Module 5: Planning the Test

OVERVIEW

In the previous module, you analyzed objectives and test items their matching to the
learning outcomes and conditions. This module introduces you to the planning phase of
test development where the purpose of the test is identified, learning outcomes to be
assessed are clearly specified and lastly a table of specifications is prepared to guide
item construction phase.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. formulate specific objectives or intended learning outcomes about a given
subject matter; and
2. prepare a table of specifications.

LET US EXPLORE

Activity 1

Look at the figure below. Do you have an idea of what it represents? It

represents the trilogy of curriculum, instruction and assessment. By the way what is
meant by trilogy? Check it from your dictionary. Search and review related literature to
be able to write a literature-based explanation on the on the importance of considering
the said trilogy in the planning stage of test construction. Write your explanation in 3 to 5
sentences only. Use the space below.

curriculum

instruction assessment

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CONTENT FOCUS
Identifying the Purpose of the Test
Testing as an assessment mechanism aims to gather valid and reliable information useful to
both learners and teachers for formative as well as summative purposes. Classroom formative
assessments seek to uncover what students know and can do to get feedback on what they
need to alter or work on farther to improve their learning. Teachers on the other hand, can use
the results to map out their pedagogical moves to improve teaching-learning for appropriate
mentoring. Feedback provided is used primarily to address specific student learning problems
while instruction is still in progress.
The test considers the planned competencies to be developed in the unit of work.
Consequently, the learners spend enormous time reviewing, recalling or re-learning their past
lessons prior to testing. Their test motivation is contingent on the stake they put on testing, to
“pass the test”, “pass the course”, “get high grades”. Many teachers conveniently use testing as
their sole means to arrive at objective measures for evaluating students’ performance. Rigor in
the selection of learning competencies to be tested is determined by the teacher’s purpose in
giving the test.
Specifying the Learning Outcomes
Assessment has changed considerably as advances occur in the field of educational and
cognitive psychology particularly in defining learning and its domains. Consequently, this has
influenced curriculum designing for various educational levels. Defining learning has progressed
from being able to allow the learner to interpret and apply such facts to create new knowledge.

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Module 5: Planning the Test

In the past decades, developments in the assessment of learning focused on multiple measures
of student performance reflecting different levels of outcomes that spell out what learners should
know and able to do along established hierarchical levels of cognition (Anderson, et. al, 2004).
The learning outcomes communicate both specific content and nature of tasks to be
performed. Assessment then becomes a quality assurance tool for tracking student progress in
attaining the curriculum standards in terms of content and performance.
Processes for assessment recognize and address different learning targets defined by
the intended outcomes from knowledge of facts and information covered by the curriculum at
every level to various facets of showing understanding of them: what operative processes or
skills they can demonstrate, what bigger and newer ideas they can form and derive, the
innovative processes and products they can create including their authentic application
in real-life.
Classroom test need to be carefully planned to ensure that they truthfully and
reliably quantify what are intended to be measured. Does it intend to assess amount of
student learning at the end of an instructional period, e.g. week’s lesson, a unit or
quarter or semester or at the end of a course? This type of test is post instructional
assessment tool .
Test can also be used as pre-instructional assessment tool which can diagnose
what the learners know of the new lesson for instructional adjustment on the part of the
teacher. As important as these two assessment purposes is utilizing the test as a means
to inform the learners how they are learning and how they are progressing.

Selecting test item formats

Selection of item formats is dictated by the instructional outcomes intended to be
assessed. There are formats appropriate to measuring knowledge and simple understanding
while there are those fit to measuring complex or deep understanding.
Formats of Teacher’s-Made Tests
SUPPLY TYPE SELECTION TYPE PERFORMANCE TASKS
Completion Binary choice Paper-pencil Identification
Short answer Multiple choice Simulated Performance
Essay-restricted / Essay-extended Matching Work Sample

Alignment of learning outcomes to test types

KNOWLEDGE – UNDERSTANDING CONTNUUM
Knowledge Simple Understanding Deep Understanding
Cognitive Levels/Levels of Learning Outcome
Level 1: Remembering Level 2: Comprehending Level 4: Analyzing
Recall Interpret Organize Transform
Recognize Exemplify Distinguish Diagnose
Name Classify Outline Deconstruct
Describe Compare Level 5: Evaluating

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Explain Critique Appraise

Infer Assess Recommend
Level 3: Applying Defend Justify
Solve Execute Level 6: Creating
Apply Employ Plan Generate
Modify Design Compose
Demonstrate Construct

Supply type Supply type Supply type

Completion Short Answer Completion Short Answer Essay-restrictive/ Essay-extended
Selection type Selection type Selection type
Binary choice Binary type Multiple choice /Interpretive items
Multiple choice Multiple choice Performance tasks
Matching type Written Work sample
Simulation Project
Take 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 (item stimulus and item response) to appropriately
elicit the cognitive processes involved. An elicitation device like a question or a directive for
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 below:
CONSTRUCTED-RESPONSE TYPE
Short answer item (Low-order thinking skills)
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).
Extended essay item (High-order thinking skills)
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 the “creating” level. It will call for an extended essay item, it
will call for an extended essay item. Deeper understanding is necessary to demonstrate its
outcome as it involves synthesis of previous information and observation derived from multiple
sources.
SELECTED RESPONSE TYPE (Multiple choice)

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Low-order thinking skills:

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 in this item is based on a specific material which calls for simple
understanding.)
High-order thinking skills:
Which of the following factors which affect climate change can be controlled by man?
A. Strong earthquake
B. Volcanic eruption
C. Melting glaciers
D. Carbon monoxide emission
(Selection of correct option requires analysis of the alternatives given. First, it calls for
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.)

The wide choice for multiple choice 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 items and
to use students’ knowledge and skills in performing problem-solving, decision-making or
other reasoning task. Cognitively demanding outcomes involving analysis and
evaluation 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
outcomes 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).
Stimulus Response
STEM
a. An interrogative Option to be selected is the
statement or direct correct answer or best answer.
question that ends in
question mark Letter or numeral of the
b. Incomplete statement selected option or the chosen
distracter.

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OPTIONS – 3 to 5 plausible
alternatives from which to
select the 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

PREPARING A TEST BLUEPRINT

A teacher used a test blueprint to guide test construction. The test blue print, also
called table of specifications ensures that the teacher will not overlook details
considered essential in a good test.
Whatever the purpose of the test maybe, a teacher must determine appropriately
what learning outcomes to be assessed and how they will be assessed. These
are the two most significant elements a classroom teacher must competently be definite
about when planning for a test. Regardless of what subject area he/she is teaching, a
classroom test covers the learning outcomes intended and essential to be achieved
within a unit or period of work, in terms of the competencies to be performed and
demonstrated. The planning phase of test construction helps teachers make connection
in the trilogy among curriculum, instruction and assessment.
To assure the preparation of a good test, a test blue print is commonly set up in a
two-way Table of Specifications (TOS) that basically spells out WHAT will be tested,
and HOW it will be tested.
WHAT covers two aspects: the content area, (i.e. subject matter) being covered and the
intended learning outcomes or specific objectives (i.e. competencies).
HOW specifies the test format, (i.e. the type of assessment question or task to be used
and the item distribution to attain an effective and balanced sampling of skills to be
tested). The length of the test should be able to sample what students should know
based on an outline of work and not on ease of constructing questions particularly for

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low level outcomes. The more important the learning outcome is, the more likely will
there be more points allotted to it.
McMillan (2007) suggests some rules of thumb in determining how many items are
sufficient for good sampling. A minimum of ten (10) items is needed to assess each
knowledge learning target in a unit but which should represent a good cross-
section of difficulty items. However, if there are more specific learning targets to
be tested, at least five (5) items would be enough for each one to allow for
criterion-referenced interpretation for mastery. Eighty percent (80%) correct of
items for a competency is an acceptable mastery criterion.
Clarity and specificity of the test blueprint in terms of what to test (i.e.
instructional content and cognitive ability or behavior) serve as primary
evidences of the content validity of a teacher-made test.
Several educators presented different versions/format of table of specifications.
The table of specifications, I have presented on the next page, is an expanded one. It
shows the subject matter, learning outcomes or specific objectives, instructional time,
test format/item format, levels of skills to be developed in the cognitive domain, total
items and percentage per subject matter. Using this TOS format, adequate sampling
of items per subject matter taught is assured. Consequently, content validity of the
test is assured.
Now, study the sample table of specifications (TOS) on the next page.
The TOS has 7 columns: Subject matter; Intended learning outcomes/specific
objectives; instructional time; test format or item type; the revised Bloom’s taxonomy of
cognitive skills (remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and
creating); total no. of items and percentage.
Intended learning outcomes 1 & 2 call for the application of rules in the use of
verbs. Although the term “identify” is used in outcome 1, it goes beyond just knowing
and recalling of the rule. The learners will identify the statements with erroneous
application of a rule. Outcome 2 is more direct in applying the rule as the learner has to
“supply” the correct verb forms in a stimulus material like a paragraph. That is why,
test items fall under “applying” when classified according to the levels of skills in the
revised taxonomy of cognitive skills. Outcome 3 demands higher level of cognition (i.e
creating) as it requires the integration of different skills (verb usage, vocabulary,
organization, mechanics, etc) to produce a news article.
Specific item format to be used in framing the test items for each subject matter
is also indicated. Outcomes 1 & 2 call for objective types like selection type and supply
type. Intended learning outcome 3 is a performance task calling for an authentic writing
task of producing a real product or output. It is non-objective because the teacher will
have to use a scoring scale (rubric) to rate the final product.

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Now, can you make your own table of specifications? Study the example below.
Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Skills Percent-
Intended Learning Instruct- Test Total age
Subject Outcomes (specific ional format/ Remem- Under- Apply- Analyz- Evalua- Creat no. of (%)
matter objectives) Time Item type -bering standing ing ing ting -ing items
Verb 1. Identify the Selection
usage statements with type
3 15 15 30%
errors in verb use. (binary
choice)
2. Supply the Supply
correct verb forms type
2 10 10 20%
in a paragraph. (completio
n)
Commu- 3. Prepare a news Performan
nicative article reporting a ce type
5 25 25 50%
writing past school (Work
activity. sample)
25/ 25/
Total 10 hours 50 100%
50% 50%

Note: Rubrics must be used in scoring the work sample.

The total instructional time is 10 hours. To get the number of item per subject matter use this formula:
instructional time per subject matter
x= X total number of items
total instructional time
3
= x 50
10
= 0.30 x 50
= 15 (Thus, the number of items for learning outcome 1 is 15 items which is equivalent to 30% of the test.)

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Module 5: Planning the Test

Activity 2
Read the case below and write your observation on the space provided.

Joan was nervous. She knew she had to do very well on the comprehensive final
in order to pass American History: 1945-2002. To make matters worse, her teacher was
new and no one knew what his final exams were like.
“Well”, she told herself. “There’s really no point in worrying. Even if I don’t do
well on this test, I have learned to analyze information and think critically, the
discussions were great. I’ve studied the text and lessons very hard and managed to cover
every topic very thoroughly beginning with the end of World War II in 1945 through the
events following September 11, 2002. I realize I missed the class dealing with the late
1960’s and early 1970’s, but that stuff only covered a few pages in the text anyway, and
we only spent one class on it!”
Feeling more relaxed and confident, Joan felt even better when she saw that the
entire exam was only one-page long. After receiving her copy, Joan began shaking. Her
test is reproduced below.

American History: 1945-2002

Name: ____________________________________ Date:

________________

It has been a long year and you have been good students. This short test is your
reward.

1. On what date did the American soldiers first begin to fight in Vietnam?
____________
2. How many years did Americans fight in Vietnam? _____________
3. What was the capital of South Vietnam? ____________
4. On what date did Richard Nixon become president? ______________
5. Who was Richard Nixon’s vice president during his second administration?
____________
6. What is Vietnam’s largest seaport?
7. Who was the president of South Vietnam? ____________
8. On what date did the American began to leave Vietnam? ____________

Have a good summer!

1. What is your general observation about test prepared by the teacher?

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Module 5: Planning the Test

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2. What can you say about the coverage of the test?

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3. How would you classify the questions given in the test?

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4. What suggestion/s could you offer to the teacher to avoid this situation to happen
again?
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Generally, there are three important observations in the case of Joan: the test is
not a comprehensive assessment of American History: 1945-2002 instead it focuses on
events that occurred in the Vietnam war; it fails to representatively sample content
about American History from 1945 to 2002; and it fails to tap any higher level thinking
processes, each questions requires rote memorization at the knowledge level.

LET US WRAP UP
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Module 5: Planning the Test

Activity 3
To sum up what you have learned in this module, describe how you can identify
the number of items per topic, the test format or item type, and how to classify the items
in terms of the levels of cognitive skills when preparing a table of specifications.

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Study the subject matter below.

WHAT ARE PRONOUNS?

Pronouns are structure of words used in place of nouns. One of the main uses of pronouns is to avoid
repeating nouns.
 For example: Miss Tan asked Roberto when Roberto would submit Roberto’s term paper to
MissTan.
Pronouns may be used to avoid repetition of nouns (Miss Tan and Roberto) as in the following:
 Miss Tan asked Roberto when he would submit his term paper to her.
The underline words are pronouns. The word replaced by the pronoun is called antecedent. In the
example, the antecedent of he and his is Roberto and the antecedent of her is Miss Tan.

PROPERTIES OF PRONOUNS
The pronoun has the properties of the noun to which it refers, namely: number (singular of plural); gender
(masculine, feminine, common and neuter); person (first person, second person and third person); case
(subjective, possessive and objective)

Number refers to whether the antecedent is plural or singular. The pronoun “They” is used as substitute
for the noun “men” because the noun “men” is plural. But the pronoun “He” is used to substitute for the
noun “man” because the noun “man” is singular.

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 Module 5: Planning the Test
There are three grammatical persons in the use of pronoun: First person represents the speaker; the
Second person is the person spoken to; and the Third person, the person or thing spoken of.

Ex. First Person: We, I Second Person: You Third Person: He, She, It, They

The gender of a pronoun should be the same as that of its antecedent. Gender maybe masculine (for
males); feminine (for females); common (for males and females) and neuter (for things)
Ex. He (masculine)
She (feminine)
They (common)
It (neuter)
The three cases of pronoun are: subjective, objective and possessive.
Subjective Objective Possessive
I me my, mine
He him his
She her her, hers
It it its
We us our, ours
You you your, yours
They them their, theirs

Activity 4

1. Formulate specific objectives for each topic;

2. Compute the total number of items per topic;
3. Identify the test format or item type;
4. Classify the items according to the levels of cognitive skills;
5. Find the percentage of items per topic.
6. Use the worksheet below.

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Skills Percent-

Intended Learning Instruct- Test Total age
Subject Outcomes (specific ional format/ Remem-- Under- Apply- Analyz- Evalua- Creat no. of (%)
matter objectives) Time Item type bering standing ing ing ting -ing items
2

Total 5 10

LET US ASSESS

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Module 5: Planning the Test

Directions: Read each question carefully. Choose the correct answer from the given
choices. Encircle the letter of your answer.

1. The table of specifications usually include?

a. what and how to test
b. when and how to test
c. what and when to test
d. where and how to test
2. Miss Reyes wants to prepare a table of specifications for her final examination
using objective selected-response items. Which learning skill cannot be
included?
a. remembering facts and figures
b. inferring the message of a story
c. applying and algorithm to a problem
d. writing a critique of a project
3. Which of the following cognitive levels is classified as simple understanding?
a. comprehending
b. analyzing
c. evaluating
d. knowledge
4. The following behavioral terms are classified as evaluating EXCEPT
a. justify
b. design
c. assess
d. critique
5. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a multiple choice test?
a. more susceptible to guessing
b. assesses various outcomes levels
c. easy to score
d. more familiar to students
6. All of the following are performance tasks EXCEPT
a. Simulation
b. Essay
c. Project
d. Work sample
7. Which of the following does NOT measure knowledge?
a. Binary type
b. Project
c. Multiple choice
d. Matching type

8. Guidelines for the construction of test items are embodied in the

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Module 5: Planning the Test

a. unit of work to be assessed

b. table of specifications
c. assessment framework
d. lesson plan
9. Planning the test as the initial phase in test development requires
a. specifying the purpose of the test.
b. establishing the schedule of test administration.
c. determining the instructional outcomes.
d. deciding on test format appropriate to the grade level
10. The following test formats measure deep understanding EXCEPT
a. multiple choice
b. essay
c. interpretive
d. binary type

ANSWER KEY

1. A
2. D
3. A
4. B
5. A
6. B
7. B
8. B
9. A
10. D

REFERENCES

De Guzman and Adamos (2015) Assessment of Learning 1. Adriana Publishing

Company, Inc. Philippines.
Kubiszyn and Borich (2003) Educational Testing and Measurement Classroom
Application and Practice. 7th Edition. John Wiley and Sons (Asia) Pte. Ltd.
Rico (2011) Assessment of Student Learning A Practical Approach. Assessment of
Students’ Learning A Practical Approach. Anvil Publishing, Inc. Philippines.

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