SOCIAL SCIENCE - ACHIEVEMENT TEST

ACHIEVEMENT TEST

INTRODUCTION

 An achievement test is designed to evaluate a unit during the teaching-learning process. It has a great significance in all types of instructional progress of the individual. It focuses upon an examinees attainments at a given point in time. A class room teacher depends upon the achievement tests for measuring the progress of his students in his subject area. It is very important that several educational and vocational decisions about students are taken on their performance in the achievement tests.

DEFINITION

Many of the educators has defined an achievement test in several ways. According to Thorndike and Hegan “The type of ability test that describes what a person has learned to do is called an Achievement Test”.

 Gronlund  observes an achievement test as “a systematic procedure for determining  the amount a  student has learned  through instructions”.

In the words of Wiersma and Jurs an achievement “is a measure of knowledge and skills in a content area”

PURPOSE OF ACHIEVEMENT TESTS:

Achievement tests are universally used  mainly for the following purposes :

1. To measure whether students possess the pre-requisite skills needed to succeed in any unit or whether the students have achieved the objectives of the planned instruction.

2. To monitor students' learning and to provide ongoing feedback to both students and teachers during the teaching-learning process.

3. To identify the students' learning difficulties whether persistent or recurring.

4. .To assign grades.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD ACHIEVEMENT TEST

1. A good achievement test is tried out and selected on the basis of its difficulty level and power of determining.

2.  It should have a description of measured  behaviour.

3.  It should contain sufficient number of test items for each   measured behaviour.

4. It should be divided into different knowledge and skills according to behaviours to be measured.

5. It should be standardized for different users.

6. It carries with a test manual for its administering and scoring.

7. It provides equivalent and comparable forms of the test.

 USUES OF ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

1. It helps to get a better understanding of the needs an abilities of the pupils.

2. It helps to discover the type of learning experiences that will     achieve the objectives with best possible results.

3. It helps to evaluate the extent to which the objectives of     education are being achieved

4. To evaluate, to revise and to improve the curriculum in the  light of these results.

5. The teacher will able to discover backward children and providing proper remedial instruction for their betterment.

6. The teacher will able to determine and diagnose the weakness      of the students in various subjects.

 7. It helps the parents in recognizing the strength and weakness      of their children.

 8. By studying the results of Achievement test the teacher will      able to determine whether or not the students are working at      their  maximum capacity.

 9. It helps to determine the general level of achievement of a      class and thus to judge the teaching efficiency of the teacher.

CONSTRUCTION OF ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

There are  several steps involved in the construction of Achievement Tests. 

Instructional Objectives

The first and the most important step in planning a test is to identify the instructional objectives. Each subject has a different set of instructional objectives. In the subjects of Science, Social Sciences, and Mathematics the major objectives are categorized as knowledge, understanding, application and skill, while in languages the major objectives are categorised as knowledge, comprehension and expression.

Design

The second step in planning a test is to make the "Design". The Design specifies weightages to different (a) instructional objectives, (b) types (or forms) of questions, (c) units and sub-units of the course content, (d) levels of difficulty. It also indicates as to whether there are any options in the question paper, and if so, what their nature is. The design, in fact, is termed as an instrument which reflects major policy decisions of the examining agency, whether it is a Board or an individual. 

Blueprint

The third step is to prepare the "Blueprint". The policy decisions, as reflected in the design of  the question paper, are translated into action through the Blueprint. “A blue print is a three-dimensional chart, showing distribution of questions reflecting numerical weightages in terms of emphasis to be given to different units, instructional objectives and forms of questions”. The three dimensions of the blueprint consist of content areas in horizontal rows and objectives and forms of questions in vertical columns. Once the blueprint is prepared, the paper setter can select  the items and prepare the question paper. It is at this stage that the paper setter decides as to how many question are to be set for different objectives.

Writing of Questions

The forth step after the finalization of the blueprint is writing appropriate questions in accordance with the broad parameters set out in the blueprint.  The basic criteria of good question paper are validity, reliability and usability or practicability. 

Validity refers to the relevance of testing or ‘to the extent to which a test measures what it intends to measure’. Reliability means ‘how accurately and consistently it measures the achievement from time to time, whatever it measures. A question paper is Usable or Practicable   if it is easy to construct, administer, score and interpret.

There are mainly three kinds of questions - essay, short answer and objective type. Each question should be made appropriately for meeting the required instructional objectives and skills.

Short Answer Questions: 

The short answer type generally require exact answers and  usually take less than five minutes to read and answer, many (very short answer) take less than a minute.

Objective Type Question:

An objective question is one which is free from any subjective   bias - either from the tester or the marker. Objective questions can take various forms such as Simple recall, Multiple choice, True or false, Matching block, etc.., but invariably they require brief answers with little or no writing. There can only be one right or objective answer to an objective question.  A simple tick or a quick oral answer may be enough.

Extended  Type Question:

The extended   type answer  includes questions which require pupils to write a brief  description, draw a map, make a list, perform a calculation, translate a sentence and so on. 

Marking Scheme

The fifth step is to prepare the "Marking Scheme". The marking scheme helps prevent inconsistency in judgment. In the marking scheme, possible responses to items in the test are structured. The various value points for responses are determined and the marks allowed to each value points are indicated. The marking scheme ensures objectivity in judgment and eliminates differences in score which may be due to inconsistency  of the evaluator. The marking scheme, of course, includes the scoring key, which is prepared in respect of objective type questions.

I

mportance of Marking Scheme

The factors contributing to variations in the standards of assessment can be controlled by supplying a detailed scheme of marking along with the expected answers so that every examiner may interpret the questions in the same way and attain the same standard of marking without being too lenient or strict or varying in his assessment. Subjectivity, is thus minimised and it is believed to give a more reliable picture of  the students' performance.

Question-wise Analysis

The sixth  step is that of question-wise analysis. After preparing adequate number of questions, it is better to have a final look upon the questions or a  question-wise review with reference to the blueprint. If there is any discrepancy, the question can be modified or make changes to fit with the blueprint. Such an exercise helps the paper setter to ensure that there is no imbalance in the question paper.