Large-scale educational examinations: Question setting and evaluation

Author: Xinrong Wei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: This book systematically addresses a series of fundamental issues in test development and evaluation from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives, introducing relevant techniques and methods. It is suitable for test development administrators in examination institutions, test researchers and evaluators, teachers involved in large-scale educational test development, graduate students studying educational measurement and testing in higher education, leaders of educational admission and examination institutions, and general researchers of educational issues. The book elaborates on the relationship between large-scale educational examinations and school teaching and learning, some concepts and theories of modern education and psychological measurement, as well as the limitations of large-scale educational examinations. It discusses the fundamental issues of test design and development, examines the primary measurement functions of objective and subjective questions using numerous examples, highlights key considerations in developing objective and subjective questions, and addresses issues such as scoring standards for subjective questions. Additionally, it presents theories and methods for error control in subjective question scoring under the context of online marking. The book introduces the theories and techniques of test evaluation, including item analysis, reliability and error analysis of test results, validity and validity testing. It also explains the mechanisms by which large-scale educational examinations influence school teaching and learning, as well as methods for studying this issue and strategies to improve the impact of examinations on school teaching. The book incorporates a wealth of research findings and examples on Shanghai's educational examinations, both published and unpublished, by the author. The author aims to integrate China's, particularly Shanghai's, practical experience in test development and evaluation into modern educational testing theory.