Page 130 - Making Instruction Work

chap 11 3/11/97 4:59 PM Page 116

116 making instruction work

You: Oh? What kind of tests?
Surg: Mostly multiple-choice. But there were
some essay items, too.

You: Good-bye!

In practice it isn’t always possible for your test items to
duplicate the conditions called for by the objective. In such
cases one approximates those conditions as closely as possible.
But it is always possible for a test item to demand the same
performance as that described in the objective. For example, if
an objective asks students to be able to repair equipment under
water or to splice cables on top of a pole, it may not be possible
to provide the water or the pole. In those instances you would
provide the closest approximation to those conditions that you
can. But you would always ask them to repair, and you would
always ask them to splice. The rule is this: If you must,approxi-
mate the conditions, but never approximate the performance.

How to Do It

Prepare a criterion test for each objective whose accom-
plishment you want to measure. Many of those tests will con-
sist of only one item (question), and the rest will need only
three or four. How do you know how many items to include?
The rule is this: The test will contain as many items as are
needed to sample the range of conditions called for in the
objective. Here are the steps for preparing a criterion test (skill
check).
1. Read the objective and identify the performance (what it
wants someone to be able to do).

2. Draft a criterion item that asks students to exhibit that
performance.