Large Scale-Student Assessment (LSA)

 Administering tests to huge numbers of examinees at the same time. The test are later on
processed, analyzed and reported by an organizational infrastructure. The process is repeated over
and over for the purpose of monitoring student progress.

LSA and CBA

 Both are designed and used for norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessment.
o In CBA, students are ranked and compared; in LSA, schools are ranked and compared.
o Both are similarly interested in knowing to what extent students have mastered the expected
body of knowledge and competencies being assessed.
 Content of LSA and CBA are both aligned to the curriculum and specific learning outcomes.
 Involvement of teachers in the preparation of assessment tools.
 Selected-response format are commonly used.
 More focused on the cognitive instructional outcomes.

Uses of LSA

 Some LSA programs make use of high-stake testing which defines a student’s entry or non-entry to
a desired advanced level
o British system of education
o Exams before graduation in secondary level
o National achievement test
o Admission to SUCs in Asia (UPCAT, PNUAT) requires entrance tests
o Admission to graduate programs in US requires qualifying exams
o Certification of second language proficiency (TOESL/FL, IELT)
 Monitoring and judging progress of student performance for evaluative purposes and research
o National examinations as barometer of how their students are performing along desired
competencies in different subject areas at different levels across time.(NSAT)
o Policies initiating standards-based reforms in education to improve student performance. US
policy “No Child Left Behind” is backed by LSA
o Standardized examinations to monitor changes in educational achievement in basic schools
over time.
 Standardized tests have been developed for screening and diagnostic purposes.

Development of Large – Scale Student Assessment Test

Review of Classroom Test Development Process

 Planning the test

o Purpose of the test
o Learning outcomes
o Test blueprint – test format, number of items
 Item-construction
 Review and revision
o Judgmental Approach (before and after administration of test)
 By the teachers/peers to ensure the accuracy and alignment of test content to
learning outcomes
 By the students to ensure comprehensibility of items and test instructions
o Empirical Approach (after the administration of test)
 Obtain item statistics in the form of quality indices
Development process for LSA

Steps in Developing Tests

Key Steps Fundamental Questions to be Addressed

Step 1: Defining Objectives

Step 2: Item Development

Committees
 Step 3: Writing and Reviewing
Questions

Step 4: The Pretest

Step 5: Detecting and

Removing Unfair Questions

Step 6: Assembling the Test

Step 7: Making Sure that the

Test Questions are
Functioning Properly

Establishing Validity of Tests

 Validity: the degree to which a test measures what is intended to be measured. The classical model of
validity has the following types:
o Content validity: how the test covers a representative sample of the behavior domain to be
measured
o Criterion-related validity: dependent on the strength of correlation between the test scores and
another external measure or criterion of the behavior intended to be measured
o Construct validity: involves empirical examination of the psychological construct hypothetically
assumed to be measured by the test.
 In LSA the concept of validity has shifted to “the degree to which evidence and theory support the
interpretations of test scores entailed by proposed uses of tests.” The meaning of validity is placed on
test results. The modern model of validity focuses significantly on validating score interpretation through
the established evidences to support them. There are five categories of evidences supporting a score
interpretation:
o Evidence based on test content
o Evidence based on response processes
o Evidence based on internal structure
o Evidence based on relations to other variables
 o Evidence based on consequences of testing
 The type of validity that looks into the social impact of a test result on an individual, a group or a
school is referred to as consequential validity.

Estimating Reliability of Large-Scale Tests

 Reliability is related to the concept of error of measurement which indicates the degree of fluctuation
likely to occur in an individual score as a result of irrelevant, chance factors which Anastasi and
Urbina (1997) call error variance.
Types of Reliability

Expected Test
Type of Reliability Data Statistical Analysis
Consistency Administration
Test administered Correlate the two
twice to the same Two sets of scores sets of scores using
Test – Retest Across time group with a time from two Pearson Product
interval not to administrations Moment correlation
exceed 6 months (r)
Two forms of test Correlate the two
administered to a Two sets of scores sets of scores using
Parallel Form Across forms group at the same from coming from Pearson Product
time with a time two forms Moment correlation
interval (r)
Correlate the two
Test split into two One set of scores
sets of scores using
halves and both from odd-items and
Split – half Across items Pearson r and
administered to the aother set from
corrected applying
group even items
Spearman-Brown
Correlate the two
Test administered One set of scores
sets of scores using
to the group and from Rater A and
Inter – rater Across raters Pearson Product
scored by two another from Rater
Moment correlation
raters B
(r)
Item scores of all Apply Kuder-
Test administered
Item Consistency Across items individual in binary Richardson Formula
to the group
form, i.e. Pass/Fail 20