[etni] Fw: Reliability and validity of the Bagrut exams


----- Original Message ----- From: Motti - motti46@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Reliability and validity of the Bagrut exams

Hi,

It seems clear that the Bagrut exams in English, in their current form, are neither reliable nor valid forms of assessment of the students' achievements in English.

It's about time the Szold Institute which is responsible for this faulty product did something about this. I don't know of any research which found the correlation between Bagrut results and other criteria of the students' achievement.
As an experienced teacher I don't think the Bagrut results really reflect the students' knowledge and the experiences of this week's exams only accentuated this feeling.
Anyway, the whole idea of modules was that module G would be the most challenging. It was not! Neither was it in the winter Bagrut.

Something should be done about it and the sooner the better.

If you care to read a few lines about validity and reliability of test read the following quotes or read them in the original sites.

Motti Mendelkern



A test is valid when it measures what it's supposed to.
If a test is reliable, it yields consistent results.
http://www.georgetown.edu/departments/psychology/researchmethods/researchanddesign/validityandreliability.htm

Test/Retest
Test/retest is the more conservative method to estimate reliability. Simply put, the idea behind test/retest is that you should get the same score on test 1 as you do on test 2. The three main components to this method are as follows:
1.) implement your measurement instrument at two separate times for each subject;
2). compute the correlation between the two separate measurements; and
3) assume there is no change in the underlying condition (or trait you are trying to measure) between test 1 and test 2.
http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~alex/teaching/assessment/reliability.html

Type of Reliability How to Measure
Stability or Test-Retest Give the same assessment twice, separated by days, weeks, or months. Reliability is stated as the correlation between scores at Time 1 and Time 2.
Alternate Form Create two forms of the same test (vary the items slightly). Reliability is stated as correlation between scores of Test 1 and Test 2.
Internal Consistency (Alpha, a)Compare one half of the test to the other half. Or, use methods such as Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 (KR20) or Cronbach's Alpha.


http://fcit.usf.edu/assessment/basic/basicc.html


Validity refers to the accuracy of an assessment -- whether or not it measures what it is supposed to measure. Even if a test is reliable, it may not provide a valid measure.
Type of Validity Definition Example/Non-Example
Content The extent to which the content of the test matches the instructional objectives.A semester or quarter exam that only includes content covered during the last six weeks is not a valid measure of the course's overall objectives -- it has very low content validity.
Criterion The extent to which scores on the test are in agreement with (concurrent validity) or predict (predictive validity) an external criterion.If the end-of-year math tests in 4th grade correlate highly with the statewide math tests, they would have high concurrent validity.
Construct The extent to which an assessment corresponds to other variables, as predicted by some rationale or theory. If you can correctly hypothesize that ESOL students will perform differently on a reading test than English-speaking students (because of theory), the assessment may have construct validity.

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