The University of the South Pacific

Serving the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

ED354: ASSESSING & MEASURING STUDENT

PERFORMANCE
FINAL EXAMINATION – SEMESTER 1, 2015
(BLENDED)

Time Allowed 3 hours plus 10 minutes reading

50 marks

INSTRUCTIONS

1. This examination has FOUR sections. All sections are compulsory.

a. Section A: 10 marks
b. Section B: 6 marks
c. Section C: 10 marks
d. Section D: 24 marks
2. You must answer ALL the questions in sections A, B & C. Note the choice given in
section D.
3. Write your answers in the Answer Booklet provided.
4. You may use a calculator.
5. This examination is worth 50% of your overall mark. The minimum examination pass
mark is 20/40.

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SECTION A MULTIPLE CHOICE (10 marks)
Answer ALL questions in this section. Each question is worth one mark. Write the letter which
represents the best answer beside each question number in the answer booklet, for example, 1 –
D.

1. What type of assessment is most suitable for selecting the best players for the school
Rugby 7s team?
A. Diagnostic assessment.
B. Norm-referenced assessment.
C. Summative assessment.
D. Formative assessment.
2. Which assessment method is high in realism?
A. Extended performance.
B. Supply response.
C. Select response.
D. Restricted response.
3. Which one of the following levels in the revised Bloom’s taxonomy of objectives deals
with breaking materials into parts and making sense of how parts relate?
A. Create.
B. Analyze.
C. Evaluate.
D. Apply.

4. Which one of the following could be regarded as metacognitive knowledge?

A. Self-knowledge.
B. Factual knowledge.
C. Conceptual knowledge.
D. Procedural knowledge.
5. Which method of reliability requires two or more tests to be designed to measure the
same abilities?
A. Stability reliability.
B. Internal-consistency reliability.
C. Equivalent-forms reliability.
D. Spearman-Brown reliability.
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6. Which type of assessment best describes tasks set in contexts similar to those in the real
world?
A. Achievement assessment.
B. Mastery assessment.
C. Performance assessment.
D. Standardized assessment.

7. The extent to which inferences made from tests results are meaningful is a concern
related to
A. reliability.
B. validity.
C. table of specifications.
D. Bloom’s taxonomy of objectives (revised version).

8. Which one of the following could be used as a convenient method for accumulating
evidence of student performance?

A. Portfolio assessment.

B. Performance assessment.

C. Process assessment.

D. Product assessment.

9. Which one of the following refers to the percentage of individuals scoring at or below a
given score?

A. Percentage correct score.

B. Percentile band.

C. Percentile rank.

D. Percentage pass.

10. Which one of the following is a derived score?

A. Raw score.

B. Holistic score.

C. Z-score.

D. Normal score.
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SECTION B: TRUE-FALSE (6 marks)

Read each statement and record as true (T) or false (F) in your answer booklet. Each question is
of equal value, and you must answer all the questions.

1. The selection of portfolio entries is decided solely by the teacher-in-charge.

2. It would be inappropriate to include test scores from written tests as an indication of

cognitive mastery in a student’s portfolio.

3. In a normal distribution, a z-score of zero means raw mark is same as the mean mark.

4. Portfolio entries should only include the work students completed at the end of an
instructional program.

5. A criterion-referenced test is designed to cover a wide range of content in a unit.

6. Summative testing is used primarily for grading students.

7. Rating scales or scoring rubrics are used when judging performance on a task.

8. Both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced interpretation may be used with the same
assessment.

9. True-false item is also called an alternative-response item.

10. A high reliability indicates greater freedom from error.

11. Extended-response essay questions can be scored by using a model answer.

12. Short answer item is an example of select-response type item.

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SECTION C: UNDERSTANDING BASIC STATISTICS (10 marks)

Your school principal provides you with external examination percentage scores for three
subjects. Using the data, answer all the questions given below.

Student name English Mathematics Science

001 65 48 57
002 45 35 76
003 57 67 34
004 38 50 43
005 73 90 52
006 89 45 29
007 91 87 45
008 54 78 56
009 47 78 73
010 48 45 34
011 77 67 54
012 80 78 67
013 63 53 45
014 91 90 80
015 79 76 51
016 35 47 37
017 45 54 49
018 90 87 79
019 72 68 69
020 83 80 84

(i) Your school principal claims that students who perform poorly in English have lower
scores on other two subjects as well. Using an appropriate statistic, explain whether the
school principal’s claim is reasonable or not? (6 marks)

(ii) Find the Z-score of student number 018 in each subject and comment on the student’s
performance. (2 marks)

(iii) Find the median mark for English and explain what it means. (2 marks)

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SECTION D: ESSAYS (24 MARKS)

There are four questions in this section. You need to answer ANY THREE questions. Each essay
should not be more than 800 words.

Question one (8 marks)

Klenowski (2002) identifies three important processes in portfolio assessment: self-evaluation,

substantive conversation, and, reflective thinking and practice. Explain each of these processes.

Question two (8 marks)

Outline and discuss four important steps to consider in the process of successful test
development, prior to item writing.

Question three (8 marks)

Use an example to explain the following two approaches to validity:

 Criterion-related
 Construct-related

Question four (8 marks)

Discuss the possible sources of error in the following forms of reliability testing:

 Test-retest reliability
 Parallel forms reliability
 Internal consistency reliability.

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