Testing and Evaluation

 Thanking Activity : 

Testing and Evaluation.

   Test & Evaluation (T&E) is the process by which a system or components are compared against requirements and specifications through testing. The results are evaluated to assess progress of design, performance, supportability, etc.

 Evolutionary Testing tries to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the testing process by transforming testing objectives into search problems, and applying evolutionary computation in order to solve them.

    

 1) write on validity and reliability of the test.

   Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure (whether the results can be reproduced under the same conditions). Validity refers to the accuracy of a measure (whether the results really do represent what they are supposed to measure).

           

 Test-retest reliability is a measure of reliability obtained by administering the same test twice over a period of time to a group of individuals. The scores from Time 1 and Time 2 can then be correlated in order to evaluate the test for stability over time. 

Example: A test designed to assess student learning in psychology could be given to a group of students twice, with the second administration perhaps coming a week after the first. The obtained correlation coefficient would indicate the stability of the scores.

  

Validity refers to how well a test measures what it is purported to measure.

Why is it necessary.

While reliability is necessary, it alone is not sufficient. For a test to be reliable, it also needs to be valid. For example, if your scale is off by 5 lbs, it reads your weight every day with an excess of 5lbs. The scale is reliable because it consistently reports the same weight every day, but it is not valid because it adds 5lbs to your true weight. It is not a valid measure of your weight.

2) write on practicality of the test.

      capable of being done, effected, or put into practice, with the available means; feasible: a practicable solution.

  Practicality in assessment means that the test is easy to design, easy to administer and easy to score. No matter how valid or reliable a test is, it has to be practical to make and to take this means that: It is economical to deliver. It is not excessively expensive.

   Practicality in assessment means that the test is easy to design, easy to administer and easy to score.

No matter how valid or reliable a test is, it has to be practical to make and to take this means that:

It is economical to deliver. It is not excessively expensive.

The layout should be easy to follow and understand.

It stays within appropriate time constraints.

It is relatively easy to administer.

Its correct evaluation procedure is specific and time-efficient.

3) what do you understand by backwash?

   The backwash effect (also known as the washback effect) is the influence that a test has on the way students are taught (e.g. the teaching mirrors the test because teachers want their students to pass). The washback effect is the outcome of a test or an examination which results either in positive or in a negative way.

  Kennedy states, “… and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space.” Kennedy uses the two words “founder” and “backwash” together. ... He uses these two words as a metaphor for a ship sinking below the surface of water and not being able to carry on.

 How do you get beneficial backwash effect?

Base achievement test on objectives. Ensure the test is known and understood by students and teacher.

Test the abilities whose development you want to encourage. If you want to encourage oral ability, then test oral ability.

Use direct testing.

4) difference between assessment and evaluation.

 According to the American Heritage Dictionary, assessment means appraisal. Then, according to the same dictionary, evaluation is estimation or determining the value of something. ... That fact is that assessment in education is done in order to improve the process.

  Assessment provides feedback on knowledge, skills, attitudes, and work products for the purpose of elevating future performances and learning outcomes. Evaluation determines the level of quality of a performance or outcome and enables decision-making based on the level of quality demonstrated.

Assessment OF learning involves looking at assessment information at the end of the teaching and learning process to rank students' achievement levels against a standard. ... Assessment FOR learning embeds assessment processes throughout the teaching and learning process to constantly adjust instructional strategy.

5) how do you define good assessment?

There are three key areas on which the quality of an assessment can be measured: reliability, validity, and bias. A good assessment should be reliable, valid, and free of bias. ... Stability means that tests or assessments produce consistent results at different testing times with the same group of students. he assessment of student learning begins with educational values. Assessment is not an end in itself but a vehicle for educational improvement. Its effective practice, then, begins with and enacts a vision of the kinds of learning we most value for students and strive to help them achieve. Educational values should drive not only what we choose to assess but also how we do so. Where questions about educational mission and values are skipped over, assessment threatens to be an exercise in measuring what's easy, rather than a process of improving what we really care about.

• The college mission must be understood not just by the school’s faculty and staff but also by its students and the community it serves. Assessment must be based on that which is truly important.