ChatGPT has surged interest to cause people to look for its use in different tasks. However, before allowing it to replace humans, its capabilities should be investigated. As ChatGPT has potential for use in testing and assessment, this study aims to investigate the questions generated by ChatGPT by comparing them to those written by a course…

College instructors in the United States usually make their own decisions about how to design course exams. Even though summative course exams are well known to be important to student success, we know little about the decision making of instructors when designing course exams. To probe how instructors design exams for introductory biology, we…

A standardized exam for program-level assessment can take the form of 1) a customized exam developed in-house by faculty and linked explicitly to program-level learning goals; or 2) a standardized exam developed externally by assessment experts and linked to a set of somewhat broader and more generalizable learning goals. This article discusses…

Data driven decision making emphasizes the importance of the teacher using objective sources of information in developing the social studies curriculum. Too frequently, decisions of teachers have been made based on routine and outdated methods of teaching. Valid and reliable tests used to secure results from pupil learning make for better…

Although many teachers are using new technologies to differentiate instruction and administer tests, educators are also employing a range of technology-based resources and strategies to implement a variety of classroom assessments as alternatives to standardized and teacher-made testing. Technology-based classroom assessments focus on the use of…

As the field of education moves forward in the area of assessment, researchers have yet to come to a conclusion about definitions of commonly used terms. Without a consensus on the use of fundamental terms, it is difficult to engage in meaningful discourse within the field of assessment, as well as to conduct research on and communicate about best…

The article presents educators with specific strategies to consider in constructing teacher-made tests to optimize the performance of mainstreamed students. Guidelines relating to content and format of tests as well as test-taking behaviors are discussed. (Author/CL)

Teacher-made tests can be adapted for learning disabled students during the process of test construction (incorporating aspects of directions, individual items, and test design) or during test administration. (CL)

Discusses nine factors affecting the relationship between learning and test performance that can be controlled by the teacher: time on task, level of learning, question format, number of questions, inclusion of past work, difficulty level, grouping, use of new items, and difficulty distribution. (SR)

This article presents guidelines for writing better test items to evaluate student learning better. Recommendations are provided for writing true-false items (test only one idea in each item), multiple-choice items (include the bulk of information in the stem), and matching items (only use homogeneous lists). Examples are provided. (Contains 7…

Four considerations that enhance the instructional importance of tests are content match, use of feedback, a flagging function, and the increasing tendency to attach sanctions and rewards to standardized test results. These sanctions are apt to force greater attention to the other three characteristics, strengthening the links between instruction…

Sixty-four general secondary education teachers provided data on 32 test adaptations for students with disabilities. Data included awareness, use, integrity, effectiveness, and ease of use. Results suggest that teachers are likely to use modifications that they perceive to maintain academic integrity, be effective, and require little…

Surveys of college faculty members' current use of objective tests indicated that most respondents (N=38) did not use state-of-the-art procedures associated with construction and analysis of objective tests. Many were unfamiliar with basic testing terms and tools and did not understand the meanings of the terms and tools. (SM)

A practical approach is outlined for adapting teacher-made tests to meet the needs of mildly handicapped mainstreamed students. The approach calls for modifying test construction, test administration, and test sites, and teaching test-taking strategies. A table lists test-taking problems (poor comprehension, poor auditory or visual perception,…

There is renewed emphasis on student assessment in adult literacy. Popular methods are instructor-made tests and performance assessment through observation, portfolios, writing samples, audio- and videotapes, and collaborative projects. (SK)