Table of Contents
Chapter 1 An Introduction To Contemporary Educational Testing and Measurement 1
Tests are Only Tools; Their Usefulness Can Vary 2
Why We Developed This Text: Enhancing Test Usefulness 3
Technical Adequacy 3
Test User Competency 4
Matching the Test’s Intended Purpose 4
Matching Diverse Test-Takers to the Test 5
Test Results and Diversity Considerations 6
Tests are Only Tools: A Video Beats a Photo 7
The Difference Between Testing/Assessment and The Assessment Process 8
Tests and Assessments 9
Assessment Process 9
Types of Tests/Assessments 10
Objective, Essay, and Performance/Portfolio Tests/Assessments 11
Teacher-Made and Standardized Tests 12
Norm-Referenced Tests (NRTs) and Criterion-Referenced Tests (CRTs) 12
Curriculum-Based Measurements (CBMs) 13
Effects on the Classroom Teacher 13
About the Text 15
What If You Are “No Good in Math”? 16
Summary 16
For Discussion and Practice 17
Chapter 2 National Developments: Impact On Classroom Testing and Measurement 19
Education Reform 21
Regular Education Reform 21
Special Education Reform 23
Merging Regular and Special Education Reform: IDEIA and NCLB 24
Standards-Based Reform 25
Race to the Top (RTT) 27
The Future: NCLB, RTT, CCSS, and the CCSS-Aligned Tests 28
Other Trends: Computer-Adaptive Achievement Testing 29
Globalization and International Competitiveness 30
Competency Testing for Teachers 31
Teacher Evaluation Based on Student Test Scores: Value-Added Models (VAM) 32
Increased Interest from Professional Groups 32
A Professional Association-Book Publisher Information Initiative 33
Summary 33
For Discussion and Practice 35
Chapter 3 Response To Intervention (RTI) and the Regular Classroom Teacher 36
What is RTI? 37
What If You Have Not Heard of RTI Before? 37
How New is RTI? 38
Why Do Regular Education Teachers Need to Know About RTI? 38
An RTI Scenario 38
How Important is RTI to Regular Education Teachers? 40
How is RTI Supposed to Help Students and Schools? 41
RTI Definitions, Components, and Approaches 42
RTI Definitions 42
RTI Components 43
RTI Approaches 48
How Widely is RTI Being Implemented? 50
Some Benefits of RTI 51
RTI: The Promise and Some Controversies 52
Technical Issues: Reliability, Validity, and Fairness 52
Implementation Issues 52
Summary 53
For Discussion and Practice 54
Chapter 4 Testing and Educational Decision Making 56
Testing, Accountability, and The Classroom Teacher 57
Special Learners, the Regular Curriculum, and Annual Assessments 58
Types of Educational Decisions 59
A Pinch of Salt 62
“Pinching” in the Classroom 63
What to Measure 64
How to Measure 65
Written Tests 65
Summary 66
For Discussion and Practice 67
Chapter 5 Norm-Referenced and Criterion-Referenced Tests and Content Validity Evidence 68
Defining Norm-Referenced (NRT) and Criterion-Referenced (CRT) Tests 69
Comparing NRTs and CRTs 72
Differences in The Construction of NRTs and CRTs 73
NRTs, CRTs, and Linguistic and Cultural Diversity 74
NRTs, CRTs, and Validity Evidence 75
A Three-Stage Model of Classroom Measurement 76
Why Objectives? Why Not Just Write Test Items? 78
Where Do Goals Come From? 79
Are There Different Kinds of Goals and Objectives? 81
How Can Instructional Objectives Make a Teacher’s Job Easier? 83
Summary 84
For Discussion and Practice 86
Chapter 6 Measuring Learning Outcomes 87
Writing Instructional Objectives 88
Identifying Learning Outcomes 88
Identifying Observable and Directly Measurable Learning Outcomes 89
Stating Conditions 90
Stating Criterion Levels 90
Keeping It Simple and Straightforward 91
Matching Test Items to Instructional Objectives 92
Taxonomy of Educational Objectives 94
Cognitive Domain 94
Affective Domain 97
The Psychomotor Domain 99
The Test Blueprint 100
Content Outline 102
Categories 102
Number of Items 102
Functions 102
Summary 104
For Discussion and Practice 104
Chapter 7 Writing Objective Test Items 106
Which Format? 107
True-False Items 108
Suggestions for Writing True-False Items 110
Matching Items 111
Faults Inherent in Matching Items 111
Suggestions for Writing Matching Items 114
Multiple-Choice Items 114
Higher-Level Multiple-Choice Questions 119
Suggestions for Writing Multiple-Choice Items 123
Completion Items 123
Suggestions for Writing Completion Items 125
Gender and Racial Bias in Test Items 126
Guidelines for Writing Test Items 127
Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Objective Item Formats 128
True-False Tests 128
Matching Tests 129
Multiple-Choice Tests 129
Completion Tests 129
Summary 130
For Discussion and Practice 130
Chapter 8 Writing Essay Test Items 132
What is An Essay Item? 133
Essay Items Should Measure Complex Cognitive Skills or Processes 134
Essay Items: Extended or Restricted Response 135
Examples of Restricted Response Essays 136
Pros and Cons of Essay Items 138
Advantages of the Essay Item 138
Disadvantages of the Essay Item 138
Suggestions for Writing Essay Items 139
Scoring Essay Questions 140
Scoring Extended Response and Higher-Level Questions 142
General Essay Scoring Suggestions 146
Assessing Knowledge Organization 147
Open-Book Questions and Exams 149
Some Open-Book Techniques 149
Guidelines for Planning Essays, Knowledge Organization, and Open-Book Questions and Exams 153
Summary 154
For Discussion and Practice 155
Chapter 9 Performance-Based Assessment 156
Performance Tests: Direct Measures of Competence 157
Performance Tests Can Assess Processes and Products 157
Performance Tests Can Be Embedded in Lessons 158
Performance Tests Can Assess Affective and Social Skills 158
Developing Performance Tests for Your Learners 160
Step 1: Deciding What to Test 160
Step 2: Designing the Assessment Context 162
Step 3: Specifying the Scoring Rubrics 165
Step 4: Specifying Testing Constraints 170
A FinalWord 171
Summary 172
For Discussion and Practice 173
Chapter 10 Portfolio Assessment 174
Rationale for the Portfolio 175
Ensuring Validity of the Portfolio 176
Developing Portfolio Assessments 176
Step 1: Deciding on the Purposes for a Portfolio 177
Step 2: Identifying Cognitive Skills and Dispositions 177
Step 3: Deciding Who Will Plan the Portfolio 177
Step 4: Deciding Which Products to Put in the Portfolio and How Many Samples of Each Product 178
Step 5: Building the Portfolio Rubrics 179
Step 6: Developing a Procedure to Aggregate All Portfolio Ratings 184
Step 7: Determining the Logistics 185
Summary 188
For Discussion and Practice 189
Chapter 11 Administering, Analyzing, and Improving the Test or Assessment 190
Assembling the Test 191
Packaging the Paper-and-Pencil Test 191
Administering the Test 193
Scoring the Test 195
Analyzing the Test 196
Quantitative Item Analysis 196
Qualitative Item Analysis 202
Item Analysis Modifications for the Criterion-Referenced Test 203
Debriefing 207
Debriefing Guidelines 208
The Process of Evaluating Classroom Achievement 209
Summary 210
For Discussion and Practice 212
Chapter 12 Marks and Marking Systems 213
What is the Purpose of a Mark? 213
Why Be Concerned about Marking? 214
What Should a Mark Reflect? 214
Marking Systems 215
Types of Comparisons 216
Types of Symbols 219
Combining and Weighting the Components of a Mark 221
Who is the Better Teacher? 221
Combining Grades into a Single Mark 223
Practical Approaches to Equating Before Weighting in the Busy Classroom 225
Front-End Equating 226
Back-End Equating 226
Summary 229
For Discussion and Practice 230
Chapter 13 Summarizing Data and Measures of Central Tendency 231
What Are Statistics? 232
Why Use Statistics? 233
Tabulating Frequency Data 233
The List 234
The Simple Frequency Distribution 234
The Grouped Frequency Distribution 235
Steps in Constructing a Grouped Frequency Distribution 237
Graphing Data 239
The Bar Graph, or Histogram 240
The Frequency Polygon 240
The Smooth Curve 243
Measures of Central Tendency 246
The Mean 246
The Median 248
The Mode 252
The Measures of Central Tendency in Various Distributions 254
Summary 255
For Discussion and Practice 257
Chapter 14 Variability, The Normal Distribution, and Converted Scores 258
The Range 259
The Semi-Interquartile Range (SIQR) 260
The Standard Deviation 261
The Deviation Score Method for Computing the Standard Deviation 264
The Raw Score Method for Computing the Standard Deviation 265
The Normal Distribution 267
Properties of the Normal Distribution 268
Converted Scores 270
z-Scores 273
T-Scores 277
Summary 278
For Discussion and Practice 278
Chapter 15 Correlation 280
The Correlation Coefficient 282
Strength of a Correlation 282
Direction of a Correlation 282
Scatterplots 283
Where Does r Come From? 285
Causality 286
Other Interpretive Cautions 287
Summary 289
For Discussion and Practice 290
Chapter 16 Validity Evidence 292
Why Evaluate Tests? 292
Types of Validity Evidence 293
Content Validity Evidence 293
Criterion-Related Validity Evidence 294
Construct Validity Evidence 295
What Have We Been Saying? A Review 296
Interpreting Validity Coefficients 298
Content Validity Evidence 298
Concurrent and Predictive Validity Evidence 298
Summary 302
For Discussion and Practice 302
Chapter 17 Reliability 304
Methods of Estimating Score Reliability 305
Test-Retest or Stability 305
Alternate Forms or Equivalence 306
Internal Consistency 306
Interpreting Reliability Coefficients 309
Summary 312
For Discussion and Practice 313
Chapter 18 Accuracy and Error 315
Error - What is It? 316
The Standard Error of Measurement 317
Using the Standard Error of Measurement 318
More Applications 321
Standard Deviation or Standard Error of Measurement? 323
Why All the Fuss About Error? 324
Error Within Test-Takers 324
Error Within the Test 324
Error in Test Administration 325
Error in Scoring 325
Sources of Error Influencing Various Reliability Coefficients 325
Test-Retest 325
Alternate Forms 326
Internal Consistency 326
Band Interpretation 328
Steps: Band Interpretation 329
A Final Word 332
Summary 332
For Discussion and Practice 333
Chapter 19 Standardized Tests 335
What is a Standardized Test? 337
Do Test Stimuli, Administration, and Scoring Have to Be Standardized? 338
Standardized Testing: Effects of Accommodations and Alternative Assessments 339
Uses of Standardized Achievement Tests 340
Will Performance and Portfolio Assessment Make Standardized Tests Obsolete? 341
Administering Standardized Tests 341
Types of Scores Offered for Standardized Achievement Tests 343
Grade Equivalents 343
Age Equivalents 344
Percentile Ranks 345
Standard Scores 346
The Norms Table 347
Interpreting a Norms Table 349
Interpreting Standardized Tests: Test and Student Factors 350
Test-Related Factors 351
Student-Related Factors 354
Aptitude-Achievement Discrepancies 358
Interpreting Standardized Tests: Parent-Teacher Conferences and Educational Decision Making 361
An Example: Pressure to Change an Educational Placement 361
Interpreting Standardized Tests: Score Reports from Publishers 366
Report-Based Interpretive Scenarios 371
Authors’ Responses 372
Summary 373
For Discussion and Practice 375
Chapter 20 Types of Standardized Tests 377
Standardized Achievement Tests 378
Achievement Test Batteries, or Survey Batteries 379
Single-Subject Achievement Tests 380
Diagnostic Achievement Tests 380
Standardized Academic Aptitude Tests 381
The History of Academic Aptitude Testing 381
Stability of IQ Scores 382
What Do IQ Tests Predict? 383
Individually Administered Academic Aptitude Tests 384
Group-Administered Academic Aptitude Tests 384
Standardized Personality Assessment Instruments 385
What is Personality? 385
Objective Personality Tests 386
Projective Personality Tests 387
Summary 388
For Discussion and Practice 389
Chapter 21 In The Classroom: A Summary Dialogue 390
Appendix A Math Skills Review 396
Appendix B Answers For Discussion or Practice Questions 402
Suggested Readings 408
References 413
Credits 418
Index 419
