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1PLANNING CLASSROOM TESTS AND ASSESSMENTS

2Planning classroom tests and assessment

The main goal of classroom testing
and assessment
obtain valid, reliable and
useful information
concerning student
achievement

3 The purpose of classroom testing and assessment Purpose of classrooom

testing and assessment

Pretesting
Whether students have the prerequisite skills needed for the instruction
to determine readiness

To what extend students have already achieved the objectives of the planned
instruction
to determine student placement or modification of instruction

Ex. Giving the final exam at the beginning

to measure entry performance on the objectives
4 The purpose of classroom testing and assessment Purpose of classroom testing and
assessment

Testing and assessment during instruction

Formative assessment (practice test, quiz, unit test etc.)
To monitor learning progress
To detect misconceptions
To encourage students to study
To provide feedback to students and teachers

5 The purpose of classroom testing and assessment

Purpose of classroom testing and assessment
End-of-instruction testing and assessment
Summative assessment (e. g. to assign grade)
To measure the extent to which the intended learning outcomes and
performance standards have been achieved

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6 Developing specifications for tests and assessments

Building a table of specifications
Preparing a list of instructional objectives
Limited to those that can be measured by a classroom assessment
Verbs such as identifies, distinguishes or matches:
effectively measured by multiple-choice or other objective test items
Names, draws:
supply-type items such as fill-in-the-blank
Describes, explains:
essay questions
Constructs, delivers, measures:
performance assessment tasks
Outlining the course content
Preparing the two-way chart
7Developing specifications for tests and assessments

8Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks

The objective test item
Highly structured
Require the student to supply a word or two or select the correct answer
Objective because they have a single correct or best answer

9 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks

Types of objective test item
Types of objective test item

Supply types
Short answer (what is the name of the author of Hamlet?)
Completion (Exaggeration in a literary text is __________ )

Selection types
Matching
True-false
Multiple-choice

A highly structured task limiting the response

Ss are not free to organize or present the answer in their own words
10 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks
Performance assessment tasks
Measures a student’s ability to engage in hands-on activities

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conducting an experiment, designing and delivering a lesson plan, creating

material, writing an essay
Essay questions
Extended-response essay questions
Almost complete freedom in making their responses

Restricted-response essay questions
The nature, length, organization of the response is limited
11 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks
Extended-response essay questions
Example:
Describe what you think the theme of the work is. Explain it and give reasons for
your opinion. Remember to include specific references to the work.
Restricted-response essay questions
Example:
Name two characters and describe their personality.
12 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks
Extended-response essay questions permit students
to decide which fact they think are most relevant
to select their own method of organization
to write as much as seems necessary for a comprehensive answer
Such questions reveal the ability to evaluate ideas, to relate them coherently and to
express them succinctly

13 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks

Weaknessess of extended-response essay questions
Inefficient for measuring knowledge of factual material
Scoring criteria are not apparent to the students
Scoring is difficult and may become unreliable

14 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks

Restricted-response essay questions
make it easier to measure factual material
scoring is more clear to student
reduces the difficulty of scoring
If the restrictions are high
the questions reduce to a supply-type item

15 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks

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Other types of performance assessment

Oral presentations; micro-teaching; constructions of posters; writing a research
paper; use of equipment; drama, etc.
Can be classified into
Extended-response performance tasks
Restricted-response performance tasks
16 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks
Extended-response performance tasks
Example:
Listen to a 5-minute podcast about a famous invention and write a 100-word
summary
Prepare a poster on your research study and make an oral presentation of the
poster in class using the smartboard
Restricted-response performance tasks
Examples:
Perform a short guided role-play where you order food at a restaurant
Read the sentence and prepare a phrase-structure tree

17 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks

Selecting the most appropriate types of items
Select the item type that provides the most direct measure of the intended
learning outcome
For example, if the intended learning outcome is writing, naming, listing or
speaking, the task should require the students to supply the answer
18 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks
Write.. Name... List... Etc.
Specific Learning Outcome: Writes a definition of each term
Directions: Write a one-sentence definition of each of the following terms.
1. Metaphor 2. Simile 3. Hyperbole
Specific Learning Outcome: Names the roles of the characters in a novel.
1. The character that goes through some important changes because of the action
in the story is called a (an) _____________.
Specific Learning Outcome: Lists the characteristics of a literary genre
1. List two characteristics of a sonnet
19 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks
Identify.. Distinguish.. Match...
Multiple-Choice Items
Specific Learning Outcome: Identifies parts of speech in a sentence.
1. Which word in the following sentence is an adverb?
«The workers packed the items quickly and loaded the packages into the trucks»

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a. workers b. packed c. quickly d. into

True-False Items
Specific Learning Outcome: Distinguishes between correct and incorrect uses of
parts of speech in a sentence.
T F 1. Jason peaceful performed meditation.
T F 2. Mary quickly finished her supper.
20 Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks
Matching Items
Specific Learning Outcome: Matches each language feature to the correct example
or definition.
Directions : On the line to the right of each language feature in Column A, write
the letter of the example or definition in Column B that matches it. Each
example/definition in Column B may be used once, more than once, or not at all.

Column A Column B
1. Present Simple (___) A. She plays football every day.
2. Question Word (___) B. in, on, at
3. Conjunction (___) C. I have two cats.
4. Plural Noun (___) D. Children, apples, books
5. Preposition of Time (__) E. How do you like your coffee? F.
and, but, or
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23Considerations in preparing relevant test items and assessment tasks

The purpose of the test or assessment should be determined
A set of specifications should be developed
The most appropriate types of test items or performance tasks should be selected
Items and tasks should be constructed in accordance with the specifications
developed previously

24 Considerations in preparing relevant test items and assessment tasks

Matching items and tasks to intended outcomes
Analyzing the performance described in the specific learning outcome (identifies
the functions of ….)
Constructing a test item that calls forth that performance (what is the function of
…)
25 Considerations in preparing relevant test items and assessment tasks
Analyzing

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What are the parts of...?

What is ..... in the text related to .......?
What is ..... in the text related to .......?
What is the topic of .....?
What would be the conclusion from ....?
What is the evidence for ......?
Evaluating
How would you rate the .....?
Which one is more improtant for ....?
Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Creating
Create a table of specifications.
Prepare an exam.
How would you improve....?
What would you need to create ....?
What is a good way to make...?
Write an essay....
26 Considerations in preparing relevant test items and assessment tasks
General considerations involved in preparing relevant objective items and
assessment tasks
Obtaining a representative sample of items and tasks (table of specifications)
Eliminating irrelevant barriers to the performance
Such as construct-irrelevant factors or abilities that are secondary to the intent
of the assessment (sentence structure, vocabulary, time allotted etc.)
Differences in reading ability, computation skills etc. should not influence the
students’ responses unless such outcomes are specifically being measured
Avoiding ambiguity, careful choice of words, use of brief and concise sentences,
etc.

27 Considerations in preparing relevant test items and assessment tasks

General considerations involved in preparing relevant objective items and
assessment tasks
Avoiding unintended clues in objective test items
Rather than lead the uninformed to the correct answer, such clues should lead
the poor achiever away from the correct answer
Grammatical clues (a/n), word associations, qualifiers such as sometimes vs.
absolutes always, correct answer in textbook language, making correct answer
longer, identifiable pattern (T F T F T F)
longer, identifiable pattern (T F T F T F)

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28 General suggestions for writing items and assessment tasks

Use your test and assessment specifications as a guide
Write more items and tasks than needed
Write the items and tasks in advance of the testing date
Write each test items and assessment task so that the task needs the performance
described in the intended learning outcome
Write each item or task at an appropriate reading level
Write each item or task so that it does not provide help in responding to other items
or tasks
Whenever a test item or assessment task is revised, recheck its relevance
29 Focusing on improving learning and instruction
The ultimate purpose of testing and assessment is to improve student learning
Tests and assessments can have a desirable influence on student learning
If teachers pay attention to the breadth and depth of content and learning
outcomes measured
What is emphasized will be paid attention to by the students
30 Focusing on improving learning and instruction
Constructing tests and assessments that measure a variety of learning outcomes
should also lead to improved teaching procedures
Thus, indirectly improved student learning
Tests and assessments will contribute to improved teacher-student relations
if students view the tests and assessments as fair and useful measures of their
achievement