*MON FRASER UNIVERSITY

Education 325-3:

Testing in Schools

Summer Semester, 1990 ?

Professor: ?

Dr. Phil Winne

(May 7 - August 3)

?

Office: ?

MPX 9611

Thursdays ?

Telephone: ?

291-4858/3395

5:30 - 8:20 P. M. ?

E-mail: ?

Phil Winne

Location: MPX

9511

PREREQUISITE:

EDUC 220 or equivalent.

DESCRIPTION:

Education is for helping students progress toward a host of achievements: knowledge of

many subjects, ability to think critically, positive self concept, dispositions to persist when

challenged, strategies for solving problems, creativity -- and more. To discover whether

students need more instruction and, if they do, on what that instruction should focus,

teachers need clear and useful information about the degree to which a student has

reached an achievement. Asking a question in discussion, giving a quiz, scoring

exercises on a worksheet, observing a demonstration, and administering a standardized

test are all occasions where you are testing a student's achievement.

This course is about how to test students' achievements so that measurements obtained

are accurate, informative to all concerned, and useful for repairing students' deficiencies

and redesigning teaching. The course is presented as lectures, working sessions in

which you will apply knowledge and skills of measurement science, and class discussions.

TOPICS:

Designing Instructional Objectives

Designing Tasks and Situations to Measure Students' Achievements

Principles of Measurement Science: Scaling, Item Analysis, Reliability, Validity

Interpreting and Using Results from Norm-Referenced and Criterion-Referenced Tests

Published Tests (e.g., Intelligence, Aptitude, Achievement, Interest, Personality)

Issues: Test Bias, Accountability, Evaluating Educational Programs, Provincial

Assessments

EVALUATION:

Quizzes (4, 10% each)

Each quiz will pose 5-10 short-answer (1-5 sentence) items that test facts and principles

from lectures and the textbook.

Project (60%)

For a curriculum unit of your choice, you will design a complete evaluation plan. Major

components of this plan include:

1.

design and analysis of objectives for a variety of achievements that students are to

approach or reach in the unit,

2.

design and analysis of tasks to use in assessing students' achievements,

3.

rationale for the plan's elements based on principles of measurement science,

4.

presentation and justification of a strategy for using evaluations to further students'

learning and improving your teaching, and

5.

creation of means for communicating students' achievements to them, to other

teachers, and to parents.

READINGS:

Gronlund, N. E. & Linn, R. L. (1990).

Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching

(6th ed.).

Materials on reserve in the library.