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Re: [Phys-l] A challenge.



I think that Jack has missed the point of my concern. I'm not concerned about the competitive nature of the test; I'm concerned about the fairness of the test. There could very well be _valid_ questions that would tend to increase the scores of students who otherwise would receive lower scores on the _biased_ test that results when such questions are systematically rejected. Such biased tests are less valid because they don't measure what they purport to measure. The criteria for question rejection should not reduce the validity of the test.

Daniel Crowe
Loudoun County Public Schools
Academy of Science
dan.crowe@loudoun.k12.va.us
Jack Uretsky <jlu@hep.anl.gov> 11/27/09 10:21 PM >>>
Put your question in the context of applicants for positions on
the varsity squad of an athletic team. Perhaps, then, the question will
answer itself.
But, you might say, academic grades are not competitive. But what
fraction of applicants to. say, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, or Rice are
accepted? And to what extent does the college of one's degree affect the
job potential?
My expeience is that real life is highly competive, so the world
of athletics is a relevant model for the world of survival outside of
athletics. Give your students a break. Let them know that grade
inflation does not prepare them for real life.
Regards,
Jack

"Trust me. I have a lot of experience at this."
General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley




On Fri, 27 Nov 2009, Dan Crowe wrote:

Is anyone else bothered by the policy that reinforces the "smart" vs. "dumb" kids scores? I can imagine that there are valid questions that otherwise higher-scoring students miss more frequently that otherwise lower-scoring students. If such questions exist, then systematically rejecting such questions reduces the validity of the entire test.

Daniel Crowe
Loudoun County Public Schools
Academy of Science
dan.crowe@loudoun.k12.va.us
Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@redshift.com> 11/26/09 11:35 PM >>>
Posted on PTSOS by Dean Baird:

The process by which an item makes it on to the CST is ... involved.
Add a few more steps for those that get released.

Items are developed by ETS and screened by the California Department
of Education and by its Assessment Review Panel. If that all goes
well, the item is field-tested. The item must perform well on a
series of psychometric measures. Most importantly, the item must be
neither too easy nor too hard, based on student performance on the
item. And the item must discriminate well. That is, students who
perform well on the test overall should perform well on the item. And
students who don't perform well on the test overall should perform
poorly on the item. There are always some items that "smart" kids get
wrong and "dumb" kids get right. Those items are rejected.

<snip>
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_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l