Teacher Tools Related to Quality Test Construction

List of tools

  • Bloom's Taxonomy

    Bloom's taxonomy is a classification system of educational objectives based on the level of student understanding necessary for achievement or mastery. Bloom's cognitive domains are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

  • Testwiseness and Guessing

    Testwiseness is any skill that allows a student to choose the correct answer on an item without knowing the correct answer. Guessing simply means random guessing. It is important to design test items that protect against testwiseness and guessing.

  • Table of Specifications

    A Table of Specifications is a two-way chart that describes the topics to be covered by a test and the number of items or points which will be associated with each topic. The purpose of the table is to identify the achievement domains being measured and to ensure that a fair and representative sample of questions appears on the test.

  • Matching Items

    Matching items are presented in groups as a series of stems or prompts that must be matched by the student to one of a group of possible answer options.

  • Item Analysis

    Item analysis is a process of examining class-wide performance on individual test items. The three common types of item analysis include Difficulty Index, Discrimination Index, and Analysis of Response Options.

  • Multiple-Choice Questions

    A multiple-choice question is one where students are presented with a question or instruction (a stem) and select the correct answer or response from a list of answer options.