Validity, Reliability, and Accuracy

Mona Bazzi

EDU 645 Learning & Assessment for the 21st Century
Instructor: Alicia Holland-Johnson

Validity, Reliability, and Accuracy Assignment

Select one of the learning outcomes below and draft a hypothetical assessment that supports the outcome (e.g., multiple choice items, essay items, authentic assessment, etc.). Explain how you plan to promote validity and reliability in your assessment, and how your assessment addresses the four categories of sources of error identified in the text, thereby promoting accuracy.

Learning Outcomes
a.  Apply analytical skills and knowledge of literary analysis to reading and writing about poetry. (Literary Research)

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Name: ________________                                                            Date: ____________________

Fourth Grade

Poetry Comprehension Test

I Build Walls

I build walls:
Walls that protect,
Walls that shield,
Walls that say I shall not yield
Or reveal
Who I am or how I feel.

I build walls:
Walls that hide,
Walls that cover what’s inside,
Walls that stare or smile or look away,
Silent lies,
Walls that even block my eyes
From the tears I might have cried.

I build walls:
Walls that never let me
Truly touch
Those I love so very much.
Walls that need to fall!
Walls meant to be fortresses
Are prisons after all.

Questions:

In this poem, walls are not made of bricks or any physical materials. The author uses “walls” as a metaphor for someone hiding his feelings and thoughts from others and even from himself.

1-      Why would someone build “walls” around his or her feelings?

2-      Do you or others you know, ever build such “walls”?

3-      Does the narrator believe that it’s always a good idea to have these “walls”? How do you know?

4-      Do you think that there are times when we need to “build walls”?

Test Analysis and measurements:

Students are supposed to perform basic understanding:

First:  demonstrate understanding of the literal meaning of a poem through identifying stated information indicating sequence of events, and defining grade level vocabulary

Second: demonstrate comprehension by drawing conclusions; inferring relationships such as cause and effect and identifying theme and poem elements such as paraphrasing the poem, and express the poet’s feelings.

Third: evaluate extend meaning: Demonstrate critical understanding by making predictions; distinguishing between fact and opinion and reality and fantasy, transferring ideas to other situations; and judging author, purpose, point of view and effectiveness.

Fourth: identify reading strategies: demonstrate awareness of techniques that enhance comprehension, such as using existing knowledge, summarizing content, comparing information across texts, using graphics and text structures, and formulating questions that deepen understanding.

As to Language arts

Sixth:  introduction to print: Demonstrate knowledge of sound/symbol and structural relationships in letters, words and signs.

Seventh:  Sentence Structure: Demonstrate an understanding of conventions of writing complete and effective sentences including treatment of subject, and verb, punctuation and capitalization.

Eighth: Writing Strategies: Demonstrate an understanding of information and sources and of the use of main idea of the poem, concluding sentences, connective and transitional words and phrases, supporting elements, sequences of ideas and relevance of information.

Finally:  Editing Skills: Identity the appropriate use of capitalization, punctuations, nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in existing texts. The following assessment is a process to evaluate students’ skills in discussing the poet’s theme, main idea and practice comprehension strategies and skills through analyzing and paraphrasing the poem by answering the questions about the poem. Also, students are tested in predicting and sequencing incidents and facts about the poet’s point of view. Further, students are supposed to read the poem carefully in order to understand the author’s aim and identify the hidden meanings he used to get to the main idea. At the beginning the author started his poem by “walls” that has a hidden meaning which is “feelings”. Consequently, students are supposed to assess how the poet presents and discusses alternative perspectives that are related to his opinion about walls.

It is crucial to use correct language skills that is sentence structure, paraphrasing the poem through answering the comprehension questions correctly and discussing the facts and opinion that the poet tried to put across his poems.

                             

References:

Kibuiszyn, T. & Borich,  G. (2012). Educational testing & measurement: Classroom application and practice (9^th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. 

Mona Bazzi; Previous Test, Retrieved from; personal notes Marygrove Community College; 2011 Class.