Understanding the Characteristics of Assessments

In order to effectively use a test to make classroom decisions, there are some questions teachers need to ask. Is it aligned to the state curriculum or does it consist of an assortment of national curriculum resources? Is it intended to measure content knowledge or other skills and abilities? How is it scored? Are results based on students’ mastery of standards or are students compared to their peer group? The answers to these questions, as well as other information about the reliability, validity, variability, and biases in an assessment, indicate whether or not the test results may be accurately used for the intended purpose. Let’s find out more about how to evaluate the use of a test instrument.

Validity

What is validity? Validity is determined by how well an assessment aligns to its intended purpose. Degrees of validity will likely exist and may change over time based on continued research. For example, if a few of the test items come from outside of the required curriculum on a criterion-referenced achievement test, those items will skew the degree of validity for the test, but will not necessarily invalidate the entire assessment. Frequently, it is not the test itself, but the way the test scores are used that determines whether or not the scores are valid. As test researchers continue to gather evidence about test results, data may surface that either supports or challenges the validity of a test.

Test items should match test goals. For example, a test that is intended to measure a student’s achievement in TExES Physical Science must contain only those test items that match the standards. In addition, the weighting of questions should be aligned to both the complexity and importance of each standard. For example, if the standard requires students to be able to describe the elements using the periodic table, there will likely be some simpler questions, such as defining the atomic number of an element, but there will also be some more complex questions that are more heavily weighted, such as describing the atomic properties of halogens.

Validity also includes the social consequences of how the test is used. For example, are high school students who pass the End of Course Exam in Chemistry I ready for Chemistry II? Should students who have not taken Chemistry I, but can pass the test, be allowed to enroll in Chemistry II? This scenario outlines the importan

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.