Reliability of Assessment Tools

Reliability of Assessment Tools

Assessment is an integral part of teaching-learning process which allows teachers to
evaluate their student’s achievement during an educational course. Many teachers feel
deficiency in preparing and grading exams, and most students are fearful of taking them.
Yet test is a significant educational tool. Therefore, this tool must be reliable and valid in
such a way that everyone has credibility on its results.
Every classroom assessment measure must be appropriately reliable and valid, whether,
it is the routine classroom achievement test, attitudinal measure, or performance
assessment. A measure must first be reliable before it can be valid.
Teachers have been designing achievement tests since decades. But before preparing a
test a teacher or external exam designer must be aware of the qualities of an achievement
test. A measure that ignores the basic principles of developing a test may produce such
results that may be unacceptable for the students, and will not be measuring the actual
performance.
Therefore this particular unit is meant for the prospective teachers addressing the concept
and meaning of the reliability, its types, factors affecting reliability of the tests and the
usability of the tests.
OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, prospective teachers will be able to:
• define reliability in their own words.
• apply the different methods of assuring reliability on the tests.
• identify the factors affecting reliability.
• construct a test and check how much reliable it is.
• identify measures for reducing the problems in conducting the tests.

 

1.      Reliability of Assessment Tools

1.1.   Reliability

1.2.   Types of reliability

1.2.1.      Split half reliability

1.2.2.      Test rbtest reliability

1.2.3.      Kuder-Richardson reliability

1.2.4.      Parallel form Reliability

1.3.   Factors affecting reliability

1.4.   Usability of assessment tools

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