Assessment in Education - Seminar

 

                                          ACHIEVMENT TEST

Achievement test is an important tool in school evaluation and has great significance in measuring instructional progress and progress of the students in the subject area. Accurate achievement data are very important for planning curriculum and instruction and for program evaluation.

STEPS INVOLVED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ACHIEVEMENT TEST

1.      Planning of test

·         It should be well planned and systematic.

·         Before constructing a good achievement test, the paper setter should think abut the following aspects as a part of his planning.

·         The intention with which the test is being given:

-          Anticipated instructional objectives

-          Realization of these objectives.

·         To determine the maximum time, maximum marks and the nature of the test. 

2.      Preparation of a design for the test

The objectives, contents, forms of questions and the difficulty levels of items are the most important factors to be considered in a design

(a)   Weightage to Objectives 

·         This indicates what objectives are to be tested and what weightage has to be given to each objective.

·         Should decide the relative importance of each of the objectives applying his knowledge and experience and in tune with the nature content covered.

(b)   Weightage to content

·         This indicates the various aspects of the content to be tested and the weightage to be given to these different aspects.

·         Questions covering all the aspects should be included in the design with marks assigned to each aspect in relation to its importance with the other aspects. 

(c)   Weightage to form of questions 

·         This indicates the forms of the items to be included in the test and the weightage to be given for each.

·         The setter should select those form of questions that are suitable to the objectives and content to be tested.

·         The weightage to be given to each form of questions should be decided on the basis of the time needed for answering, difficulty level, objectives tested and the nature of the content involved.

(d)   Weightage to difficulty level

·         Appropriate weightage should be given for different levels of difficulty of the items. The test should cater to the bright, average and the dull.

·         If all the questions too tough, the dullards will ‘weep’. If they are too easy, the performance of bright pupils will be at par with that of the backward. If the questions cater only to the average, it will not be challenging to the bright.

·         In short, the test will not have the power to discriminate the bright, the average and the poor within the group of examinees.

·         Hence the test should contain easy, average and difficult questions.

3.      Preparation of the blue print

·         Blueprint is prepared as a three-dimensional chart indicating the distribution of questions objective-wise, content-wise and form-wise.

·         The blueprint gives the frame work for the test and indicates the broad limit within which the test constructor has to work.

4.      Writing of items

·         The blueprint gives a very clear idea about the number of questions to be written from each topic, their forms and objectives.

·         The difficulty level also has to be considered while writing items. It should also be checked whether all the questions included can be answered within the time allotted.

·         Construction of test items calls for the mastery of the subject matter and technique of constructing each type of test items.

·         If a pool of well-prepared items in the form of question bank is available, the constructor can easily choose the required number of items for the test.

·         After writing the preliminary details such as the name of the examination, title of the paper, maximum marks and time, instruction for answering each part etc, the setter has to arrange the questions already written.

·         It is advisable to arrange questions in the order their difficulty level. Normally, knowledge-item will be easier than an understanding item, which in turn may be easier than an application item.

5.      Preparation of the scoring key and the marking scheme

·         In the case of objective type items where the answers are in the form of some letters or other symbols a scoring key is prepared.

·         In the case of short answer and essay type questions, the marking scheme is prepared. In preparing marking scheme what the examiner has to do is to list out the value points to be credited and then to fix up the mark to be given to each value point.

·         Clearly writing the value points will also help to identify defects, if any, that might have accidently crept into the test items.

·         Usually, general instructions also are given at the end of the scheme of valuation in order to avoid subjectivity in scoring.

6.      Preparation of Question-wise analysis

·         The setter prepares a table containing all relevant details of all the items of the test.

·         This is done by making an analysis of each item in terms of content, objective, specification, form of question, difficulty level, marks and estimated time.

·         This analysis is very helpful to check whether all the aspects envisaged in the design and blue print are satisfied by the test in its final form.

·         If some mistake is noticed it should be rectified at this final stage.

 

 

                                                                                          SUBMITTED BY,

                                                                                                   GAYATHRY. P

                                                                                                    B.Ed 1^st YEAR

                                                                                                  SOCIAL SCIENCE

                                                                                                        F.M.T.C. PALLIMUKKU