1. Assessment of Sport Skills and Motor Abilities
Chapter 11
Assessment of Sport Skills and Motor Abilities
Chapter 13

2. Guidelines for Sport Skills Testing and Motor Performance Tests
Acceptable reliability and validity
Simple to administer and take
Easy to understand instructions
Not expensive nor requires extensive equipment
Reasonable time for preparation and administration
Encourage correct form
Involve only one participant
This slide and the next presents guidelines for skills and motor performance tests.
Point out that (as always) the most important concerns are reliability and validity.
Speak to how each of the issues here leads to increased reliability and validity.
Provide examples from your own teaching experience that illustrate how these factors have affected (positively or negatively) the testing procedures you have used.
(continued)
Chapter 13

3. Guidelines for Sport Skills Testing and Motor Performance Tests (continued)
Suitable difficulty
Interesting and meaningful
Exclude extraneous variables
Provide for accurate scoring
Provide target scoring guidelines (if appropriate)
Sufficient trials
Yield diagnostic scores
Many of these guidelines come from the AAHPERD Skills Test Manuals for the development of skills tests.
You might use some of the AAHPERD Skills Test Manuals (e.g., basketball, tennis, and softball) or a sport skills test from another source that demonstrates proper and inadequate attempts to meet these guidelines.
Chapter 13

4. Effective Testing Procedures
Pretest duties time, forms, procedures, instructions
Testing duties location, materials, cheating, safety, absences, make-ups
Posttest duties transcription, item analysis, reporting, confidentiality
Indicate that administration of a sports or motor ability test does not “just happen.” It takes considerable time, effort, and planning to conduct the test in a way that results in valid information.
Provide examples from your own teaching experiences about when things have worked well and when things went totally wrong.
BE PREPARED is a good motto for testing.
The instructor and the students should be well prepared so that there are no surprises.
Pay attention during test administration.
What if a student cheats?
Help and give hints to everyone (not just selected students).
Posttest—return the results and interpret student results in a timely manner. Conduct an “item analysis” of the results (not in the sense that was presented in chapter 8 but in a logical or theoretical sense). Did your better performers (in your objective, expert opinion) score well and did the poorer performers actually score lower? This is a piece of logical and construct validation for the test that was administered.
Chapter 13

5. Figure 11.3 Flowchart for Constructing Motor Performance Tests (summary)
This is an abbreviated representation of figure 11.3
Review the steps for developing or obtaining a valid performance test.
Indicate that this process in ongoing and continually undergoing review so that you can refine and enhance the quality of the test itself and the testing procedures.
Chapter 13

6. Issues in Skills Testing
In addition to reliability and validity (the most important issues)
Feasibility
Testing method Objective skills tests? Alternative
(authentic assessment)—see chapter 14
While reliability and validity are the most important issues in testing, feasibility plays an important role.
Then you must decide who you will test.
Chapter 13

7. Skills Test Classification
Objective Accuracy-based Repetitive performance (wall-volley) Total body movement Distance or power
Provide examples of each of these types of objective tests. For example:
Accuracy-based—throwing at a softball or basketball target
Repetitive performance—wall-volley tests; ask students if they like these and they will say, “No.” However, wall-volley tests generally reflect some degree of (not perfect) validity.
Total body movement—running with a football or dribbling a basketball
Distance or power—throwing the softball for distance; kicking a soccer ball or football
Chapter 13

8. Subjective Rating Scales
Relative Rank-order
Absolute Evaluation against a fixed standard
Common Errors Halo effect "Standard" error Central-tendency
Differentiate between absolute and relative scoring.
In relative scoring, you are ranking performers from best to poorer performance.
With absolute, you are determining how well a performer compares to a fixed scale or standards.
Have the student reconsider the material presented in chapter 14 on alternative (authentic assessment).
Chapter 13

9. Developing Well-Constructed Scales
State objectives in terms of observable behavior
Select traits that determine success
Define selected traits in observable behavior
Select and develop the rating instrument
Define degrees of success
Test and revise the rating scale
Use the scale in an actual testing situation
Follow these steps when developing rating scales.
Note the similarity to the points presented in chapter 14 on alternative assessment.
Continue to the next slide for recommendations related to developing well-constructed scales.
Chapter 13

10. More Rating Scales Suggestions
Develop well-constructed scales
Train raters well
Explain common rating errors to raters
Permit ample time to observe performance
If possible, use multiple raters
Discuss these issues in developing good rating (i.e., subjective) scales.
Chapter 13

11. Other Tests Performance-based testing Actual performance of the skill
Trials-to-criterion testing Could save considerable time and effort
Present these methods of assessing skills.
Performance-based means to perform the actual activity (e.g., golf, tennis, bowling).
Trials-to-criterion is used when a specific criterion can be identified. Students perform the assessment until this criterion is reached.
Chapter 13

12. Ability or Skill? Ability general, innate psychomotor trait
Skill specific, learned psychomotor capacity
Specificity determined with concurrent validity
Differentiate between ability and skill.
Which are important?
Which should be measured?
How should they be measured?
Are they related to performance?
Chapter 13

13. Measurement Aspects of the Domain of Human Performance
Muscular strength
Speed
Anaerobic power
Flexibility
Balance
Kinesthetic perception
These are abilities that are often measured in human performance.
Point out the specificity of these measurements in each area.
Chapter 13

14. Power Tests
Arm power One-hand shot put Two-hand shot put over head Medicine-ball pitch Basketball throw
Leg power Margaria-Kalamen Leg Power Test Incline run
These are examples of ability tests that are often used in motor ability assessment.
Chapter 13

15. Strand & Wilson
Strand & Wilson (Human Kinetics publication) provide examples of sport skills tests including norms, reliability, validity, and testing instructions.
Chapter 13

16. Effective Testing Consists of...
Including sport relevant variables,
selecting reliable and valid tests,
developing sport specific protocols,
controlling test administration,
maintaining athletes rights to respect,
repeating the tests periodically, and
interpreting the results for the performance and interested parties (e.g., coaches, parents, etc.)
Indicate that good testing does not “just occur.” It takes time, effort, and practice.
It is an abuse of measurement to simply measure something and not report and interpret the results to the performer.
Chapter 13

17. Purposes of Human Performance Testing and Analysis
Selection
Classification
Diagnosis
Prediction
We return here to chapter 1 and the purposes of measurement in human performance.
Provide examples of selection, classification, diagnosis, and prediction from your own work.
Chapter 13

18. Classification Tests for High School Tennis Players
Motor performance 50-yard dash Agility line drill
Tennis skills tests Forehand Backhand Volley Moving forehand Moving backhand Serve
This is an example of some classification tests that might be used with tennis players.
Note that there are motor ability AND sport specific skills that are performed.
Chapter 13

19. Table 11.10 Men’s Volleyball Performance Profile
Percentiles
Take the students to table on the next slide and use the performance profile and describe how the profile can be used to individualize training programs for each performer.
Talk about how PASW can be used to create the profile data.
Review chapter 3 for percentile development
Chapter 13

20. Table 11.10 Men’s Volleyball Performance Profile
Use the performance profile in Table and describe how the profile can be used to individualize training programs for each performer.
Talk about how PASW can be used to create the profile data.
Review chapter 3 for percentile development
Chapter 13