How Do We Develop a High-Quality Classroom Test?

Abstract

It should be noted, that there is no one way to design a test, but there are commonly agreed standards that should apply to all testing activities, whether they occur within your classroom as a result of your own test development, across a programme, a system, a nation, or around the world. In the sections below, we will ‘walk through’ a process of designing a test. First, we will consider some of the key steps in developing a test. The higher the stakes of the test, the more time and effort will go into work on each of these steps. However, as teachers, we also need to clearly understand the importance of each step and do our best, working alone or with our colleagues, to insure that we have designed a test that measures what we intend it to measure; adequately represents or samples the outcomes, content, skills, abilities, or knowledge we are measuring; and elicits information that is useful in informing our teaching and in supporting the learning of our students.