This comment was posted yesterday: I am a former, part time item writer for a private testing company; I wrote for many different state standards under NCLB. I must say that poorly constructed, confusing, or developmentally inappropriate items undermine the validity of standardized scores and subsequent use in teacher evaluation. When standardized tests are properly constructed, such items which might make it to a field test will almost certainly be vetted during what is typically a two year process. Many items on the Pearson math and ELA administered last April here in NY were written, in my opinion, in an intentionally confusing style using obtuse or arcane vocabulary. The ELA test in particular included confusing item stems and distractors that were not clearly wrong. There were far too many items that turned subjective opinions (most likely; best; author’s intent; etc.) into a “one right, three wrong” format. Many teachers were unsure of the correct answers on a number of vague and fuzzy items. |
One of the The Things Wrong With Testing: They Are Invalid to Begin With!
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on October 23, 2013 at 2:44 pm
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Tags: Diane Ravitch, pearson, Standardized Tests
Tags: Diane Ravitch, pearson, Standardized Tests

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I AGREE WITH THE WRITER of A POST ABOUT the construction and implementation of STANDARDIZED MATH ASSESSMENTS. THE PROBLEM STEMS FROM A LACK OF LEADERSHIP “and Vision”. I believe you may find my recent blog post(s) informative: http://KennethFetterman.wordpress.com
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There may not be a problem with this if they are doing an illegal psychological test on the children.
“There were far too many items that turned subjective opinions (most likely; best; author’s intent; etc.) into a “one right, three wrong” format. Many teachers were unsure of the correct answers on a number of vague and fuzzy items.”
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