Criteria for Valid Assessment Items

1
Criteria for Valid Assessment Items

• Assessment items can tell us if a student
  understands a GLCE only if the items meet certain
  criteria

2

• Does the content of the item match the content of
  the GLCE?
• 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?
• Can the item be solved by test-wiseness rather
  than by knowing the GLCE?

4

• Does the item require knowledge from two or more
  GLCEs?
• Are the foils appropriate and insightful?
• Is the context appropriate and engaging, but not
  misleading, distracting or culturally-biased?

5
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

6
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

7
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

8
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, ____

9
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

10
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

11
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

12
Performance Match?

• Example 8 G.SR.04.03 Identify and count the
  faces, edges, and vertices of basic
  three-dimensional 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

13
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

14
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

15
Two or more GLCEs?

• Example 11 Mrs. Johnsons 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

16
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

17
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.

18
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
•  
•  
• 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

19
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. range is 7, median is 5
• b. range is 7, median is 6
• c. range is 10, median is 7
• d. range is 10, median is 5

20
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.
   8 6/8 ice cream conesb.  8 3/4 ice cream
  conesc.  9 1/15 ice cream conesd.  8 14/15 ice
  cream cones

21
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

22
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?___________
  ___________.