Teacher Education Instruments

Teacher/Faculty Content Assessments

Instrument 1: Standards For Teacher Competence in Educational Assessment of Students Questionnaire

Project: Enhancing the Teacher's Role in Assessment (Project EXTRA)
University of Missouri, Kansas City

Funding Source: NSF: Teacher Enhancement (ESIE)

Purpose: This instrument measures each teacher's knowledge base in assessing students. It was administered before and after the academic year institute.

Administered To: 40 grade 7 through 12 mathematics teachers from 6 ethnically diverse school districts. These teachers were participating in a 3-year professional development program to increase their assessment knowledge and skills and integrate these practices into their teaching.

Topics Covered:

• Content Specific Assessment: assessment

Format/Length: 35 closed-ended multiple-choice items that each have four options

Please read each item carefully and mark the response you think is the best one. If you think you know which is best, even if you are not positive, mark that response.

Standard 1: Choosing assessment methods.

1. In choosing the best assessment method for measuring student achievement, the most important consideration is that the method be:
   1. easy to score.
   2. easy to prepare.
   3. an accurate reflection of instructional objectives.
   4. acceptable to the school administration.

2. When scores from many standardized tests are said to be relatively free from measurement error (are reliable), what does it mean?
   1. Student scores on standardized tests can be used for virtually any purpose.
   2. If a student retook the same test, he or she would get a similar score on each retake.
   3. Standardized test scores are more valid measures than teacher judgments.
   4. Scores reflect accurately the content of instruction in classes where the test is administered.

3. Mrs. Bruce wished to assess her students' understanding of the method of problem solving she had been teaching. Which assessment strategy below would be most valid.?
   1. Select a textbook that has a "teacher's guide" with a test developed by the authors.
   2. Develop an assessment consistent with an outline of what she has actually taught in class.
   3. Select a standardized test that provides a score on problem solving skills.
   4. Select an instrument that measures students' attitudes about problem solving strategies.

4. What is the most effective use a teacher can make of an assessment strategy that requires students to show their work, e.g., the way they arrived at a solution to a problem or the logic used to arrive at a conclusion?
   1. Assigning grades for a unit of instruction on problem solving.
   2. Providing instructional feedback to individual students.
   3. Motivating students to attempt innovative ways to solve problems.
   4. None of the above.

5. Ms. Green, the principal, was evaluating the teaching performance of Mr. Wajesa, the fourth grade teacher. Ms. Green wanted to learn if the students were being encouraged to use higher order thinking skills in the class. What documentation would be the most valid to help Ms. Green to make this decision?
   1. Mr. Wajesa's lesson plans.
   2. The statement curriculum guides for fourth grade.
   3. Copies of Mr. Wajesa's unit tests or assessment strategies used to assign grades.
   4. Worksheets completed by Mr. Wajesa's students, but not used for grading.

Standard 2: Developing assessment methods.

6. A teacher wants to document the validity of the scores from a classroom assessment strategy she plans to use for assigning grades on a class unit. What kind of information would provide the best evidence of this purpose?
   1. Have other teachers judge whether the assessment strategy covers what was taught.
   2. Match an outline of the instructional content to the content of the strategy.
   3. Let students in the class indicate if they thought the assessment was valid.
   4. Ask parents if the assessment reflects important learning outcomes.

7. How can Mrs. Lockwood increase the reliability of her multiple choice end-of-unit examination in physical science?
   1. Use a blueprint to develop the test questions.
   2. Add more items like those already in the test.
   3. Change the test format to true-false questions.
   4. Add an essay component.

8. Ms. Guardia wants to assess her students' skill in organizing ideas rather than just repeating facts. Which words should she use in formulating essay exercises to achieve this goal?
   1. compare, contrast, criticize
   2. identify, specify, list
   3. order, match, select
   4. define, recall, restate

9. Mr. Woodruff wanted his students to appreciate the literary work of Edgar Allen Poe. Which of his test items shown will best measure his instructional goal?
   1. "Spoke the raven, nevermore" comes from which of Poe's work?
   2. True or false: POE was an orphan and never knew his biological parents.
   3. Edgar Allen POE wrote:
      
      1. Novels
      2. Short stories
      3. Poems
      4. All of the above
   4. Describe briefly Poe's contribution to American literature.

10. Several students in Ms. Atwell's class got low scores on her end-of-unit test in doing multi-step story problems in mathematics. She wanted to know which students were having similar problems so she could group them for instruction. Which assessment strategy would be best for her to use for grouping students?
    1. Use the test provided in the "teacher's guide."
    2. Have the students take a test that has separate items for each step of the process.
    3. Look at the student's records and standardized test scores to see which topics the students had not performed well on previously.
    4. Give students story problems to complete and have them show their work.

Standard 3: Administering, scoring and interpreting assessment results.

11. Many teachers score classroom tests using a 100-point percent correct scale. In general, a student's core of 90 on such a scale would mean the student:
    1. answer 90% of the items on this test correctly.
    2. knows 90% of the instructional content of the unit covered by this test.
    3. scored higher than 90% of all the students who took the test.
    4. Scored 90% higher than the average student in class.

12. Students in Mr. Jakman's science class are required to develop a model of the solar system for their end-of-unit grade. Which scoring procedure below is most reasonable for assessing these student projects?
    1. When the models are turned in, Mr. Jakman identifies the most attractive models and gives them the highest grades, the next most attractive get a low grade and so.
    2. Other teachers in the building are asked to rate each project on a 5 point scale based on their quality.
    3. Before the projects are turned in, Mr. Jakman constructs a scoring key based on the critical features of the projects as identified by the highest performing students in the class.
    4. Before the projects are turned in, Mr. Jakman prepares a model or blueprint of the critical features of the product and assigns scoring weights to these features. The models with the highest scores receive the highest grade.

13. At the close of the first month of school, Mrs. Friend gives her fifth grade students a test she developed in social studies. Her test is modeled after a standardized social studies test. It presents passages and then asks questions related to comprehension and problem definition. When the test was scored, she noticed that two of her students who had been performing well in their class assignments scored a lot lower than the other students. What additional information would be most helpful in interpreting the results of this test?
    1. The gender of the students.
    2. The age of the students.
    3. Reliability data for the standardized social studies test she used as the model.
    4. Reading comprehension scores for the students.

14. Frank, a beginning fifth grader, received a G.E. (Grade Equivalent Score) of 8.0 on the Reading Comprehension subtest of a standardized test. This score should be interpreted to mean that Frank:
    1. can read and understand material at the 8th grade reading level.
    2. Scored as well as a typical beginning 8th grader scored on this test.
    3. is performing in Reading Comprehension at the 8th grade level.
    4. will probably reach maximum performance in Reading Comprehension at the beginning of the 8th grade.

15. When the directions indicate each section of a standardized test is timed separately, which of the following is acceptable test-taking behavior?
    1. John finishes the vocabulary section early; he then rechecks many of his answers in that section.
    2. Mary finishes the vocabulary section early; she checks her answers on the previous test section.
    3. Jane finished the vocabulary section early; she looks ahead at the next test section but does not mark her answer sheet for any of those items.
    4. Bob did not finish the vocabulary section; he continues to work on that section when the testing time is up.

Standard 4: Using assessment results for decision making

16. Ms. Camp is starting a new semester with a factoring unit in her Algebra 1 class. Before beginning the unit, she gives her students a test on the commutative, associative, and distributive properties of addition and multiplication. Which of the following is the most likely reason she gives this test to her students?
    1. The principal needs to report the results of this assessment to the state testing director.
    2. Ms. Camp wants to check for prerequisite knowledge in her students before she begins the unit on factoring.
    3. Ms. Camp wants to give the students practice in taking tests early in the semester.
    4. Ms. Camp wants to measure growth in student achievement of these concepts, and scores on this test will serve as the students' knowledge baseline.

17. To evaluate the effectiveness of the mathematics program for her gifted first graders, Ms. Allen gave them a standardized mathematics test normed on third graders. To decide how well her students performed, Ms. Allen compared her students' scores to those of the third-grade norm group. Why is this an incorrect application of standardized test norms?
    1. The norms are not reliable for first graders.
    2. The norms are not valid for first graders.
    3. Third grade mathematics items are too difficult for first graders.
    4. The time limits are too short for first graders.

18. For planning classroom instruction, which of these types of data have the most potential to be helpful?

    norm-reference information: describes each student's performance relative to a norm group (e.g., percentile ranks, stanines)

    or

    criterion-referenced information; describes each student's performance in terms of status on specific learning outcomes (e.g., number of items correctly related to a specific objective)

    1. Norm-referenced information.
    2. Criterion-referenced information.
    3. Both types of information are equally useful in helping to plan for instruction.
    4. Neither, test information is not useful in helping to plan instruction.

19. Student's scores on standardized tests are sometimes inconsistent with their performances on classroom assessments, e.g., teachers tests or other in-class activities. Which of the following is NOT a reasonable explanation for such discrepancies?
    1. Some students freeze up on standardized tests, but they do fine on classroom assessments.
    2. Multiple choice tests measure only recall of information, while classroom assessments can measure more complex thinking.
    3. Students often take standardized tests less seriously than they take classroom assessments.
    4. Standardized tests may have less curriculum validity than classroom assessments.

20. Elementary school teachers in the Baker School system collectively designed and developed a new curriculum in Reading, Mathematics, and Science that is based on locally developed objectives and objectives in state curriculum guides. The new curricula were not matched directly to the content of the fourth grade standardized test. The newspaper reports the fourth grade students in Baker Public Schools are among the lowest scoring in the State Assessment Program when compared with students in other school districts. Which of the following may invalidate the comparison between Baker Public Schools and other schools in the state?
    1. The curriculum objectives in Baker Public Schools may differ in scope and sequence from those in the standardized test.
    2. Other school systems did not design their curriculum to be consistent with the state assessment test.
    3. Instruction in Baker schools may be poor.
    4. Other school systems have a different promotion policy than Baker.

Standard 5: Using assessment in grading.

21. Of the following, which choice typically provides the most reliable student-performance information a teacher might consider when assigning a unit grade?
    1. Scores from a teacher-made test containing two or three essay questions related directly to instructional objectives.
    2. Scores from a teacher-made 20 item multiple-choice test design to measure the specific instructional objectives.
    3. Oral responses to questions asked in class of each student over the cruse of the unit.
    4. Daily grades designed to indicate the quality of in-class participation during regular instruction.

22. A teacher gave three tests during a grading period and she wants to weigh them all equally when assigning grades. Which of the following should be closest to equal on all three tests for them to have equal weight?
    1. Number of items.
    2. Number of students taking each test.
    3. Average scores.
    4. Variation (range) of scores.

23. When a parent asks a teacher to explain the basis for his or her child's grade, the teacher should:
    1. explain that the grades are assigned fairly, based on the student's performance and other related factors.
    2. ask the parents what they think should be the basis for the child's grade.
    3. explain exactly how the grade was determined and show the parent samples of the student's work.
    4. indicate that the grading scale is imposed by the school board and the teacher have no control over grades.

24. Which of the following is the least sound grading practice?
    1. Mr. Jones requires students to turn in homework; however, he only grades the odd numbered items.
    2. Mrs. Brown uses weekly quizzes and three major examinations to assign final grades in her class.
    3. Ms. Smith permits students to redo their assignments several times if they need more opportunities to meet her standards for grades.
    4. Miss Engle deducts 5 points from a student's test grade for disruptive behavior.

25. During the most recent grading period Ms. Johnson graded no homework and gave only one end-of-unit test. Grades were assigned only on the basis of the test. Which of the following is the major criticism of how she assigned the grades?
    1. The grades probably reflect a bias against minority students that exists in most tests.
    2. Decisions like grade assignment should be based on more than one piece of information.
    3. The test was too narrow in curriculum focus.
    4. There is no significant criticism of this method providing the test covered the unit's content.

Standard 6: Communicating assessment results.

26. In a routine conference with Mary's parents, Mrs. Estes observed that Mary's scores on the state assessment program's quantitative reasoning tests indicate Mary is performing better in mathematics concepts than in mathematics computation. This probably means that:
    1. Mary's score on the computation test was below average.
    2. Mary is an excellent student in mathematics concepts.
    3. The percentile bands for the mathematics concepts and computation tests do not overlap.
    4. The mathematics concepts test is a more valid measure of Mary's quantitative reasoning ability.

27. Many states are revising their school accountability programs to help explain differences in test scores across school systems. Which of the following is NOT something that needs to be considered in such a program?
    1. The number of students in each school system.
    2. The average socio-economic status of the school system.
    3. The race/ethnic distribution of students in each school system.
    4. The drop-out rate in each school system.

28. The following standardized test data are reported for John.

    Subject	Stanine Score
    Vocabulary	7
    Mathematics Computation	7
    Social Studies	7

    Which of the following is a valid interpretation of this score report?

    1. John answered correctly the same number of items on each of the three tests.
    2. John's test scores are equivalent to a typical seventh grader's test performance.
    3. John had the same percentile rank on the three tests.
    4. John scored above average on each of the three tests.

29. Mr. Klein bases his students' grades mostly on graded homework and tests. Mr. Kaplan bases his students' grades mostly on his observation of the students during class. A major difference in these two assessment strategies for assigning grades can best be summarized as a difference in:
    1. formal and informal assessment.
    2. performance and applied assessment.
    3. customized and tailored assessment.
    4. formative and summative assessment.

30. John scored at the 60th percentile on a mathematics concepts test and scored at the 57th percentile on a test of reading comprehension. If the percentile bands for each test are five percentile ranks wide, what should John's teacher do in light of these test results?
    1. Ignore the difference.
    2. Provide John with individual help in reading.
    3. Motivate John to read more extensively outside of school.
    4. Provide enrichment experiences for John in mathematics, his better performance area.

Standard 7: Recognizing unethical practices.

31. In some states testing companies are required to release items from prior versions of a test to anyone who requests them. Such requirements are known as:
    1. open-testing mandates
    2. gag rules.
    3. freedom-of-information acts.
    4. truth-in-testing laws.

32. Mrs. Brown wants to let her students know how they did on their test as quickly as possible. She tells her students that their scored tests will be on a chair outside of her room immediately after school. The students may come by and pick out their graded test from among the other tests for their class. What is wrong with Mrs. Brown's action?
    1. The students can see the other students' graded tests, making it violation of the students' right to privacy.
    2. The students have to wait until after school, so the action is unfair to students who have to leave immediately after school.
    3. Mrs. Brown will have to rush to get the tests graded by the end of the school day, hence, the action prevents her from using the test to identify students who need special help.
    4. The students who were absent will have an unfair advantage, because her action allows the possibility for these students to cheat.

33. A state uses its statewide testing program as a basis for distributing resources to school systems. To establish an equitable distribution plan, the criterion set by the State Board of Education provides additional resources to every school system with student achievement test scores above the state average. Which cliché best describes the likely outcome of this regulation?
    1. Every cloud has its silver lining.
    2. Into each life some rain must fall.
    3. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
    4. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

34. In a school where teacher evaluations are based in part on their students' scores on a standardized test, several teachers noted that one of their students did not reach some vocabulary items on a standardized test. Which teacher's actions is considered ethical?
    1. Mr. Jackson darkened circles on the answer sheet at random. He assumed Fred, who was not a good student, would just guess at the answers, so this would be a fair way to obtain Fred's score on the test.
    2. Mr. Hoover filled in the answer sheet the way he though Joan, who was not feeling well, would have answered based on Joan's typical in-class performance.
    3. Mr. Stover turned in the answer sheet as it was, even though he thought George, an average student, might have gotten a higher score had he finished the test.
    4. Mr. Lund read each question and darkened in the bubbles on the answer sheet that represented what he believed Felicia, a slightly below average student, would select as the correct answers.

35. Mrs. Overton was concerned that her students would not do well on the State Assessment Program to be administered in the Spring. She got a copy of the standardized test form that was going to be used. She did each of the following activities to help increase scores. Which activity was unethical?
    1. Instructed students in strategies on taking multiple choice tests, including how to use answer sheets.
    2. Gave students the items from an alternate form of the test.
    3. Planned instruction to focus on the concepts covered in the test.
    4. None of these actions are unethical.