Presents guidelines for developing multiple-choice tests to measure critical thinking in nursing. Explains the rationale for test items and describes item criteria, including measurement of cognition at the application level and above, multilogical thinking, and high level of discrimination. (Contains 38 references.) (SK)

A sample of 2,913 questions from 17 nursing test banks was evaluated for adherence to multiple-choice guidelines, cognitive level in Bloom's Taxonomy, and distribution of correct answers. Analysis revealed 2,233 guideline violations; 47.3% of items were written at the knowledge level, 6.5% at the analysis level; and correct answers were evenly…

The National Standards movement seeks to raise the quality of the American educational system. According to one of its chief architects, Diane Ravitch (2000), national standards give clear expectations for students, teachers, parents, colleges, and employers that will result in improved student achievement. Forty-nine of the fifty states (save…

We experimentally investigated the effect of authorized crib cards on undergraduates' multiple-choice exam performance for lower order and higher order questions and on anxiety levels in an upper division child and adolescent development course. Students (N =54) in 2 sections could use crib cards during 2 of the 4 exams. Despite student…

In the project described in this chapter, discussions during group exams were analyzed to gain insight into how students make group decisions for their answers and the implications of their decision-making methods for deepening student understanding.

Twenty-three states are expanding their testing programs to additional grades this school year to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. In devising the new tests, most states have defied predictions and chosen to go beyond multiple-choice items, by including questions that ask students to construct their own responses. But many state…

Item families, which are groups of related items, are becoming increasingly popular in complex educational assessments. For example, in automatic item generation (AIG) systems, a test may consist of multiple items generated from each of a number of item models. Item calibration or scoring for such an assessment requires fitting models that can…

INTEGRITY, an item analysis and statistical collusion detection (answer copying) online application, was reviewed. Features of the software and examples of program output are described in detail. INTEGRITY was found to be easily utilized with an abundance of well-organized documentation and built-in features designed to guide the user through the…

A statistical test for detecting answer copying on multiple-choice items is presented. The test is based on the exact null distribution of the number of random matches between two test takers under the assumption that the response process follows a known response model. The null distribution can easily be generalized to the family of distributions…

This study is concerned with different forms of assessment of pupils' skills in experimentation. The findings of three studies are reported. Study 1 investigates whether it is possible to develop reliable multiple-choice tests for the skills of forming hypotheses, designing experiments and analysing experimental data. Study 2 compares scores from…

This study investigated the effect of concept mapping over traditional instruction on students' understanding and retention of heat and temperature concepts. The sample of this study consisted of 5th grade students from two classes of a elementary school (n=75). One intact class was randomly assigned to the comparison group whereas the other one…

This study investigates the effects of student teachers' hands-on experience with evaluation on their preferences for assessment methods. A course on child development within the 1st year of the elementary teacher education program provides the quasi-experimental learning/teaching setting. Five research conditions are linked to four assessment…

This study addresses concerns about boys' underperformance on literacy tasks compared to girls, by investigating male and females students' responses to narrative texts. Participants were 142 Grade 9 and 10 students. Achievement orientations, including goals, self-efficacy, and self-handicapping, were measured and approach and avoidance factors…

The present study investigated the relative contributions of experiential and ability factors to second language (L2) passage comprehension and L2 vocabulary retention. Participants included a cross section of 99 adult learners of Spanish as a foreign language enrolled in beginning through advanced level university Spanish courses. Participants…

Electronic examination systems, which include Internet-based system, require extremely complicated installation, configuration and maintenance of software as well as hardware. In this paper, we present the design and development of a flexible, easy-to-use and secure examination system (e-Test), in which any commonly used computer can be used as a…