Among the most effective educational interventions are those with testing components. Testing can be used effectively to promote learning, but that means using it more often in spaced, shorter bursts. Optimally, teachers should test their students on material at the moment they begin to forget it--the more discrete the subject matter (e.g., mathematics) the shorter the time interval between tests.
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Classroom testing: Using tests to promote learning
1. Testing in the classroom: Using
tests to promote learning
Richard P. Phelps
Universidad Finis Terrae, Santiago, Chile
January 7, 2014
2. Q. What is a standardized test?
A. An assessment with at least one aspect – in
its content or administration – standardized.
Q. What is the key advantage of standardized testing?
A. It is standardized.
12. Why tests?
●
Students tend to study more, and learn more, when:
• they know they will be tested, but not precisely what will be tested
» (e.g.) Experiment comparing gains of students with “take-home tests” to
those with “in class tests” -- the latter learned substantially more.
• when there is reinforcement of material already studied
●
Mastery learning experiments of 1960s—1980s:
» Students learn more when asked to recall what they have learned.
» Up to a point, the more students are made to actively process information,
and describe it to others, the better they learn.
16. 10 benefits of testing and their applications to education
Roediger, Putnam and Smith
Direct effects of testing
Retrieval practice during tests enhances retention of the retrieved information
(relative to not testing or even to studying) -- the “testing effect”
Repeated retrieval produces knowledge that can be retrieved flexibly and
transferred to other situations
On open-ended assessments (e.g., essay tests) retrieval practice induced by
tests helps students organize information into a coherent knowledge base.
Repeated retrieval leads to easier retrieval of related information
SOURCE: Roediger, Putnam, & Smith, Ten benefits of testing and their applications to educational practice, Psychology of
Learning and Motivation, 55, 2011.
17. 10 benefits of testing and their applications to education
Roediger, Putnam and Smith
Indirect effects of testing
Students tested frequently study more and with more regularity.
Tests permit students to discover gaps in their knowledge and adjust their
study efforts to focus on difficult material.
Students who study after taking a test learn more than if they had not taken a
test.
Students who self-test or are tested more frequently in class learn more.
SOURCE: Roediger, Putnam, & Smith, Ten benefits of testing and their applications to educational practice, Psychology of
Learning and Motivation, 55, 2011.
18. 10 benefits of testing and their applications to education
Roediger, Putnam and Smith
Benefit 1: The Testing Effect: Retrieval Aids Later Retention
Benefit 2: Testing Identifies Gaps in Knowledge
Benefit 3: Testing Causes Students to Learn More from the Next Study Episode
Benefit 4: Testing Produces Better Organization of Knowledge
Benefit 5: Testing Improves Transfer of Knowledge to New Contexts
Benefit 6: Testing can Facilitate Retrieval of Material That was not Tested
Benefit 7: Testing Improves Metacognitive Monitoring
Benefit 8: Testing Prevents Interference from Prior Material when Learning
New Material
Benefit 9: Testing Provides Feedback to Instructors
Benefit 10: Frequent Testing Encourages Students to Study
SOURCE: Roediger, Putnam, & Smith, Ten benefits of testing and their applications to educational practice, Psychology of
Learning and Motivation, 55, 2011.
19. 10 benefits of testing and their applications to education
Roediger, Putnam and Smith
Benefit 1: The Testing Effect: Retrieval Aids Later Retention
Benefit 2: Testing Identifies Gaps in Knowledge
Benefit 3: Testing Causes Students to Learn More from the Next Study Episode
Benefit 4: Testing Produces Better Organization of Knowledge
Benefit 5: Testing Improves Transfer of Knowledge to New Contexts
Benefit 6: Testing can Facilitate Retrieval of Material That was not Tested
Benefit 7: Testing Improves Metacognitive Monitoring
Benefit 8: Testing Prevents Interference from Prior Material when Learning
New Material
Benefit 9: Testing Provides Feedback to Instructors
Benefit 10: Frequent Testing Encourages Students to Study
SOURCE: Roediger, Putnam, & Smith, Ten benefits of testing and their applications to educational practice, Psychology of
Learning and Motivation, 55, 2011.
20. 10 benefits of testing and their applications to education
Roediger, Putnam and Smith
Most teachers should be testing much more
frequently, …with smaller, shorter, less
consequential tests.
Students learn more when they test. But
learn best when the tests are “spaced”.
What is the optimal lapse of time between tests?
The best time to test again is just before students start forgetting the
information. This time lapse is shorter with discrete material, like
mathematics, than with other subjects. Some studies suggest that math
students should be tested at least once a week.
21. The more high-stakes decision points, the better the
student performance ?
Figure 1: Average TIMSS Score and Number of Quality Control
Measures Used, by Country
Average Percent Correct (grades 7&8)
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
5
10
15
20
Number of Quality Control Measures Used
Top-Performing Countries
Bottom-Performing Countries
SOURCE: Phelps, Benchmarking to the best in mathematics, Evaluation Review, 2001
22. Quality control has proportionally greater effect in poorer
countries
Average Percent Correct (grades 7& 8)
(per GDP/capita)
Figure 2: Average TIMSS Score and Number of Quality Control
Measures Used (each adjusted for GDP/capita), by Country
Num be r of Quality Control Me as ure s Us e d (pe r GDP/capita)
SOURCE: Phelps, Benchmarking to the best in mathematics, Evaluation Review, 2001
23. What testing skills do teachers need…
…for interpreting information from large-scale tests?
Basic understanding of statistics:
- distributions, mean, median, skewness, kurtosis
- sampling error, measurement error
- type 1 / type 2 error, statistical power
- sampling (size, representativeness)
Protocols to help them explain
tests to others:
- to students
- to parents
- to the media
24. What testing skills do teachers need…
…for developing and administering classroom tests?
Practice (with each other) in writing
items / prompts / rubrics :
- unambiguous, relevant, un-biased
Understand that useful assessment can
be very simple:
- e.g., save the last few minutes of
each class to assess by asking
students to record 2-3 concepts they
learned that day
Learn the optimal frequency, spacing of tests for your subject field and grade level.
25. It is easy to know what you are teaching.
But, you can only know what students are learning if you assess.
Hinweis der Redaktion
Non-standardized measures, such as teacher grades, are volatile, unreliable, and subjective.
John Hattie has summarized thousands of studies of educational interventions.A New Zealander, now living in Australia.
In yellow are educational interventions related to testing.The second “Response to Intervention” is a special education program.
Scatterplot of country-average 8th grade mathematics TIMSS score and number of high-stakes decision points used.
Assessment is one area where teachers can help each other. Fellow teachers can serve as the item and bias review committees for each teacher’s tests.