Rationale for Test and Essay Items

If you haven't noticed, the "Learning Outcomes" post has been updated.  I included test items and essay items for the instructional objectives.  Below you will find the rationale behind the test and essay items.  If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment.  I benefit from constructive criticism :)

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Rationale for Test and Essay Items

Instructional objective #1 focuses on students being able to add and subtract numbers within 1,000.  Instructional objective #2 focuses on rounding to ten and hundred.  Multiple choice questions suit these objectives because it measures whether a student can add and subtract and round to ten and hundred, and not whether a student can read.  The choices are clear, short, and easy to understand.  Kubiszyn and Borich state, “Be concise – don’t add extraneous information” (pg. 147).  Adding any extra information can cause confusion.  Furthermore, keeping the choices to a minimum and refraining from the choices “all of the above” or “none of the above” eliminates what is known as easy questions (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2010).  Another form of assessment that can address the learning objective is a performance-based assessment for students to show their work.  This helps teachers evaluate their student’s abilities.  When I ask my students to show their work, I walk around asking questions in regards to how they came to their solution.  Although some students can easily see their errors, others need to guidance to see what went wrong in the process.

Instructional objective #3 differs from the others because it requires students to explain their answer in writing.  This could probably be considered as an essay item or performance-based assessment because it requires more thought and explanation.  Kubiszyn & Borich (2010) state that essay items “[aim] to test complex cognitive skills by requiring the student to organize, integrate, and synthesize knowledge, to use information to solve novel problems, or to be original and innovative in problem solving (pg. 158).  Allowing students to show their work and to be able to explain how they came to their solution enables them to view their work which may make it easier for students to generate an explanation.  A multiple choice question was added because it, too, can show whether students can apply pattern skills without having to explain.  This can help address the needs of different learners in my classroom.  Again, the choices are limited to three and involve very few words.  In addition, all choices are in chronological order.  Placing choices in chronological order makes the test item even better (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2010).  Not only does it make the test item better, it helps eliminate confusion and students do not have to jump around looking for answers.  I feel that it would be best if students are aware of the choices being in chronological order.

The essay item constructed for instructional objective #1 is an addition word problem.  As stated in the objectives, students need to fluently add and subtract within 1,000.  Word problems tackle higher-order thinking skills.  The word problem requires comprehension of the question, knowledge to identify addition problem cue words, and the application of addition to complete the word problem.  Because the test’s security is a concern, teachers can change the numerical values in the word problem for separate classes.  Again, students are required to show their work.  This will help students backtrack in the event that changes need to be made.

The essay item constructed for instructional objective #2 requires students to explain the process of rounding whole numbers.  A restricted response was chosen, rather than an extended response, because each student will have his or her explanation.  Students need comprehend the essay item, evaluate the problem, recall and apply the knowledge of rounding for their explanation, and organize their ideas within eight sentences.  Furthermore, restricted response items are mostly utilized to assess levels of knowledge, comprehension, and application (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2010).  Grammar and spelling are not scored because the learning objective is to determine whether students can round whole numbers to tens and hundreds.

Below is an example of what I expect in the essay item:

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Reference

Kubiszyn, T. & Borich, G. (2010).  Educational testing and measurement: classroom application and practice (9th ed.).  Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.