Slide 1

Rescoring Online Tests

Rescoring Online

Tests

Slide 2

Rescoring Online Tests

Overview

1. Rescoring

2. Messy Situation

3. Online Testing

4. Paper and Pencil

5. Question Banks

Source: Test Generator – Rescoring Online Tests

Slide 3

Rescoring Online Tests

Rescoring

• Depending on the type of testing being done and the audience, rescoring is laden with controversy.

• In a New York Times article, "State Ends a Practice of Rescoring Regents Tests" on May 25, 2011, the State of New York Regents exam officials have '...ordered schools to end the longstanding but controversial practice of rescoring tests that fall just below the passing grade.'

• Rescoring is a big deal if it means the difference between graduating--or not, getting a promotion--or not or keeping your job--or not.

• Depending on the test and the organization involved, there are formal petition processes that test takers go through to have their test re-scored.

Source: Test Generator – Rescoring Online Tests

Slide 4

Rescoring Online Tests

Messy Situation

• Rescoring at any level can get messy. "We have a situation here..." seems to be a line in many a disaster flick.

• You know something bad has happened and the outlook is usually grim.

• A less ominous "situation" is one we hear from test administrators who discover that the test they've published contains one or more bad items.

• By "bad" we mean the question is poorly written, or technically inaccurate or the answer the test author listed as correct is actually incorrect.

• What to do? – The answer is, it depends.

Source: Test Generator – Rescoring Online Tests

Slide 5

Rescoring Online Tests

Online Testing

• It depends on…

1. The organization's policy re rescoring tests

2. Whether or not an organization's tests will be audited

3. At what point in the testing process the test administrator recognizes the problem: whether or not it's too late in the testing process to unpublish the test, create a new test, require those who have already taken the test to retake the corrected assessment.

4. Whether or not the test administrator recognizes that modifying a test, that has already been given, by correcting or deleting a bad item, or changing one of several key test parameters, will corrupt the test data.

Source: Test Generator – Rescoring Online Tests

Slide 6

Rescoring Online Tests

Paper and Pencil

• Items 1,2 and 3 on the previous slide may be factors especially if answer sheets are used and scanned.

• If tests are manually graded, it's easier for the test administrator to make allowances for bad test items.

• If the test will be given to more than one group, the test author can correct the bad item and reprint the test.

• If you are currently doing paper-and-pencil testing, we welcome your comments/feedback regarding how you handle the rescoring of tests containing bad items.

Source: Test Generator – Rescoring Online Tests

Slide 7

Rescoring Online Tests

Question Banks

• In the case of online tests that were created by drawing questions from one or multiple question banks, it's important that the test author take steps to correct the bad item in the question bank and include a journal entry under the question's Notes field describing the correction they've made.

• We recognize that in some organizations, modifying test items may involve some sort of psychometric review by one or more trained test authors.

Source: Test Generator – Rescoring Online Tests

Slide 8

Rescoring Online Tests

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