Criteria for Valid Assessment Items

1. Criteria for Valid Assessment Items Assessment items can tell us if a student understands a GLCE only if the items meet certain criteria:

2. Does the content of the item match the content of the GLCE? • Does the performance required by the item match the verb(s) and domain of the GLCE? Does the method used by the item (m.c. or c.r.) align with the performance required by the GLCE?

3. Are there no alternative approaches to solving the problem that bi-pass the knowledge implied by the GLCE? • Can the item be solved by test-wiseness rather than by knowing the GLCE?

4. Does the item require knowledge from two or more GLCEs? • Are the foils appropriate and insightful? • Is the context appropriate and engaging, but not misleading, distracting or culturally-biased?

5. Content Match? Example 1: N.ME.04.03 – …recognize the place values of numbers, and the relationship of each place value to the place to its right, e.g., 1,000 is 10 hundreds. In which pair of numbers is the second number 100 more than the first number? a. 199 and 209 b. 4236 and 4246 c. 9635 and 9735 d. 51,863 and 52,863

6. Content Match? Example 2: M.PS.02.08 – Add and subtract money in mixed units, e.g., $2.50 + 60 cents and $5.75 - $3, but not $2.50 + $3.10. Mary saved $5.60 in a week. The next week she saved $1.25. How much money did she save altogether? a. $6.85 b. $4.35 c. $5.85

7. Content Match? Example 3: N.ME.03.16 – Understand that fractions may represent a portion of a whole unit that has been partitioned [divided, cut] into parts of equal area or length; use the terms “numerator” and “denominator.” What is the fraction for the shaded part of this set? a. 3/8 b. 3/4 c. 3/7

8. Content Match? Example 4: Can you find a 3rd grade GLCE that would be tested by this item? Fill in the missing numbers below that will complete the number pattern and describe the rule. 2, 4, ____, 16, ____, 64, ____

9. Performance Match? Example 5: M.TE.04.04 – Measure surface area of cubes and rectangular prisms by covering and counting area of the faces. John has a cube, 3 inches on each side. What is its surface area? a. 54 in3 b. 27 in3 c. 54 in2 d. 36 in2

10. Performance Match? Example 6: N.FL.04.12 Find unknowns in equations such as a ÷ 10 = 25; 125 ÷ b = 25. There are about 20 times as many species of ants as there are species of bats. Let b represent the number of species of bats. Which expression represents the number of species of ants? a. b + 20 b. b x 20 c. 20 x b d. 20 ÷ b

11. Performance Match? Example 7: G.GS.03.06 – Identify, describe, build and classify familiar three-dimensional solids, e.g., cube, rectangular prism, sphere, pyramid, cone, based on their component parts (faces, surfaces, bases, edges, vertices). How many vertices are in the cube? a. 8 vertices b. 6 vertices c. 12 vertices

12. Performance Match? Example 8: G.SR.04.03 – Identify and count the faces, edges, and vertices of basic three-dimensional geometric solids including cubes, rectangular prisms, and pyramids; describe the shape of their faces. Name the geometric solid with 5 faces, only four of which are the same congruent polygon. a. triangular pyramid b. triangular prism c. square prism d. square pyramid

13. Use of Constructed Response Example 9: N.MR.02.16 – Given a simple situation involving groups of equal size or of sharing equally, represent with objects, words, and symbols, and solve. Each pack of gum has five sticks. How many sticks of gum are in three packs? Draw a picture to show this: Circle the correct answer: a. 8 b. 5 c. 15 Write this situation using the numbers 3 and 5 and an appropriate operation symbol:

14. No alternative approaches? Example 10: N.ME.03.16 Understand that fractions may represent a portion of a whole unit that has been partitioned into parts of equal area or length… The pie chart above shows the portion of time Pat spent on homework in each subject last week. If Pat spent 2 hours on mathematics, about how many hours did Pat spend on homework altogether? a. 4 b. 8 c. 12 d. 16

15. Two or more GLCEs? Example 11: Mrs. Johnson’s class of 30 students had a pizza party. Ten pizzas were equally cut into 8 pieces. After each student took 2 pieces, how many pizzas were left? a. 20/80 b. 20/30 c. 2 d. 2 1/2

16. Test-wiseness? Example 12: Tamiko wanted 100 trading cards. She had 55 cards. How many more cards did she need? a. 155 b. 45 c. 50

17. Are foils insightful? • Are there known misconceptions or often-used naïve strategies that lead to incorrect answers? If so, foils that represent often-chosen wrong answers can give insight into students’ thinking and steer teachers to changes in instruction that account for those naïve strategies.

18. 6 cm 12 cm Is context appropriate and engaging? Example 13: What is the perimeter of this rectangle? a. 18 cm b. 30 cm c. 36 cm d. 72 cm Example 14: Sally wants to put a wallpaper border all the way around her room. Her room is a rectangle. She measures the sides of her room and finds that the short side is 6 feet and the long side is 12 feet. How many feet of wallpaper border will she need? a. 18 ft b. 30 ft c. 36 ft d. 72 ft

19. Would a little context help? What context would be appropriate, but not overwhelming? What is the range and median number for this set of data? {2, 2, 3, 5, 10, 10, 12} a. range is 7, median is 5 b. range is 7, median is 6 c. range is 10, median is 7 d. range is 10, median is 5

20. Distracting context? Example 16: Bobby bought 3 3/5 ice cream cones. Jose Miquel bought 5 1/3 ice cream cones. How many ice cream cones did they buy together?a.  8 6/8 ice cream conesb.  8 3/4 ice cream conesc.  9 1/15 ice cream conesd.  8 14/15 ice cream cones

21. Distracting context? Example 16: The two smallest planets in the solar system are Pluto and Mercury. Pluto has a diameter of 1,413 miles. Mercury has a diameter of 3,032 miles. How much larger is the diameter of Mercury than the diameter of Pluto? a. 1,519 miles b. 1,619 miles c. 1,621 miles d. 2,629 miles

22. Scaffolded Items Example 18: How much bigger is the large rectangular region than the small one? My estimate is _________________. Use a ruler to measure the sides of each rectangle. Write the numbers next to the sides of the rectangles. What is the area of each? Write it inside the rectangle. How much bigger is the large rectangle?______________________.