disadvantages which experts could agree that one answer is
 Difficult to assess higher levels of learning better than another.
because the answers to completion items 5. Choose a scoring model.
are usually limited to a few words 6. Prepare students to take essay exams.
 Difficult to construct so that the desired 7. It is generally recommended for classroom
response is clearly indicated examinations to administer several short-
 May overemphasize memorization of facts answer items rather than only on or two
 Questions may have morenthan one extended-response items.
correct answer Guidelines for grading Essay Test Items
 Scoring is time consuming 1. Develop a scoring rubric.
Guidelines for Writing completion Items 2. To maintain a consistent scoring system
1. Omit only significant words from the and ensure same criteria are applied to all
statement. assessments.
2. Avoid using more than two blanks per 3. All essay questions should be graded blind
item to reduce ambiguity and confusion. to the identity of the student.
3. Avoid obvious clues to the correct 4. Due to the subjective nature of graded
response. essays, the score on one essay may be
4. Be sure there is only one correct response. influenced by the quality of previous
5. Avoid grammatical clues to the correct essays. To provide this type of bias,
response. reshuffle the order of assessments after
6. If possible, put the blank at the end of a reading through each item.
statement rather than at the beginning. Reviewing Test Items
7. Ensure blank spaces are the same length.  Do the items truly measure what I am
8. Avoid copying text directly from a trying to measure?
textbook to construct the question.  Will the intent of the items be clear to
someone reading it for the first time?
5. ESSAY  Do my learners have all of the information
A typical essay test usually consists of a small number they need to answer the items?
of questions to which the student is expected to recall  Is the wording as clear and concise as
and organize knowledge in logical, integrated answers. possible? If not, can the item be revised
An essay test item can be an extended response item and still understood?
or a short answer item.  Is the correct answer clearly correct and
Advantages up-to-date according to experts in the field?
 Students less likely to guess
 Easy to construct Item Analysis
 Stimulates more study
Is the process of examining the student’s responses to
each item in the test.
 An item that has desirable characteristics
can be retained for subsequent use
 An item with undesirable characteristics is
either be revised or rejected.
Criteria in determining the desirability and
undesirability of an item.
1. Item Difficulty
"Is the exam question too easy or too
hard?"
2. Item Discrimination
"Does the exam discriminate between Positive Discrimination Index - more from the upper
students who understand the material and group got the correct answer (retain)
those who not?" Negative Discrimination Index - more from the
3. Item Distractors lower group got the correct answer (reject)
"Do exam questions effectively distract Zero Discrimination Index - the item cannot
test takers from the correct answer?" discriminate (too easy of ambiguous) (reject)

Difficulty Index (DI) Item Distractors

The ITEM DIFFICULTY INDEX pertains to the Determination whether distractors (incorrect but
percentage of students who answer an item plausible options) were effective/ineffective in a
correctly. The formula would be: particular item.
DI = R ÷ N  A distractor which no one chooses means
Where: its "obviously" an incorrect answer
R - Total number of students who answered the A good item must have distractors that attract
correctly more people from the lower group (LG) then those
N - Total number of test takers at the upper group (UG)

Discrimination Index (DS)

Discrimination Index is the differences between
the proportion of high performing students who
got the item and the proportion of low performing
students who got an item right.

How to calculate Index of Discrimination:

1.Grade the quiz and sort from high to low;
2.Group the top 27% students with high grades
and bottom 27% with low grades;
3.Calculate the "item difficulty" for each group
4.Calculate the "discrimination index"

The formula for Discrimination Index would be:

Ds = Pu – Pl
N

Where:
Pu - number in the upper group who answered the
item correctly
Pl - number in the lower group who answered the
item correctly
N - total number of test takers