Creating a standardized assessment involves a meticulous, multi-step process focused on ensuring fairness and reliability. Here's a detailed breakdown based on the provided information:
Key Steps in Standardized Assessment Development
The development of a standardized test is a complex endeavor, focusing on both content validity and statistical rigor. The process typically includes these steps:
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Design a Test Framework: This initial step involves defining the specific knowledge and skills the test will measure. For curriculum-based tests, this involves careful consideration of the learning objectives and content standards. The framework ensures that the test samples the breadth of material to be covered.
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Write Content Questions: Once the framework is in place, a large pool of questions, referred to as items, are drafted. These questions must be aligned with the test framework. They must also be clear, unambiguous, and assess the desired skills and knowledge.
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Trial Questions with Pupils: The drafted questions are then administered to a sample group of students (or 'pupils' as the provided reference indicates), in a pilot test setting. This provides data on how the questions perform in practice. This is a critical step to see if the questions are well written and at the right level of difficulty.
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Reject Poorly Performing Questions: After the pilot testing, the performance of each question is analyzed statistically. Questions that are found to be either too easy, too difficult, or are not discriminating well between high and low achievers are removed. Statistical metrics, such as item difficulty and item discrimination indices, are used in this step.
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Develop Standardisation Tests: Finally, the selected questions are used to create the actual test forms that will be administered to a large and representative group of students for the purpose of standardization. This provides the data needed to establish scoring norms and determine the test's reliability and validity.
Summary Table
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| 1. Test Framework Design | Identify the specific knowledge and skills the test aims to measure. This ensures the test has content validity, specifically aligned with its purpose. |
| 2. Question Creation | Write a large number of content-specific questions, that fit the designed framework. Clear, unambiguous, and well-aligned items are essential for a good test. |
| 3. Pilot Testing | Administer the questions to a sample group of pupils to assess their performance. This provides the vital information on each test questions quality and difficulty. |
| 4. Item Analysis | Analyze the pilot test results and reject questions that perform poorly. For example, questions that are too easy, too hard, or don't differentiate well between high- and low-performing students. |
| 5. Standardisation Test Development | Compile the remaining questions to form the final test. Administer the test to a large, representative sample for standardization purposes. |
By following these steps, a standardized assessment can be developed that accurately and fairly measures the intended skills and knowledge.
