Critique of End of Term Assessment

A Form One Social Studies End of Term Test will be used to determine the levels of

reliability and validity. This assessment consists of forty multiple choice items and four short

answer questions with various parts. This formative assessment used to determine students’

knowledge, skills and abilities in the subject.

One of the factors of reliability is test-retest. This factor enables the teacher to determine

the degree to which an assessment produces stable and consistent results. In this case, there was

no retesting of the assessment to determine the consistency of the results. Since it was not

retested, the correlation coefficient could not be obtained. Because this factor was left out, the

reliability of the scores to determine the students’ ability could not effectively be established.

Another factor of reliability is the necessity to have parallel forms of that assessment.

This means that different versions of an assessments should be administered to the same group of

students at different times and it should test the same knowledge, skills and abilities. According

to Volente (2006), reliability can be determined if students are provided with multiple

opportunities to demonstrate what they know. In this assessment, the students were given one

opportunity to determine their understanding of several concepts taught during the term and this

is not sufficient to establish reliability. Because the final scores could not be compared to any

summative scores, reliability could not be adequately determined.

Validity, another important principle in assessment, looks at how well a test measures

what it is purported to measure. In the Form One assessment elements of construction validity

needed to be tackled. Question construction especially the wording and phrasing of many of the

items were complicated and difficult for the students to understand. This can be attributed to the

fact the questions were taken from the Form Three NCSE exam scripts. The wording used in the
questions were set at a higher level and many of the students had difficulty understanding the

questions.

As I looked at both sections of the assessment, I found that the multiple-choice section as

compared to the short answer section, lacked sample validity. This is where the assessment

should cover the broad range of areas within the subject equally and bias should not be given to

specific areas. In the short answer section, sample validity was adhered too, however in the

multiple-choice the ratio of questions was not equal for all the areas tested. As a result,

sample/content validity was lacking in this assessment.

 Suggestions for the improvement of the End of Term Assessment

The first aspect of improvement to be made to this assessment is test-retest reliability. By

addressing this factor, the teacher would be able to determine the students’ true understanding of

the content. Ideally the second test should be done after one week, however it could be

administered during the first week of the new term. The scores from test one and test two can

then be correlated to evaluate the test for stability over time. The teacher can use the results to

determine the course forward in terms of curriculum delivery.

Improvements in parallel reliability can be made if the teacher conducts assessments

periodically during the term or after the completion of each concept. This assessment can be

informal and the scores used to compare the students’ abilities in the different content areas. The

teacher would be able to evaluate the consistency of the results across alternate versions of the

assessment and make a reliable conclusion on students’ knowledge base.

This assessment can also be improved if construction validity is address. The teacher

used preconstructed questions suited for a higher level in a Form One assessment. To address

this, construction of assessment questions can be done during and at the end of each concept

taught. This would ensure that the questions adhere to the level of the students and result in a

valid assessment. As the improvement to validity continues, the teacher can address the ratio of

questions for each concept as well. Ensuring that each concept is tested equally, the issue of bias

can significantly improve the validity of this assessment.