This document discusses planning classroom tests and assessments. It outlines 8 steps for planning tests: 1) determining the purpose, 2) developing test specifications, 3) selecting item types, 4) preparing items, 5) assembling the test, 6) administering the test, 7) appraising the test, and 8) using results. Different types of assessments are described including pre-tests, formative assessments, and post-tests. Guidelines are provided for developing test blueprints and selecting appropriate item types such as essay, short answer, and objective items.

1. PAPER-24(B)
ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION AT SECONDARY
LEVEL
ASSIGNMENT
TOPIC-2.1-PLANNING CLASSROOM TESTS AND
ASSESSMENTS
BY
SANA FATIMA
M.ED(SEM-IV)2018-20
GHULAM AHMED COLLEGE OF EDUCATION,
BANJARA HILLS,HYDERABAD
OSMANIA UNIVERSITY

2. PLANNING CLASSROOM TESTS AND ASSESSMENTS
INTRODUCTION:
Classroom tests and assessments plays a central role in the evaluation of the student learning like
 Motivating the students
 Measuring achievement
 Assessing students prior knowledge
 Identifying areas for review
 Check instructional effectiveness
 Maintain learning atmosphere
The main objective of classroom test and assessment is to obtain valid, reliable, and useful information
concerning student achievement.
PLANNING CLASSROOM TESTS AND ASSESSMENTS:
Grounlund and Linn (1990) have suggested the following 8 basic steps in classroom testing:
1. Determining the purpose of classroom tests and assessment.
2. Developing specifications for tests and assessment.
3. Selecting appropriate types of items and assessment tasks.
4. Preparing relevant test items
5. Assembling the test
6. Administering the test
7. Appraising the test
8. Using the results.
1.DETERMINING THE PURPOSE OF CLASSROOM TESTS AND ASSESSMENT:
Classroom tests and assessment can be used for a variety of purposes. These can be best described in terms of
their location in the instructional process, which closely parallels the type of assessment.
A) Pre-testing:
Tests and assessment may be given at the beginning of an instructional segment (ex: unit or course) to
determine:
 Whether students have prerequisite skills needed for the instruction(to determine readiness)
 To what extent students have already achieved the objectives of the planned instruction. (Placement
or modification of instruction).
Pretest items tend to have relatively low level of difficulty.

3. B)Testing and assessment during instruction process:
Formative assessment
Formative Assessment is carried out during a course of instruction for providing continuous feedback to both
the teachers and the learners for taking decisions regarding appropriate modifications in the transactional
procedures and learning activities, while learning is taking place and while learning is occurring.
Diagnostic Assessment:
Diagnostic assessment can help you identify your students’ current knowledge of a subject, their skill sets and
capabilities, and to clarify misconceptions before teaching takes place. Knowing students strengths and
weaknesses can help to better plan what to teach and how to teach it.
C) Testing and assessment at the end of instruction:
At the end of the segment of instruction our main interest is in measuring the extent to which the intended
learning outcomes and performance standards have been achieved. Although these end-of-instruction test and
assessments are used primarily for summative assessment they can serve as other functions such as
 Providing feedback to students.
 Encouraging students to undertake more challenging and advanced tasks.
 Assessing instruction as well as for grading purpose.
 Evaluating instruction effectiveness
 Function as both formative and summative.
2.DEVELOPING SPECIFICATIONS FOR TESTS AND ASSESSMENTS:
Table of specifications also named as blue print for test:
The test constructor should prepare a table of specifications. It is nothing but a two dimensional grid that allows
the constructor to plan how many items should be for each content area and what level of thinking is expected
from the examinee. How much this grid will be specified will depend upon the test constructor.
Purpose:
 This advanced planning allows a teacher to view the test as a whole.
 Describing the content and the behavior expected of the students.
 Tells us what is the content domain
 Ensure proper emphasis is given to all the elements of a course of study
 Numbers of questions on the test; correspond to the amount of time devoted to the objectives in class.
 Representativeness-What is the appropriate balance of content is determined by importance or time
spent teaching that content.
Development of table of specification involves:
 Preparing a table of instructional objectives.
 Outlining the course content.

4.  Preparing the two way chart.
Example of table of specification:
CONTENT
AREAS
REMEMBERI
NG
COMPREHENSI
ON
APPLICATIO
N
TOTAL
NUMBE
R
TOTAL
PERCENTA
GE
OB SA E OB SA E OB SA E
Parts of a
circulatory
system
Functions
Relation to other
systems
Total Number
Total
Percentage
 The first column lists the content areas to be assessed.
 The rest of the columns are devoted to levels of the objectives assessed by individual items according to
Bloom’s categories.
 The body of the table consists of the number of each item in every category.
 A final column lists the totals of items in each content area.
 This table can then be converted into percentages.
The test constructor needs to consider and decide:
 Length of the test.
 Weightage to be given to each objective.
 Weighatge to be given to each level of taxonomy.
 Estimate the number of items in each cell.
Distribution of weightages:
 Weightages specified to different objectives.
 Weightages given to content.
 Weightages given to different types of questions.
 Weightages to difiiculty level.
Weightages specified to different objectives:
OBJECTIVES MARKS PERCENTAGE
Remembering
Understanding/Comprehension
Application

5. Weightages given to the content:
SUBJECT MARKS PERCENTAGE
Topic-1
Topic-2
Total 100%
Weightages to different types of questions:
TYPE OF QUESTION MARKS PERCENTAGE
Essay
Short Answer
Objective
Total 100%
Weightage to difficulty level:
DIFFICULTY LEVEL MARKS PERCENTAGE
Easy
Average
Difficult
Total 100%
3.SELECTING AND CONSTRUCTING APPROPRIATE TYPES OF ITEMS AND ASSESSMENT
TASKS:
The various types of test items which are used in classroom tests constructed by teachers can be classified into:
 Essay Type
 Objective Type
Each item should be used when it is appropriate. Selection of appropriate items depends upon:
 Nature of learning outcome to be measured.
 Advantages and limitations of each type.
 Common practice to use both types.
 Skills with which an item is constructed.
ESSAY TYPE ITEMS:
Essay items are most appropriate for measuring higher mental processes which involve the process of synthesis,
analysis, evaluation, organization and criticism of the events of the past. Essay tests are thus suitable for
measuring traits like critical thinking, originality and the ability to integrate or synthesize or analyze different
events.
Essay items are of two types:
i) Short-answer type and

6. ii) Long –answer type or extended-answer essay type.
i) A short-answer essay item is one where the examinee supplies the answer in one or two lines and is usually
concerned with one central concept.
ii) A long-answer essay item is one where the examinee’s answer comprises several sentences. Such an item is
usually concerned with more than one central concept
Advantages:
 Can assess higher level skills
 More realistic.
Limitations:
 Time consuming.
 Scoring is difficult.
OBJECTIVE TYPE ITEMS:
An objective type is one wherein there is only one fixed correct answer, which either the examinee gives on his
own or he is required to select from among a given few options.
All objective items can be divided into two broad categories:
i) The Supply type and
ii) The Selection type
i) A supply type of items is one wherein the examinee has to write down the correct answer on his own.
The supply type of item is divided into two main categories:
:
 Unstructured short-answer item and
 Completion item or fill-in item.
ii) A selectiontype of item is one wherein the examinee is to select or identify the correct answer from a few
given.
 True/False.
 Multiple choices.
 Matching.
Advantages:
 Many items can be included.
 Scoring is quick, easy and accurate.
Limitations:
 Cannot assess higher level skills (problem formulation, organization, creativity).
ASSESSMENT TASKS:

7. Assessment tasks are the methods we use for assessing learners. We can assess learner formally and informally.
Formal Assessment is when we assess learner through tests or exams and give their work a mark or a grade.
Informal Assessment is when we observe learner to see how well they are doing something and then give them
feedback on their performance.
Self Assessment- When learner decides for themselves how good they think their progress or language use is.
Peer Assessment-When learners give feedback on each other’s language work, learning strategies and
performance.
Examples of Assessment tasks:
 Essays
 Group Work
 Oral Presentations
 Seminars
 Role plays
 Field Work
 Portfolios etc.
4.PREPARING RELEVANT TEST ITEMS:
The preparation of relevant items requires the following actions on the path of the test constructor:
Match the test item with the intended learning outcomes. It is possible through:
a) Analysis of the performance of intended learning outcomes.
b) Assigning intended learning outcomes to the domains of knowledge, understanding, application etc.
c) Construction of test items requiring to test their performance.
He should select those items which can be the best representative. It is possible through:
a) Developing test items which can measure all possible situations
b) Selecting some of them as a sample since we cannot select all of them due to the limitation of testing hours.
c) Not loading the test with a particular type of test only.
d) Not falling back upon those items which can be easily constructed.
He should prepare the test which is of proper difficulty level. It is possible through:
a) Deciding whether the item is meant for criterion-referenced test or norm-referenced test.
b) Selecting easy items if the learning task is easy and difficult items if the learning task is difficult in criterion-
referenced test.

8. c) Selecting average and difficult items in Norm- referenced test because the evaluator is interested in
determining ranking of the examinees.
All possible barriers in test items can be avoided by:
 Avoiding ambiguity in statements.
 Eliminating unnecessary wordings.
 Making use of communicative vocabulary.
 Discouraging complex stricter of sentences.
 Providing clear cut instructions to examinees.
 Eliminating any type of bias.
 He should not provide any clues to answer which may help examines to answer correctly even if they
lack the necessary achievement.
5) ASSEMBLING THE TEST:
After preparing relevant test items for a test, the constructor of the test has to assemble them together. In
assembling the test the following process are to be performed.
i) He should write each item on a separate card. The card should contain the following information:
a) Test item.
b) Instructional objective.
c) Specific learning outcome.
d) Subjective matter tested by the item Key.
ii) He should review the test items himself. Besides this he should get it reviewed by another teacher of the test.
In reviewing he and his colleague should check the following:
a) The item match with the learning outcome.
b) The point of the item is clear
c) The item is free from excess words
d) The item is appropriately difficult
e) The item is free from technical errors
f) The item does not provide clues
iii) Test should arrange the items in the test properly.
iv) He should provide proper instructions to the examinees. If all the examinees are in the same room, oral
instructions may be given otherwise they should be in writing. The instructions should be related to the
following:

9. What is the purpose of the test?
How much time is allowed for answering the test?
How much time should be given for each item?
What should be the mode of response by the examinees?
What is the result of guessing?
Is there any provision of negative marking?
6) ADMINISTERING THE TEST:
If the test constructor himself is administering the test and all the examinees are in the same room, there are no
problems because all the examinees will get the same treatment. This is much more necessary if the test is
competitive one for admission, scholarship or prize etc.
If the test is being conducted at different places, the task of administering the test becomes more meaningful.
However all the examinees must be given all the opportunities to do justice with the test.
7) APPRAISING THE TEST:
The test scoring is to be manually, if the test essay type or short answer type. After scoring the test should be
appraised for the effectiveness of each item of the test. It is technically known as item-analysis. The norm-
referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests are for different purposes, so the procedure of item analysis is
also different for them.
8) Using the results.
REFERENCES:
 https://slideplayer.com/slide/5888650/
 http://www1.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/451/unit4-chap6.htm
 https://www.slideshare.net/amina_h/planning-for-classroom-test
 https://www.slideshare.net/UmairAshraf/planning-an-achievement-test-and-assessment
 https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-
different-types-of-test-questions/
 https://classroom.synonym.com/write-remarks-report-cards-5412139.html
 https://www.waikato.ac.nz/students/student-assessment/types-of-assessment/types-of-assessment-tasks
 https://www.slideshare.net/sesegmabudazhapova/assessment-types-and-tasks