EDUC9769 Measuring educational achievement

2020

4.5

8 x 1-hour lectures per semester
1 x 4-hour seminar per semester
4 x 5-hour intensive workshops per semester

1 Admission into MEDER-Master of Education (Ed Research, Evaluation and Assessment)
1a Admission into MEDERP-Master of Education (Ed Research, Evaluation and Assessment) [1.5 years]
1b Admission into GCEREA-Graduate Certificate in Educational Research Evaluation and Assessment
1c Admission into MEDWS-Master of Education
1d Admission into BSCMTS-Bachelor of Science, Master of Teaching (Secondary)
1e Admission into BLANGMTS-Bachelor of Languages, Master of Teaching (Secondary)
1f Admission into BGSCMTPR-Bachelor of General Science, Master of Teaching (Primary)
1g Admission into BAMTS-Bachelor of Arts, Master of Teaching (Secondary)
1h Admission into BAMTPR-Bachelor of Arts, Master of Teaching (Primary)
1i Admission into BAMTEC-Bachelor of Arts, Master of Teaching (Early Childhood)
1j Admission into MCPEP-Master of Cognitive Psychology and Educational Practice
Must Satisfy: ((1 or 1a or 1b or 1c or 1d or 1e or 1f or 1g or 1h or 1i or 1j))

EDES9017 has been successfully completed

Students should be familiar with basic data handing techniques in e.g. Excel. Some familiarity with statistical packages such as SPSS would be an advantage. Familiarity with fundamental concepts in educational assessment is assumed.

Assignment(s), Project, Seminar

This topic is designed for students who wish to understand and use advanced methods for the assessment of educational achievement and the measurement of latent traits such as attitude. Theories covered include an overview of classical test theory and a detailed investigation of item response theory, specifically, the Rasch measurement model. Concepts covered include measurement, validity, reliability, equating, computer adaptive testing, standard setting, and estimation procedures. The core focus of the topic is on the application of advanced measurement models in reporting achievement and the improvement of assessment tasks. A theme of the topic is to explore the philosophical assumptions and social contexts of educational assessments.

This topic aims to develop students’:

• understanding and application of the concepts of classical test theory

• understanding and application of the concepts of item response theory

• critical understanding of the adequacies of educational assessment and reporting

• capability to define learning progressions and develop and validate tasks along those progressions

• capacities to generate and evaluate educational assessment tasks

On completion of this topic students will be able to:

• Analyse and report on student achievement using classical test theory approaches

• Analyse and report on student achievement using item response theory approaches

• Interpret the output of IRT based analyses of achievement data and to generate informative feedback to stakeholders

• Compare the merits of classical and item response theory approaches to the analysis and reporting of student achievement

• Apply learning taxonomies to content domains in order to define learning progressions

• Generate sequenced assessment tasks based on learning progressions

• Apply item response theory to the evaluation of assessment tasks