Information Sheet ASSESS 213-8

Selecting and constructing test items and tasks

Learning Objectives:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
1. Select and construct appropriate test items and tasks for classroom
assessment.

The previous chapter has familiarized you with the initial process in developing
classroom tests. True to all types of assessment tests, it always starts with a
planning phase that basically answers the question, “What do I test?” and
leads you to the preparation of a test blueprint or a table of specifications
which delineate the essential learning outcomes to be assessed following a
balanced distribution of items across the desired cognitive behaviors. The
present chapter now brings you to answer the second question, “How do I
test?” How do I operationalize assessment of the learning outcomes intended
for a period of study? It now introduces you to a useful menu of test types that
are appropriate to gauge the learning outcomes proposed by the curriculum
standards, how to select them and how to construct them.

CATEGORIZING TEST TYPES

Years of experience in school have introduced you to various types of

formal and informal tests, some you have preferred for one reason or another
and some you hope you would never encounter again! Let’s see how well you
remember them. The table below randomly lists several test types familiar to
you. With your group mates, see if you can create a tree chart or a concept
map that organizes these types according to a grouping system your group can
think of. Use TEST TYPES as your key concept. Try to provide labels for your
set categories if you want to. Be ready to post your tree chart on the wall and
be ready to explain your group output to the class.

Table 8.1 Menu of Test Types

Matching Extended-Essay Experimentation True and False

Performance Completion Work Sample Multiple-Choice Yes/No
tasks
Binary Choice Supply type Short Answer Restricted-Essay
Identification Enumeration Right/Wrong Paper-pencil task Drawing Test
Oral Questioning Selection type Simulation Project

Let the groups observed the various tree charts posted on the wall and
compare the outputs in terms of similarities and differences. Agreements can
be arrived at after a discussion of the grouping features used by the different
teams. Guide questions you can ask:
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  Who did you group the different test types?

 What categories did you set up?

 Are there other ways of categorizing the various test types?

 How will you modify your tree chart to accommodate the other test
formats?

Figure 8.1 illustrates a general tree chart for test types. If there are other
test types that do not appear here, they may be variants of one sub-type.

TEST TYPES

Selection Performance
Supply Type
Type Type

completion Short Essay- Essay- Paper Identif Simulated Work

Answer Restricted Extended - ication Performanc Sample
Penci e
l

Binary Multiple- Matching

Choice Chice

Figure 8.1 Tree Chart of Test Types

Answer the following questions as you focus on the tree chart:

1. What are considered the three general types of test format?

2. Study the sub-types under each general type. What is the distinguishing
feature of each group? What is expected of learners to do in each type?

Supply Selection PERFORMANCE TASKS

(Constructed-response) (Selected-response)

Completion Binary Choice Paper-pencil

Short Answer Multiple-Choice Identification

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 Essay-Restricted Matching Simulated Performance

Essay-Expanded Work Sample

3. What can differentiate Supply and Selection types from Performance

Type?

RELATING TEST TYPES WITH LEVELS OF LEARNING OUTCOMES

A review of curricular frameworks of educational systems across various

countries shows common integral domains that govern their content and
performance standards in different subject areas. Basic in all are Knowledge,
Skills and Processes, Understanding, Product, Affect (i.e. attitudes and values).
The assessment of these domains is realized by the appropriate selection and
alignment of test types and assessment tasks to their respective foci of
learning.

A. Measuring Knowledge and Simple Understanding

Knowledge, as it appears in cognitive taxonomies (Bloom, 1956;

Anderson & Krathwol, 2004) as the simplest and lowest level, is categorized
further into what thinking process is involved in learning. Knowledge involves
remembering or recalling specifics facts, symbols, details, elements of events
and principles to acquire new knowledge. The revision of Bloom’s taxonomy
(Anderson & Krathwol, 2004) recognizes how remembering can be viewed not
only as being able to recall but also as being necessary in learning
interrelationships among basic elements and in learning methods, strategies
and procedures. These two types of learning make up the early phase of
understanding requiring comprehension of “concepts, ideas and generalization”
known as declarative knowledge and application of skills and procedures
learned in new situations, referred to as procedural knowledge, They represent
how knowledge is represented in the minds of learners either as a learned
concept or as a learned way of doing things. Table 8.2 from McMillan (2007, p.
166) provides definitions of the levels of declarative and procedural knowledge
as simple understanding.

Table 8.2 Levels of Declarative and Procedural Knowledge

Level Declarative Procedural

Knowledge Remembers, restates, Remembers, restates,

defines, identifies, defines, identifies,
recognizes, names, recognizes, names,
reproduces, or selects reproduces, or selects

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 specific facts, concepts, correct procedure, steps,
principles, rules or skills or strategies.
theories

Simple Understanding: Converts, translates, Converts, translates,

distinguishes, explains, distinguishes, explains,
Comprehension
provides examples, provides examples,
summarizes, interprets, summarizes, interprets,
infers or predicts in own infers or predicts in own
words, essential words, correct
meanings of concepts procedure, steps, skills
and principles. and strategies

Simple understanding: Uses existing knowledge Uses existing knowledge

of concepts, principles, of correct procedures,
Application
and theories, in new steps, skills, or
situations, to solve strategies, in new
problems, interpret situation, to solve
information and problems, interpret
construct responses information, and
construct responses.

The examples below will differentiate declarative and procedural

knowledge as simple understanding involving comprehension and application.

Declarative Knowledge Procedural Knowledge

Is able to state the Law of supply and Is able to compute the area of a
demand. rectangle.

Comprehension Comprehension

Is able to explain the law of supply Is able to compare the size of two
and demand. given lots in terms of area.

Application: Application:

Is able to explain the rising prices of Is able to determine the number of 1 x

vegetables during summer time. 1 tiles needed to cover a 50 ft x 100ft
hall.

Nitko (2001) gives categories of these lower-order thinking skills and

some examples of generic questions for assessing them (see Table 8.3). The
generic questions can be useful in formatting completion or short answer items
to assess simple understanding.
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Table 8.3 Categories of Lower-order Thinking Skills and Sample Generic
Questions

Low-level Thinking Skills Examples of Generic Questions

Knowledge of terminologies What is a ?

Knowledge of specific facts When did happen?

Knowledge of conventions Where are usually found?

Knowledge of trends and sequences Name the stages in ?

Knowledge of classifications and Which does not belong

categories with the others?

Knowledge of criteria By what criterion will you use to judge

?

Knowledge of methods, principles, When increases, what

techniques happens to ?

Comprehension What do you mean by the expression

?

Simple interpretations What makes interesting?

Solving numerical problems Use the data above to find the .

Manipulating symbols equations Show that equals .

B. Measuring Deep Understanding

Beyond knowledge and simple understanding level comes deep

understanding which requires more complex thinking processes. McMillan
(2007) utilizes a Knowledge/Understanding continuum to illustrate the relative
degree of understanding from knowledge to simple understanding to deep
understanding. Table 8.4 shows how this continuum is harnessed in aligning
the cognitive levels to learning outcomes with sample behaviors for each level.
Knowledge and simple understanding involve the first three cognitive levels, i.e.
remembering, comprehending and applying, while deep understanding requires
the three higher cognitive levels, i.e. analyzing, evaluating and creating

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Table 8.4 Alignment of Learning Outcomes and Cognitive Levels

Knowledge Knowledge- Deep Understanding

Understanding
Continuum

Simple Understanding

Cognitive Levels/Levels of Learning Outcome

Level 1: Remembering Level 2: Level 4: Analyzing

Comprehending
 Recall  Organize
 Interpret
 Recognize  Distinguish
 Exemplify
 Name  Outline
 Classify
 Describing  Transform
 Compare
 Diagnose
 Explain
 Deconstruct
 Infer

Level 5: Evaluating
Level 3: Applying
 Critique
 Solve
 Assess
 Apply
 Defend
 Modify
 Justify
 Demonstrate
 Appraise
 Employ
 Measure
 Calculate

 Generate
Level 6: Creating

 Plan

 Generate

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  Produce

 Design

 Construct

 Compose

Table 8.5 illustrates the relationship between learning outcomes and test
types. It can be observed that test types can be made flexible and versatile to
test different levels of outcomes and not to be limited or exclusive to only one
cognitive level. The arrows suggest that supply or selection type can be used for
both lower-level as well as higher- level outcomes. Knowledge and simple
understanding can be handled by objective supply type – i.e. completion and
short answer items, and objective selection type – i.e. alternate choice, multiple
choice and matching.

Table 8.5 Alignment of Learning Outcomes to Test Types

Knowledge Knowledge- Deep Understanding

Understanding
Continuum
Simple Understanding

Cognitive Levels/Levels of Learning Outcome

Level 1: Remembering Level 2: Level 4: Analyzing
 Recall Comprehending  Organize
 Recognize  Interpret  Distinguish
 Name  Exemplify  Outline
 Describing  Classify  Transform
 Compare  Diagnose
 Explain  Deconstruct
 Infer
Level 5: Evaluating
Level 3: Applying  Critique
 Solve  Assess
 Apply  Defend
 Modify  Justify
 Demonstrate  Appraise
 Employ  Measure
 Calculate
 Generate Level 6: Creating
 Plan
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  Generate
 Produce
 Design
 Construct
 Compose

Supply Type Supply Type Supply Type

Completion Completion Essay-Restrictive
Short-Answer Short-Answer Essay Extended
Selection Type Selection Type Selection Type
Binary choice Binary choice Multiple-choice
Multiple-choice Multiple-choice Interpretive items
Matching-type Performance Tasks
Written
Work Sample
Simulation
Project

Note that deep understanding is assessed by the same category of item

format but using non-objective types – i.e. essay questions, both restricted and
extended, modified selected-response- i.e. multiple interpretive items, and
performance tasks. What indeed matters is the careful construction of the item
elements (i.e. item stimulus and item response) to appropriately elicit the
cognitive processes involved. An elicitation device like a question or a directive
for a supply type can be used to assess both low-level and high-level outcomes
in the same way that with the right construction of the stem and options for
selected-response types, both simple and complex forms of cognition can be
activated. Study the examples in the two boxes.

Box 8.1: Constructed-response Type (Short Answer Item & Extended

Essay)

Lower-Order: According to the article you just read, what factors contribute to
climate change?

(This is a short answer supply type for a simple comprehension question since
it is based on a specific reading material. Without citing the source for the
response, it could also be a simple recall question.)

Higher-Order: Write an article on how the government and the community can
work together to mitigate the factors causing environmental damage?

(This is likewise a supply type but since it requires a higher-order thinking at

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the “creating” level, it will call for an extended-essay item. Deeper
understanding is necessary to demonstrate this outcome as it involves
synthesis of previous information and observation derived from multiple
sources.)

Box 8.2: Selected-Response Type (Multiple-choice)

Lower-order: According to the article you just read, what contributes

powerfully to climate change?

A. Volcanic eruption

B. Population explosion

C. Forest denudation

D. Carbon emission

(The correct option is based on a specific material which calls for simple
comprehension.)

Higher-order: Which of the following factors which affect climate change can
be controlled by man?

A. Strong earthquake

B. Volcanic eruption

C. Melting of glaciers

D. Carbon dioxide emission

(Selection of the correct option requires analysis of the alternatives given. First,
it calls the identifying those factors affecting climate change and later analyzing
whether man can control it or not. Just being able to do one skill will not be
adequate to select the correct option.)

Miller, Linn & Gronlund (2009) presents categories of thought questions

for deep understanding and sample item stems in Table 8.6. These sample
stems can be used in constructing test types, i.e. both supply and selection
type that can elicit complex thinking skills.

Table 8.6 Complex Thinking Skills

Types of Thought Questions Sample Item Stems

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Comparing Describe the similarities and differences
between…

Compare the following two methods for…

Relating cause and effect What are major causes of…?

What would be the most likely effects of…?

Justifying Which of the following alternatives would you

favor, and why?

Explain why you agree or disagree with the

following statement.

Summarizing State the main points included in…

Briefly summarize the contents of…

Generalizing Formulate several generalizations from the

following data…

State a set of principles that can explain the

following events;

Inferring In light of the facts presented, what is most

likely to happen when…

How would Senator X be likely to react to the

following issue?

Explaining Why did the candle go out shortly after it was

covered by the jar?

Explain what the President meant when he

said, “The bucks stops with me.”

Persuading Write a letter to the principal to get approval

for a class field trip to the state capital.

Why the student newspaper should be allowed

to decide what should be printed without prior
approval from teachers?

Classifying Group the following items according to…

What do the following items have in common?

Creating List as many ways as you can think of for…

Make up a story describing what would

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 happen if…

Applying a principle Using the principle of… as guide, describe

how you would solve the following problem
situation.

Describe a situation that illustrates the

principles of …

What test types are commonly used for these types of thought questions
displaying deep understanding? They lend themselves appropriately to essay
types, either restricted or extended, which require students to engage in
various higher-order thinking processes.

Performance tasks as in the case of “letter writing,” “producing a plan,”

and “story writing” likewise assess high-level learning outcomes involving
complex thought processes, e.g. analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Angelo &
Cross (1993) have extensively designed classroom assessment tasks (CATs) for
college level that are performance-based type in nature. Some examples given
in Table 8.7 were taken from their inventory.

Table 8.7 Examples of Performance Assessment Tasks for Advanced Level

Thinking Skill Performance Task

Analyze 1. Analytic memos – writing a one or two page

analysis of a specific problem or issue

2. Pros and Cons Grid – making a list of pros

and cons of a decision made

3. Content, Form, and Function Outline –

Analyzing the what, how and why of the
particular message of an advertisement, or
commercial

Evaluate 1. Muddiest Point – identifying what students

find least clear in a lesson, story,
demonstration

2. Misconception Check – assessing students’

prior beliefs that can hinder learning

3. Empty Outline – reading and organizing the

important points of a lecture or reading

Create 1. Application Cards – designing an application

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 of a learned scientific principle or procedure
in real world

2. Directed Paraphrasing – translating what has

been learned in one’s own words or form for a
specific audience

3. Paper or Project Prospectus – writing a first

structure draft of a paper or project.

CONSTRUCTING OBJECTIVE SUPPLY TYPE OF ITEMS

The item types falling under Supply type require the learners to
construct a response to a question or directive. The sub-types however, differ in
terms of the structure of the response needed to answer the item:

1. Completion Type

Table 8.8 illustrates the usual item structure for Completion Type. An
item structure consists of a stimulus which defines the question or problem,
and a response which defines what is to be provided or constructed by the
learner. For a completion item, an incomplete statement with a blank is often
used as stimulus and the response is a constructed word, symbol, numeral or
phrase to complete the statement.

Table 8.8 COMPLETION TYPE Item Structure

Stimulus Response

Incomplete statement Single word or two,

with a blank(s) numeral, symbol or
phrase

Illustrative Items Expected response

a. A four-sided quadrilateral
polygon is called a
______
Spanish
b. The novel, Noli Me
Tangere, was
written by Dr. Jose
Rizal during the
______ colonial
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 period

c. A book trader sells 45

books 30% more
than what he pays
for them. For a
book sold for
150php, his profit
is _______ pesos.

Sometimes instead of a set independent incomplete statements as the

stimulus, a discourse with gaps is used to make it more communicative. Gap-
Filling is another term for this variant as the student fills several gaps in a
discourse depending on the target outcome. Language teachers often utilize
this form for integrative testing where more than one type of skill (e.g.
vocabulary and comprehension skills) are needed to fill in the gaps.

ILO: Provide synonyms for target words in a paragraph.

Directions: Give a word that has the same meaning as the word inside the
parenthesis.

More than a few people may confuse fine dining with (costly) dining in
restaurants. Well-trained (cooks) at the top of their profession can
make their good (name) in these places. Who the cooks bring
(honor) to these restaurants.

Experts in test development agree on some helpful guidelines in the

construction of Completion Items (Kubiszyn and Borich, 2010; McMillan, 2007;
Nitko, 2001; Popham, 2011)

a. There should only be one correct response to complete a statement.

This contributes to efficiency in scoring since a key to correction can
easily be prepared in advance when there is only one expected response.
Proper wording of the incomplete statement must be carefully done to
avoid having more than one correct answer. Exception to this rule is if
you are testing for verbal creativity where giving diverse but acceptable
responses is desirable. This however, should be explicitly mentioned in
the test instructions. For instance, the more synonyms students can give
to the word costly like expensive, exorbitant, and pricey the more points
they can earn. Objective scoring will likely have to be modified here.
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 In Sample A of Table 8.8, if the target concept is quadrilateral then its
wording is all right. However, if the target concept is square, the way it is
worded maybe open to more than one acceptable answers. Quadrilateral,
rectangle and parallelogram can also be considered correct. To improve the
stem, it can be worded this way to eliminate the other terms.

A quadrilateral with four equal sides is called .

b. The blank should be placed at the end or towards the end of the
incomplete statement. This will provide the reader appropriate and
adequate context before s/he gets to answer the blank and consequently
avoids being perplexed. In Sample B, if the blank is placed at the
beginning like:

During the period, Dr. Jose Rizal wrote the novel, Noli Me
Tangere.

It can possibly call for diverse and ambiguous answers like troubled,
colonial, or earlier, without reading the rest of the statement.

c. Avoid providing unintended clues to the correct answer. The validity

of a student’s score is jeopardized when s/he answers correctly an item
without really knowing what the correct response is. His/Her score may
represent a different kind of ability apart from what is intended to be
measured. This happens when a student who doesn’t know the answer
would find one by using unintended grammatical clues e.g. presence of
indefinite articles a or an before the blank to suggest a response that
starts with a vowe

2. Short Answer Items

Instead of supplying words to complete statements, relatively short

answers are constructed as direct answers to questions. See Table 8.9 for the
item structure. The sample items are the same statements in Table 8.8 which
have been transformed into interrogative form. Being able to do this illustrates
the fact that both test types can be used to test the same learning outcomes
requiring the same cognitive processes.

Table 8.9 Short Answer Item Structure

Stimulus Response

An interrogative Short phrases or

statement statement

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(direct question)

Illustrative Items Expected response

a. What is a four- Quadrilateral

sided polygon
called?

Spanish
b. During what
period was Noli Me
Tangere written by
Dr. Jose Rizal?

c. How much does a 45

book trader gain
for a book he sells
for P150 if he gets
30% more than
what he pays for
it?

Similar to completion type, the short answer items can assess learners’
declarative and procedural knowledge that require such thinking processes as
remembering, comprehending, and applying. Writing short-answer items
similarly follow the guidelines in writing completion items. Here are those given
by McMillan (2007, pp.170-171) and they are quite self-explanatory.

1. State the item so that only one answer is correct.

2. State the item so that the required answer is brief. Requiring a long
response would not be necessary and it can limit the number of items
students can answer within the allotted period of time.

3. Do not use questions verbatim from textbooks and other instructional

materials. This will give undue disadvantage to students not familiar
with the materials since it can become a memory test instead of
comprehension.

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 4. Designate units required for the answer, this frequently occurs when the
constructed response requires a definite unit to be considered correct.
Without designating the unit, a response may be rendered wrong
because of differing mind-set.

Example:

Poor: How much does the food caterer charge?

This could be answered in different ways like cost per head, per
dish, per plate, or as a full package.

Improve: How much does the food caterer charge per head?

5. State the item succinctly with words students understand. This is true
for all types of tests. Validity of classroom-based test is at risk when
students cannot answer correctly, not because they do not know, but
could be due to the messy wording of the question.

Poor: As viewed by creatures from the earth, when does the blood
moon appear in the evening?

Improved: when does a blood moon appear?

The two supply types, completion and short answer items, share
common points:

 Appropriate for assessing learning outcomes involving knowledge

and simple understanding,

 Capable of assessing both declarative and procedural knowledge.

 Both are easy and simple to construct.

 Both are objectively scored since a key to correction can be

prepared in advance.

 Both need ample number of items to assess a learning outcome. A

single completion or short-answer item is not sufficient to test
mastery of a competency.

CONSTRUCTING NON-OBJECTIVE SUPPLY TYPE

Essay Type

Essay Type likewise belongs to the Supply category for the simple reason
that the required response is to be fully constructed by the students. However,
unlike the completion and short-answer items which are highly structured to
allow the students to organize freely their responses using their own writing
style to answer the question. This format therefore is appropriate for testing

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deep understanding and reasoning. Some of the thinking processes to
satisfactorily answer essay questions involve comparison, induction, deduction,
abstracting, analyzing perspectives, decision-making, problem-solving,
constructing support and experimental inquiry (Marzano, et al (1993). They
actually involve higher-order thinking skills.

There are two variations of essay items: restricted-response and

extended-response. Table 8.10 approximates a structure for these two types of
essay items. The same stimulus structure can be used for both types as well as
the expected forms of response. Sample items are provided to illustrate the
variations.

Table 8.10 Essay Item Structure

Stimulus Response

a. Incomplete statement Single word or two,

with a blank(s) numeral, symbol or
phrase

b. A directive
(instructions) Set of related
statements, discourse or
paragraph

Types of Essay Items

A. Restricted-response Type – The question or directive given suggests a

specification in constructing the response. It can be in terms of limited
coverage of content, specified length of response, expected form of
response, or definite perspective or mind-set to be used.

Illustrative Items Description of

Expected Response
1. (Restricted content)

What is a famous tourism

spot in the island of Luzon Tourism spot to be
and why is it popular? described should be one
found in Luzon. Outside
of Luzon will not be
considered.

2. (Restricted content) Length of discourse

should not exceed half
On a half sheet of paper,
sheet of a writing pad.
describe the benefits that
could be derived from

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Samahang Kabataan as an
organization.

3. (Restricted content) Response should be

organized in a two-tier
Prepare a 2-tier outline of
outline form.
an advocacy plan for
community involvement in
waste reduction and
disposal.

4. (Restricted content) Response is acceptable

when the explanation
Describe the origin of man
adheres to the theory of
according to the theory of
evolution. Explanations
evolution
based on other theories
will not be considered.

B. Extended-response Type – The question or directive does not suggest

any form of restriction in the construction of the response. The students
are free to organize and expound on their ideas freely.

Sample items Description of

Expected Response

1. Explain how the Student is free to focus

prevailing socio- on any socio-economic
economic issues issue and choose which
affect the lives of the aspect of the people’s
people in our country lives he wants to
today. describe.

2. What evidence of Students vary in their

climate change do choice of evidence and in
you now observe and their approach to
what ways can man address them.
mitigate their
negative effects?

3. Are you in favor of Students clearly express

constitutional change their arguments in
to institute political support of the side they
reforms? Support take.
your answer

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 Suggestions for constructing essay questions are given by Miller, Linn &
Gronlund (2009, p.243):

1. Restrict the use of essay questions to those learning outcomes that

cannot be measured satisfactorily by objective items.

Objective items cannot measure such important skills as ability to

organize, integrate, and synthesize ideas showing one’s creativity in writing
style. Use of essay format encourages and challenges students to indulge in
higher-order thinking skills instead of simply rote memorization of facts and of
remembering inconsequential details.

2. Construct questions that will call forth the skills specified in the
learning standards.

A review of learning standards in school curricula which show that

they range from knowledge to deep understanding. The performance standards
require the learners to demonstrate application of principles, analysis of
experimental findings, evaluation of results and creation of new knowledge and
these are explicitly stated in terms of the expected outcomes at every grade
level. Teachers are expected to make it part of direct instruction to teach them
how to develop these competencies. Students cannot instantly learning
techniques, they should be taught how to make these thinking skills visible.
The essay questions to be constructed then should make the students model
how they are to perform the thinking processes.

3. Phrase the question so that the student’s task is clearly defined.

Restricted-response type of essay questions especially states the
specific task to be done in writing. As much as possible, the students
should interpret the question in the same way according to what the
teacher expects through the specifications in the question. For instance,
if the teacher aims at testing students’ ability to apply learned properties
of a substance for a specific purpose, the question could be stated
“Explain the property of copper that makes it good for making cooking
pans” instead of simply “Why is copper a good material?”

4. Indicate an approximate time limit for each question.

This should be especially considered when the test is a

combination of objective and non-objective format like inclusion of essay
questions. Knowing how much time is allotted to each one will make the
students budget their time so they do not spend their time on the first question
and consequently missing out on the others.

5. Avoid the use of optional questions.

Some teachers have the practice of allowing the students to select

one or two essay questions from a set of five questions. Some disadvantages of
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 this practice may include: not being able to use the same basis for reporting
test results, or students being able to prepare through memorization for those
they will likely choose.

Essay, among the test types, is quite frequently used because of the
seeming ease in its construction, but the least preferred when it comes to
scoring. Its reliability is challenged since its subjective scoring may be affected
by such irrelevant factors as corrector’s mood and biases, student’s
penmanship, length of response and even time of day for scoring. The use of a
scoring guide called rubrics, can significantly reduce subjectivity and more or
less help in “objectifying” scoring of a non-objective type of item.

Basic in the preparation of rubrics is the selection of relevant scoring

criteria to be used in evaluating the written output. Very often used to evaluate
essays are clarity of message, organization, depth of understanding, creativity
of ideas, grammatical accuracy, etc. If the relevant criteria are singled out and
focused separately to show the learner’s profile across these different
dimensions or attributes, analytic scoring is applied. A 5-point or a 6-point
rating scale is prepared for each attribute and a student’s output is judged
using an aggregate score. Table 8.11 illustrates this analytical scoring
structure. This type is useful when giving feedback to the learners as it enables
them to realize their strong and weak points especially when they are made
aware of the scoring criteria.

Table 8.11 Analytic Scoring

Criterion Exemplary Very Satisfactory Moderately Fairly Needs

Satisfactory Satisfactory Satisfactory Improvement
(6pts) (4pts)
(5pts) (3pts) (2pts) (1pt)

Organization

Clarity of
Message

Creativity

Total

Over Rating

For judging a specific writing genre like an argument, the rubric shown
in Table 8.12 can be adapted for analytical scoring.

Table 8.12 Rubric for Analytic Scoring

Criterion Exemplary Very Satisfactory Moderately Fairly Needs

Satisfactory Satisfactory Satisfactory Improvement
(6pts) (4pts)

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 (5pts) (3pts) (2pts) (1pt)

Facts and
opinions
clearly
distinguished

Credibility of
Source

Relevance of
materials used

Use of logic

Total

Overall Rating

When the attributes are considered together to arrive at an overall

judgment or impression, holistic scoring is in use. For ease of scoring, teachers
often use a set of labels like excellent, good, adequate, promising, weak,
inadequate or the traditional A,B,C,D, or F marks, however, this practice
neither provides the teachers with guidance for scoring nor the students for
understanding their score (Miller, Linn & Gronlund, 2009). What is suggested
is to have descriptions of the labels as in the example below:

Task: Design a plan for an experiment showing the effect of amount of water
on plant growth.

Scoring Criterion: Completeness of Plan

Rubric:

Label Description

Outstanding All parts of the plan especially the procedure are

concisely and very satisfactorily described.

Very Good All parts are given and satisfactorily described.

Good All parts are given but with minimal description.

Fair All parts are given but without description.

Needs Improvement Parts are incomplete and without description.

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 There are suggestions also given by Miller, Linn & Gronlund (2009,
p.254) to improve the reliability of scoring responses to essay questions:

1. Prepare an outline of the expected answer in advance. Particularly for

restricted-response types which define specifically the task, having a list
of the expected responses, e.g. three principles or two theories to explain
a phenomenon, will be very useful to the teacher.

2. Use the scoring rubric that is most appropriate. The nature of the
essay question and what is assessed should identify the type of scoring
rubric that should be used. Quite significant too, is the kind of
information that will be communicated by the teacher to the students.

3. Decide how to handle factors that are irrelevant to the learning

outcomes being measured. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, scoring
of essay could be influenced by irrelevant factors like spelling or
handwriting. Teachers should decide in advance whether these factors
are to be ignored or not.

4. Evaluate all responses to one question before going on to the next

one. Very likely, scoring of the subsequent question could be influenced
by the student’s response to the preceding item. Consistency in scoring
is better attained when inter-comparison of responses of the members of
the class to the same item is done.

5. When possible, evaluate the answers without looking at the

student’s name. An acceptable practice in testing is making students
use a separate sheet for their response to the essay questions and make
them write their names at the back of the answer sheet. Sometimes
teachers could be influenced by who the student is and some form of
bias could happen in favor of better or popular students.

6. If especially important decisions are to be based on the results,

obtain two or more independent ratings. To do away with scorer’s
bias, scoring could be reliably carried out by two independent raters and
the final score being the average of the two ratings.

CONSTRUCTING SELECTED-RESPONSE TYPES

While supply formats require learners to construct their responses to

questions or directives, selected-response types entail choosing the nearly best
or most correct option to answer a problem. The greatest challenge for this item
format is the construction of plausible options or distracters so not one stands
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out as attractively correct. There are three sub-types of the selected-response
format depending on the number of given options:

a. Alternate form or binary choice provides only two options,

b. Multiple-choice type offers 3 to 5 options or solutions to a problem, and

c. Matching type gives a set of problems or premises and a set of options

which will be appropriately paired.

1. Binary Choice or Alternate Form

Table 8.13 shows the variety of structure using the alternate form as
suggested by Nitko (2001, p.136).

Table 8.13 Varieties of Binary Choice

Variety Stimulus Sample/Suggested

response Format

True – False Statement or proposition The planets of the Solar

System revolves around
the sun. T F

Yes – No Direct question Do the planets of the

Solar System revolve
around the sun? Y N

Right – Wrong A computation, an equation, Factors of 18 are 2,3,6,9.

or statement RW

Correction Proposition which will be The biggest planet in the

corrected if incorrect Solar System is the
Earth. R W
Correction: Jupiter

Multiple true-false A multiple-choice stem is Ebola virus is easily

given with statements to be transmitted because:
judged as true or false
1. It is air-borne. T F

2. It is transmitted
through body
liquids. T F

3. Both children and

adults can be
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 affected. T F
Yes-No with Direct questions that requires 1. Are weather
explanation explanation for a negative systems
response. independent of
each other? Y N

(If student replies a NO,

he/she explains the
answer)
Except for Yes-No type which uses direct questions, all other varieties of
binary-choice or alternate choice of items have propositions as the item
stimulus. According to what the students have learned, the veracity of such
propositional statements is judged by the students indicating whether they are
true or false, correct or incorrect or whether they agree or disagree with the
thought or idea expressed. Requiring the students to modify or qualify their
responses particularly for statements judged to be false or incorrect more or
less challenges the reasoning ability of the learners and raises the level of
outcome that can be assessed.

Ease in the construction of binary-choice items makes this a popular

choice when constructing items especially for knowledge level outcomes. The
propositions are mostly content-based in nature so teachers can easily referee
the correctness of the items. Sometimes the difficulty lies not only in writing
the propositions but also in preparing the key to correction! There are
suggestions given to construct good binary choice items (McMillan, 2007,
Musial, et al., 2009) in order to avoid guessing:

1. Write the item so that the Poor:

answer options are consistent
Four and 6 are factors of 24. Yes No
with the logic in the sentence.
Good:
(Align your options with the logic of
your proposition, e.g. if after truth or Four and 6 are factors of 24. Correct
falsehood, better not use yes-no or Incorrect
agree/disagree options).

2. Focus on a single fact or idea in Poor:

the item
T F Right to suffrage is given to
(Adding more than one idea in the citizens in a democratic country in
statement can make the item order to enjoy economic gains.
ambiguous. One idea may be correct
Good:
and the other one, incorrect)
T F Citizens in a democratic society
have the right of suffrage

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 3. Avoid long sentences Poor:

(Unnecessarily long and wordy T F Criterion-referenced tests are

statements obscure the significant interpreted based on a standard that
idea) determines whether students have
reached an acceptable level or not.

Good:

T F standards are used to interpret

criterion-referenced tests.

4. Avoid insignificant or trivial Poor:

facts or words.
T F Legumes, beans and nuts should
(Students commit errors not because be avoided by people who are suffering
they do not know but due to from gout whether inherited or not
unnecessary facts.) from their parents.

Good:

T F Legumes, beans and nuts should

be avoided by people with gout.

5. Avoid negative statements. Poor:

(Statements with not or no are T F All European nations are not in

confusing to young readers.) favor of joining the European Union

Good:

T F All European nations are in favor

of joining the European Union

6. Avoid inadvertent clues to the Poor:

answer.
T F Essay tests are never easy to score
(Items using such words as never,
Good:
always, all the time, all, etc. are most
of the time false and are recognized by T F Essay tests are difficult to score
test-wise students.)

7. Avoid using vague adjectives Poor:

and adverbs.
T F People from cold countries
(Students interpret differently such typically drink wine every day.
adjectives and adverbs as typically,
Good:
usually, occasionally, quite, etc. It
often becomes a test of vocabulary T F People from cold countries are

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when done.) fond of drinking wine

2. Multiple-Choice Items

Another selected-response item format is the multiple-choice. The wide

choice for this format in classroom testing is mainly due to its versatility to
assess various levels of understanding from knowledge and simple
understanding to deep understanding. McMillan (2007) asserts that multiple-
choice can assess whether students can use reasoning as a skill similar to
binary-choice or other reasoning task. Cognitively demanding outcomes
involving analysis evaluation and lend themselves to the use of multiple-choice
items.

Although its construction may not be as easy as binary-choice, its

advantages far exceed what true/false questions can offer. Aside from being
able to assess various outcome levels, they are easy to score, less susceptible to
guessing than alternate-choice and more familiar to students as they often
encounter them in different testing events (Musial, et.al 2009).

Table 8.14 illustrates the item structure of multiple-choice. Its item

stimulus consists of a stem which contains the problem in the form of a direct
question or an incomplete statement and the options which offer the
alternatives/ distracters from which to select the correct answer. The item
response is selecting the correct answer or best answer from the options or
distracters given. They are listed using letters (i.e. A, B, C, D or a, b, c, d) or
numerals (1, 2, 3, 4).

Table 8.14 Multiple-Choice Item Structure

Stimulus Response

STEM –

a) An interrogative Option to be selected is

statement or direct the correct answer or
question that ends best answer.
in a question mark

b) Incomplete
statement
Letter or numeral of the
OPTIONS – 3 to 5
selected option or the
plausible alternatives

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from which to select the chosen distracter
correct option.

Illustrative Items

1. Direct-question form (best answer version)

What form of government is ruled by a Prime Minister?

a. Monarchy

b. Parliamentary

c. Presidential

d. Federal

2. Incomplete-statement form (correct answer version)

Among the Asian countries, one which has a government with three branches
is ________.

a. Japan

b. China

c. Philippines

d. Thailand

Writing good multiple-choice items requires clarity in stating the problem

in the stem and the plausibility or attractiveness of the distracters. Test experts
agree on a set of guidelines to achieve this purpose (McMillan (2007); Miller,
Linn & Gronlund (2009)l Popham (2011).

Stem

1. All the words of the stem should be relevant to the task. It means stating
the problem succinct and clear so students understand what is expected
to be answered.

2. Stem should be meaningful by itself and should fully contain the

problem. This should especially be observed when the stem uses an
incomplete statement format. Consider this stem:

The constitution is .

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A stem worded this way does not make definite the conceptual knowledge being
assessed. One does not know what is being tested. Is it after definition of the
term, its significance or its history? To test whether a stem is effectively worded
is to be able to answer it without the distracters. This stem can be improved by
changing its format to a direct question or adding more information in the
incomplete statement like:

What does the constitution of an organization provide? (Direct-question format)

The constitution of an organization provides . (Incomplete-statement

format)

This way, the test writer determines what knowledge competence to focus on
and what appropriate distracters to use.

3. The stem should use a question with only one correct or clearly best
answer. Ambiguity sets in when the stem allows for more than one best
answer. Students will likely base their answers on personal experience
instead of on facts. Consider this example. There could be more than one
best answer here.

Poor:

Which product of Thailand makes it economically stable?

A. Rice

B. Dried fruits

C. Dairy products

D. Ready-to-wear

Improved:

Which agricultural product of Thailand is most productive for export?

A. Rice

B. Fish

C. Fruits

D. Vegetables

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Distracters

1. All distracters should appear plausible to uninformed test takers. This is

the key to making the item discriminating and therefore valid. The
validity of the item suffers when there is a distracter that is obviously
correct as option D. or obviously wrong as option B in the following item.

Poor:

What is matter?

A. Everything that surround us.

B. All things bright and beautiful.

C. Things we see and hear.

D. Anything that occupies space and has mass.

Quite interesting are the guidelines by Miller, Linn & Gronlund (2009,
p.212) in making distracters plausible. See Table 8.15.

Table 8.15 Ways to Make Distracters Plausible

1. Use the students’ most common 6. Use distracters that are

errors. homogenous and similar in
content to the correct option
2. Use important-sounding-words
(e.g. all are inventors)
(e.g. significant, accurate) that
are relevant to the item stem. 7. Use distracters that are parallel
Bu do not overdo it! in form and grammatically
consistent with the item stem.
3. Use words that have verbal
associations with the item stem 8. Make the distracters similar to
(e.g. politician, political) the correct answer in length,
vocabulary, sentence structure,
4. Use textbook language or other
and complexity of thought.
phraseology that has the
appearance of truth.

5. Use incorrect answers that are CAUTION: Distracters should distract

likely to result from student the uninformed, but they should not
misunderstanding or result in trick questions that mislead
carelessness (e.g. forgets to knowledgeable students ( do not insert
convert feet to yards) not in a correct answer to make a
distracter)

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 2. Randomly assign correct answers to alternative positions. Item writers
have a tendency to assign the correct answer to the third alternative as
they run short of incorrect alternatives. Students then who have been
used to taking multiple-choice tests choose wily option C when guessing
for greater chance of being correct. No deliberate order should be
followed in assigning the correct answers (e.g. ABCDABCD or
AACCBBDD) for ease in scoring. As much as possible have an equal
number of correct answers distributed randomly in each of the
distracters.

3. Avoid using “All-of-the-above” or “None-of-the-above” as distracters. Item

writers think that using them adds difficulty to the item since it is a way
to test reasoning ability. However, students without much thinking, will
tend to choose these “of-the-above” distracters haphazardly when they
see at least two distracters as correct incorrect without considering the
remaining ones. When forced to come up with a fourth plausible option
and there seems to be none available except “All-of-the-above” or “None-
of-the-above,” do not make them as the correct answer.

3. Matching Items

Of the three general selected-response items formats, matching items

appear differently. It consists of two parallel lists of words or phrases the
students are tasked to pair. The first list which is to be matched is referred to
as premises while the other list from which to choose its match based on a
kind of association is the options. Table 8.16 shows the item structure of
matching items followed by two illustrative items.

Table 8.16 Matching Type Item Structure

List of Premises List of Responses

Words or phrases to be Homogenous alternatives

matched or associated or options from which to
with an appropriate select what will match
word. the premise.

Illustrative Item 1

The first column describes events associated with Philippine presidents

while the second column gives their names. In the space provided, write the
letter of the president that matches the description.

Column A Column B

1. First president of the Republic a. Ramon Magsaysay

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 2. Declared martial law during his term b. Corazon Aquino

3. First president to resign from office c. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

4. First woman president d. Manuel L. Quezon

5. Died in an airplane crash e. Fidel C. Ramos

6. A uniformed man elected into office f. Emilio Aguinaldo

g. Joseph Ejercito Estrada

h. Manuel A. Roxas

i. Ferdinand Marcos

Illustrative 2 (for advanced level)

Column A contains theoretical postulations of how the universe came

about. Match each one with the name of the theory given in Column B. indicate
the appropriate letter to the left of the number in Column A.

Column A Column B

1. Large-scale features of the universe a. Dark matter theory

do not change over time.
b. Density wave theory
2. About 90% of the matter in the
c. Superdense theory
universe does not interact with
radiation d. Infinite world’s theory
3. The spiral arms in galaxies cannot be e. Galactic rotation theory
permanent condensations of matter
f. Inflationary universe
4. The planets describe closed orbits theory
about the Earth
g. Planetisimal theory
5. Planets were formed from small solid
bodies caused by eruptions of stars. h. Ptolemaic theory

i. Steady-state theory

The two illustrative items exemplify the guidelines in constructing

matching items (Kubiszyn and Borich (2010):

1. Keep the list of premises and the list of options homogenous or

belonging to a category. In Sample 1, the premises are events
associated with Philippine presidents while the options are all names of
presidents. In Sample 2, Column A lists some theories in astronomy

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 about how the universe has evolved and Column B lists the names of the
theories. Homogeneity is a basic principle in matching items.

2. Keep the premises always in the first column and the options in the
second column. Since the premises are oftentimes descriptions of
events, illustrations of principles, functions or characteristics, they
appear longer than the options which are most of the times are names,
categories, objects, and parts. Ordering of the two columns this way
saves reading time for the students since they will usually read one long
premise once and select the appropriate match from a list of short words.
If ordered the opposite way, the students will read a short word as the
premise then read through long descriptions to look for the correct
answer. Especially for Sample 2, the students will normally read a
theoretical postulate first and then logically go through the names of the
theories given in Column B. imagine the time spent if the opposite
process is done.

3. Keep the lists in the two columns unequal in number. Basic reason
for this is to avoid guessing. The options in Column B are usually more
than the premises in Column A. if the two lists are equal in number,
students can strategically resort to wise elimination in finding the rest of
the pairs. There are matching items however, when the options are much
less than the premises. This is recommended when testing ability to
classify. For instance, Column A will be a list of 10 animals which are to
be classified and Column B could just be 4 categories of mammals. With
this format, it is important to mention in the test directions that an
option can be used more than once.

4. Test directions always describe the basis for matching. “Match

Column A with Column B” is a no-no in matching type. Describe clearly
what is to be found in the two columns, how they are associated and how
matching will be done. Invalid scores of students could be due to
extraneous factors like misinterpretation of how matching is to be done,
misunderstanding in using given options (e.g. using an option only once
when the teacher allows use of an option more than once), and limiting
number of items to be answered when there are few options given.

5. Keep the number of premises not more than eight (8) as shown in
the two sample items. Fatigue sets in when there are too many items
in a set and again, test validity suffers. If an item writer feels that there
are many concepts to be tested, dividing them into sets is a better
strategy. It is also suggested that a set of matching items should appear
on a page only and not to be carried on to the next page. Frequently
flipping the test papers just to look for appropriate options requires
additional time.

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 6. Ambiguous lists should be avoided. This is especially true in the
preparation of options for the second column. There should only be one
option appropriately associated with a premise unless it is unequivocally
mentioned that an option could be used more than once as mentioned in
# 4. This often occurs when matching events and places or events and
names, descriptions and characters. For instance, in a description-
character matching, a premise like “mean to Cinderella” may carelessly
list “stepmother” and “stepsister” as options which are both correct.
Either the premise is improved or one option removed.

It can be seen that matching type as a test format is used quite

appropriately in assessing knowledge outcomes particularly for recall of
terminologies, classifications, and remembering facts, concepts, principles,
formulae, and associations. Its main advantage is its efficiency in being able to
test several concepts using the same format.

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