National Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Conference

Measuring numeracy and maths for adults

Measuring numeracy and maths for adults: A beginners’ guide to writing numeracy assessment items

Presenters: Dave Tout, Manager, Corporate and Vocational Assessment Services, ACER and Jim Spithill, Research Fellow, ACER

Thursday, 9 May 2013

Workshop 1, 9.30 – 12:30pm

Good assessment items are made, not born. This workshop will provide an overview of the process of numeracy and mathematics item writing, including the theoretical principles and reasons for choices made at every stage. Some of the processes that typically go into developing strong and valid assessment items will be explored in the workshop. Throughout this workshop the discussion will be linked to specific items from a variety of sources.

Participants will examine how a stimulus and the accompanying assessment items start as drafts. They will contribute to the process of panelling and revision of both text and items, and compare their suggestions with the real history of revisions made to material used in an existing Numeracy test. They will consider qualities of the items in relation to the key feature of the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF).

The results of a formal trial-by-learner – the field test – will be examined. They will compare the initial drafts of a unit of items with the final set as used in an operational assessment tool. Specific numeracy issues related to the complexity of the language and the text in the stimulus will also be addressed. The choice of distractors for multiple choice numeracy items creates opportunity to report diagnostically on common misunderstandings that lead students to incorrect responses. The last part of the workshop will give participants time to put the principles to work and to write and panel some items. This may include putting some of their own assessment items up for critique.

Back to the pre-conference workshop program

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