Law of Contrariness "Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can. Having found them, we shall then hate them for it." Ralph Waldo Emerson Law of Contrariness "Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can. Having found them, we shall then hate them for it." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tyler’s Four Questions Ralph Tyler (1971) concluded that when developing curriculum, planning instruction, and assessing learning, there are four primary questions: (1)What is the purpose of the lesson? (2)What experiences are necessary to achieve the purpose? (3)How do you organize the experiences into meaningful learning? (4)What evidence is available to determine if you accomplished the purpose?

Assessing Student Learning Choosing and Constructing Test Questions

What makes a “good” test?

A “Good” Test... A “good” test is one that measures what it purports to measure A test that does this is considered valid

A “Good” Test... A good test is also reliable In other words, if the tests were administered to students with similar learning experiences, and under similar testing conditions, the results would be about the same (grade distribution, etc.)

So, a “Good” Test has... ValidityReliability

A “Good” Test... But for any test to be “good,” the individual questions comprising the test must be valid and reliable

A “Good” Test... A good test will include questions that are closely aligned with the learning objectives for the related lesson or series of lessons (i.e., unit of instruction)

A “Good” Test... In fact, the learning objectives should guide the selection of test questions that are chosen to measure student learning

A “Good” Test... Also, a good test will have a variety of questions...

Types of Test Questions

Student Selects or Chooses the Correct Answer Multiple Choice Matching True and False

Multiple Choice Usually, either four or five possible responses (the more responses, the more difficult) Include at least one “distracter” as a possible response (a similar but incorrect answer) Vary letter of the correct response (not all letter “C”) Consider using “all of the above,” “none of the above,” and/or “A and C but not B” type responses for some of the questions

Matching Numerous words, phrases, statements, or numbers with many possible answers Consider providing more possible responses than are needed

True and False The student selects from only two possible responses All statements must be worded very carefully Often, it is difficult to get beyond only recall or lower-order thinking with “T” & “F” questions Do not over use

Student Provides the Correct Answer Fill in the blank Listing Define, Explain, Discuss, or “Essay-type” Questions

Fill in the blank Focus on KEY words, names, phrases, numbers, dates, etc., and NOT on filler words, articles, or minutia Consider providing a “word bank” only if it would be developmentally appropriate to do so

Listing Useful for multiple steps, examples, types, or kinds Follow the rule of “7, plus or minus 2” –Most people can remember about 7 “things” plus or minus 2, depending on the degree of relatedness of the information, and on the individual’s aptitude for remembering

Define, Explain, Discuss, or “Essay-type” Questions Every test should have several questions of this type Encourage or “require” that students answer using complete sentences Develop either a formal or a “working rubric” for grading students’ responses Doing so will help you to be more consistent when grading students’ papers

Thumb Rules for Test Construction For a test to be valid and reliable, its individual questions must be also A variety of questions is essential Your lesson and unit objectives should serve as a “guide” for the types of questions that you ask, and the level(s) of difficulty Do not forget to include some questions that involve HOTS

Thumb Rules for Test Construction Provide clear and precise instructions for each section or set of test questions, such as specific directions for the multiple choice questions, the matching questions, etc. As much as possible, “pre-assign” point values for each question and include the values in the directions for each section

Thumb Rules for Test Construction Use a rubric or a consistent “standard” when evaluating students’ answers to the more “subjective” questions (e.g., essays) The more “quality time” that you spend developing a test, then the easier it should be to evaluate and grade; the inverse is often true as well

Thumb Rules for Test Construction Developing a good test is hard work!! Allow adequate time and preparation to do so properly