DESE Educational Assessment & Student Evaluation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which principle of test fairness ensures that assessment tasks do not advantage or disadvantage students based on cultural background unrelated to the skill being measured?
- Cultural responsiveness
- Differential item functioning
- Universal design for assessment (Correct answer)
- Content validity
Correct answer: Universal design for assessment
Universal design for assessment involves creating assessments accessible and fair to all students from the outset, reducing bias related to cultural or physical differences.
Question 2: A teacher uses exit tickets at the end of each lesson to check for understanding. This practice BEST represents:
- Summative evaluation
- Formative assessment (Correct answer)
- Interim benchmark testing
- Criterion-referenced grading
Correct answer: Formative assessment
Exit tickets used during instruction to check understanding and adjust teaching represent formative assessment, which informs ongoing instructional decisions.
Question 3: Which type of validity evidence is gathered by examining whether an assessment covers the full range of content it is intended to measure?
- Predictive validity
- Concurrent validity
- Content validity (Correct answer)
- Construct validity
Correct answer: Content validity
Content validity examines whether the assessment adequately samples the domain of knowledge or skills it purports to measure.
Question 4: When a teacher adjusts instruction mid-unit after reviewing quiz results, this is an example of using assessment:
- Of learning
- For learning (Correct answer)
- As learning
- Against learning
Correct answer: For learning
Assessment for learning (formative assessment) provides data that teachers use to modify instruction to better meet student needs during the learning process.
Question 5: A student's raw score of 75 is converted to a z-score of +1.5. This means the student scored:
- 75% of questions correctly
- 1.5 points above the class average
- 1.5 standard deviations above the mean (Correct answer)
- In the 75th percentile
Correct answer: 1.5 standard deviations above the mean
A z-score of +1.5 indicates the student's score is 1.5 standard deviations above the mean of the comparison group.
Question 6: Which assessment practice is MOST aligned with the principles of culturally responsive teaching?
- Using standardized tests exclusively for all students
- Offering multiple modalities for students to demonstrate mastery (Correct answer)
- Comparing student performance only to national norms
- Excluding cultural references from all assessment items
Correct answer: Offering multiple modalities for students to demonstrate mastery
Offering multiple ways to demonstrate mastery acknowledges diverse cultural communication styles and reduces cultural bias in assessment.
Question 7: A school's MCAS scores show proficiency rates by grade level over three years. This type of reporting is called:
- Cross-sectional data analysis (Correct answer)
- Longitudinal cohort tracking
- Disaggregated subgroup reporting
- Value-added modeling
Correct answer: Cross-sectional data analysis
Cross-sectional analysis compares different groups (grades) at a single point or across time points without following the same students, unlike longitudinal tracking.
DESE Educational Assessment & Student Evaluation 3
Which principle of test fairness ensures that assessment tasks do not advantage or disadvantage students based on cultural background unrelated to the skill being measured?