Achievement Tests

Definitions:
• Popham(1981): The achievement test focuses upon an examinee’s
attainments at a given point of time.
• Gronlund(1977): “a systematic procedure for determining the amount a
student has learned through instruction.
Characteristics of a good achievement tests:
• Gronlund and Linn (1990) identified the following:
1. The test items should be selected on the basis of the difficulty level.
2. It should have a clear instruction on administering and scoring.
3. It should be according to the age group level.
4. Suficient test items for each measured behavior.
 Practical use of achievement tests

1. Administrators use.
2. Teachers use.
 Admistrators use

• To evaluate the extent to which the objectives of education are being achieved.
• Tests help to classify school objectives.
• Discover backward children who need help and to plan remidial
instructions.
• To understand better the needs an abilities of students.
• To determine efficiency of the school, teachers.
 Teachers use
• Know the abilities and need of students and help to choose appropriate
materials of teaching for improvement in students learning.

• Daignose difficulty and weakness for the students.

• Identify students maximum capacity and identify which students put
maximum effort.
• Help in determine the progress of each students.
 Planing of achievement tests

Shipman’s book School evaluation (1979) suggest the

following:
• Stating the objectives in such a way that it would enable their
achievements to be verified
• Spelling of the actions that are necessary for the treatment of
objectives
• Spelling out the criteria by which the attainment of objective is to be
assessed
• Spellingg our personal whose judgements are involved in
each component of the plan
• Stating the arrangement for any standardization procedure
that the forms of reports and records which are to be
maintained.
 General principles to be observed in test
• the tests encourage creative and self reliant work and discourage mere
mechanical memory work
• The pupil to put forth his best efforts that they should convincingly review
to the pupil his deficiencies and information to improve them.
• the Test will reliably grade the pupils into a list 6 to 10 different
classification according to their ability test will be a subjective as
practicable.
 Use of achievement Tests
• They help in the assignment of grades or in any other assessment to
achieve competence
• They possess adequacy of content coverage and reduction of the operation
of a relevant and trans factors in marking procedure.
• The test may be used as aids in the formulation and evaluation of
educational goals
• it is used in recruitment selection and promotion of various personnel in
army civil services private forms and administration.
• The test provide an appraisal for the Teachers work.
 Functions of achievement tests
• Measuring efficiency of Teacher’s
• Motivating students to study and work hard
• Helping in the assessment of all round ability of the child
• Measuring knowledge and achievement of students.
 General versus diagnostic achievement
test

in general achievement test the performance has been evaluated in terms of a

single score and so the test does not Discover specific errors weaknesses Etc
.
A Diagnostic test is one which is intended to discover specific deficiencies
in learning and teaching
 Standardise versus teacher made test

• The standardized test is based on general content and objectives common

to many schools all over the country whereas
• the teachers own test can be adapted to content and objectives specific to
his own situation
Thank you