Assess Chapter 5 – Preparation of Classroom Assessment
ment in Lesson 9: Table of Specification
Learni
ng 1
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
• recognize the process in making Table of Specification; and
Objectives • construct Table of Specification following the given template.
Being a teacher, it is known fact the lesson plan is the blue print of the lesson
proper. It serves as the guide of the teacher in delivering and executing the lesson set
Introductio for the day. It is used to ensure that the process of learning takes place in a systematic
n and orderly manner and at the end of every lesson there is evaluation. But the
question come in, if the lesson plan is the blue print for the lesson is there a blueprint
for evaluation?
The answer is the Table of Specification or TOS. This is the plan used in
constructing test exams for evaluation.
It is important to have a plan for testing as much as lesson plan is important
to teaching. The Table of specification serves as the guide in creating the exam. It is
useful in choosing the type of test questions and the number of items per topic and
the level of difficulty for each question.
Though table of specification has been a part of the training for teachers since
college days, it is a part of the evaluation process that has been often neglected. Most
of the time teachers would resort to creating a “table of speculation” rather than a
Discussion table of specification. They would just speculate how much test items to be
constructed at a given topic not minding the level of difficulty and the importance of
skill that has to be tested. Skipping the rudiments of creating the TOS but
compromising the quality of the test being constructed and administered to students.
How is a table of specification constructed? What are the factors to consider
in creating it and lastly, how does it affect the construction of the test exam itself?
The TOS depends on the following components; topic discussed, number of
hours or meetings the topic was discussed, total number of hours used in discussing
topics, and the total number of test items to be constructed. These four components
basically dictate the contents of the TOS.
The number of test items allocated for a specific topic depends on the length
of time spent in teaching it. The following equation is followed.
The following equation is followed.
𝑰𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒄"
𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒄
= 𝑿 𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒐. 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅
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By following this equation, the number of test items per topic is identified.
Proper emphasis is given to topics which are more important. This provides enough
evaluation to measure items which are deemed to be given more attention.
There are two types of TOS. One is the One-Way Table of Specification.
Here, only the basic components of the equation are needed and the placement of the
test items in the test is created. See the sample table.
Topic Number of Percentage Number of Item
hours items placement
spent
Topic 1 2 20% 4 1-4
Topic 2 3 30% 6 5-10
Topic 3 5 50% 10 11-20
Total 10 100% 20 20
Note that the total number of items of the test must be identified before
computing for the TOS.
The other one is the Two-Way TOS. Here, after identifying the number of
test items, the test items are then allocated depending on the hierarchy of thinking
skills. The allocation will depend on the type of topic being tested. If the test
requires only recall of information it is placed in the lowest level of thinking skills.
The following table would best explain the process.
Topics No. % No. of Item Specification
of Items
Ho Remembe- Understan- Appl- Analy- Evaluatin Crea-
urs ring ding ying zing g ting
Topic 1 2 20% 4 1 2 3 4
Topic 2 3 30% 6 5 6 7 8 9 10
Topic 3 5 50% 10 11 - 12 13 14 - 15 16 - 17 18 19 -20
Note that the item specification depends on the type question per topic.
By creating a table of specification, the teacher is sure to create a good
instrument for evaluating the skills acquired by the students and the results best
describe their level of mastery.
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