Transcript Criteria for Valid Assessment Items

Criteria for Valid
Assessment Items
Assessment items can tell us if a student
understands a GLCE only if the items
meet certain criteria:
1. Does the content of the item match
the content of the GLCE?
2. Does the performance required by
the item match the verb(s) and
domain of the GLCE? Does the
method used by the item (m.c. or c.r.)
align with the performance required by
the GLCE?
3. Are there no alternative approaches
to solving the problem that bi-pass the
knowledge implied by the GLCE?
4. Can the item be solved by testwiseness rather than by knowing the
GLCE?
5. Does the item require knowledge from
two or more GLCEs?
6. Are the foils appropriate and
insightful?
7. Is the context appropriate and
engaging, but not misleading,
distracting or culturally-biased?
Content Match?
Example 1: N.ME.04.03 – …recognize the
place values of numbers, and the relationship of
each place value to the place to its right, e.g.,
1,000 is 10 hundreds.
In which pair of numbers is the second number
100 more than the first number?
a. 199 and 209
b. 4236 and 4246
c. 9635 and 9735 d. 51,863 and 52,863
Content Match?
Example 2: M.PS.02.08 – Add and
subtract money in mixed units, e.g., $2.50
+ 60 cents and $5.75 - $3, but not $2.50 +
$3.10.
Mary saved $5.60 in a week. The next
week she saved $1.25. How much
money did she save altogether?
a. $6.85
b. $4.35
c. $5.85
Content Match?
Example 3: N.ME.03.16 – Understand that
fractions may represent a portion of a whole
unit that has been partitioned [divided, cut] into
parts of equal area or length; use the terms
“numerator” and “denominator.”
What is the fraction for the shaded part of this
set?
a. 3/8
b. 3/4
c. 3/7
Content Match?
Example 4: Can you find a 3rd grade
GLCE that would be tested by this item?
Fill in the missing numbers below that will
complete the number pattern and
describe the rule.
2, 4, ____, 16, ____, 64, ____
Performance Match?
Example 5: M.TE.04.04 – Measure surface
area of cubes and rectangular prisms by
covering and counting area of the faces.
John has a cube, 3 inches on each side.
What is its surface area?
a. 54 in3 b. 27 in3 c. 54 in2 d. 36 in2
Performance Match?
Example 6: N.FL.04.12 Find unknowns in
equations such as a ÷ 10 = 25; 125 ÷ b = 25.
There are about 20 times as many species of ants
as there are species of bats. Let b represent the
number of species of bats. Which expression
represents the number of species of ants?
a. b + 20
b. b x 20
c. 20 x b
d. 20 ÷ b
Performance Match?
Example 7: G.GS.03.06 – Identify, describe, build
and classify familiar three-dimensional solids, e.g.,
cube, rectangular prism, sphere, pyramid, cone,
based on their component parts (faces, surfaces,
bases, edges, vertices).
How many vertices are in the cube?
a. 8 vertices
b. 6 vertices
c. 12 vertices
Performance Match?
Example 8: G.SR.04.03 – Identify and count the
faces, edges, and vertices of basic threedimensional geometric solids including cubes,
rectangular prisms, and pyramids; describe the
shape of their faces.
Name the geometric solid with 5 faces, only four
of which are the same congruent polygon.
a. triangular pyramid
b. triangular prism
c. square prism
d. square pyramid
Use of Constructed Response
Example 9: N.MR.02.16 – Given a simple situation
involving groups of equal size or of sharing equally,
represent with objects, words, and symbols, and solve.
Each pack of gum has five sticks. How many sticks of
gum are in three packs? Draw a picture to show this:
Circle the correct answer: a. 8
b. 5
c. 15
Write this situation using the numbers 3 and 5 and an
appropriate operation symbol:
No alternative approaches?
Example 10: N.ME.03.16 Understand that
fractions may represent a portion of a whole
unit that has been partitioned into parts of
equal area or length…
The pie chart above shows the portion of
time Pat spent on homework in each subject
last week. If Pat spent 2 hours on
mathematics, about how many hours did Pat
spend on homework altogether?
a. 4
b. 8
c. 12
d. 16
Two or more GLCEs?
Example 11: Mrs. Johnson’s class of 30
students had a pizza party. Ten pizzas
were equally cut into 8 pieces. After each
student took 2 pieces, how many pizzas
were left?
a. 20/80
b. 20/30
c. 2
d. 2 1/2
Test-wiseness?
Example 12: Tamiko wanted 100 trading
cards. She had 55 cards. How many more
cards did she need?
a. 155
b. 45
c. 50
Are foils insightful?
• Are there known misconceptions or
often-used naïve strategies that lead to
incorrect answers? If so, foils that
represent often-chosen wrong answers
can give insight into students’ thinking
and steer teachers to changes in
instruction that account for those naïve
strategies.
Is context appropriate
and engaging?
Example 13: What is the perimeter of this
rectangle?
a. 18 cm b. 30 cm c. 36 cm d. 72 cm 6 cm
12 cm
Example 14: Sally wants to put a wallpaper border all
the way around her room. Her room is a rectangle. She
measures the sides of her room and finds that the short
side is 6 feet and the long side is 12 feet. How many
feet of wallpaper border will she need?
a. 18 ft
b. 30 ft
c. 36 ft d. 72 ft
Would a little context help?
What context would be appropriate, but
not overwhelming?
What is the range and median number for this
set of data? {2, 2, 3, 5, 10, 10, 12}
a.
b.
c.
d.
range is 7, median is 5
range is 7, median is 6
range is 10, median is 7
range is 10, median is 5
Distracting context?
Example 16: Bobby bought 3 3/5 ice cream
cones. Jose Miquel bought 5 1/3 ice cream
cones. How many ice cream cones did they buy
together?
a.
b.
c.
d.
8 6/8 ice cream cones
8 3/4 ice cream cones
9 1/15 ice cream cones
8 14/15 ice cream cones
Distracting context?
Example 16: The two smallest planets in the solar
system are Pluto and Mercury. Pluto has a diameter of
1,413 miles. Mercury has a diameter of 3,032 miles.
How much larger is the diameter of Mercury than the
diameter of Pluto?
a. 1,519 miles b. 1,619 miles c. 1,621 miles d. 2,629 miles
Scaffolded Items
Example 18: How much bigger is the large rectangular
region than the small one?
My estimate is _________________.
Use a ruler to measure the sides of each rectangle. Write
the numbers next to the sides of the rectangles.
What is the area of each? Write it inside the rectangle.
How much bigger is the large
rectangle?______________________.