information needed to respond to questions (Salend, 2011).
choice) tend to be more appropriate
Use language that students can
for assessing factual knowledge taught
through teacher-directed activities
Prompting Students to relax
understand and avoid vague terms
(for example, frequently, usually) and
(Salend, 2011).
irrelevant information that may confuse
In terms of weighting, the percent-
and frustrate test takers (Brookhart &
age, number, and point values teach-
Nitko, 2008; Elliott et al., 2010). Clear
ers assign to test questions covering
directions often feature the following:
specific topics should directly relate
n Numerals or number words to pro-
to the difficulty of the content and the
vide sequenced information in chrono-
amount of class time devoted to teach-
logical order (Salend, 2009).
ing it (Salend, 2011). For instance, if
20 percent of instructional time was
n Bullets to present crucial informa-
tion that does not have a specific order
spent on teaching the events that led
to World War II, then a corresponding
Relax, take a deep breath
(Rotter, 2006).
n Direction reminders (such as
percentage of test questions and point
“Remember to write clearly and in com-values should cover that topic.
plete sentences”) throughout the test
(Salend, 2009).
Schedule with Sanity
n Symbols that prompt students to
As Madison students’ comments indi-
pay attention to directions, such as
cate, the scheduling of tests can also
color-coded arrows pointing to direc-
affect students’ performance. Frequent
tions for specific item types (Elliott et
testing covering more specific content
al., 2010).
enables teachers to tell students what
they should study, give students
Smile, you are halfway through
Format
enough time to complete tests, and
more accurately assess mastery. Good
test scheduling means that teachers
coordinate so students aren’t overwhelmed with too many tests in one
time period.
Source: From Creating Inclusive Classrooms:
Effective and Reflective Practices (7th ed.,
p. 472), by S. J. Salend, 2011, Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson. Copyright 2011 by Pearson.
Reprinted with permission.
It’s important to set up test items in an
organized way (Roach, Beddow, Kurz,
Kettler, & Elliott, 2010). Presenting
items in an intuitive, predictable, and
numbered sequence helps students
transition from one test question to the
The Madison teachers began to
next and lessens the likelihood that they
administer regularly scheduled tests
that were accessible by improving direc-
will skip items. Showing a reasonable
that assessed a reasonable amount of
tions, format, readability, and legibility number of items on each page, group-
content rather than infrequent tests
(Salend 2009, 2011).
ing similar question types together, and
covering a great deal of content. They
determined the content of their tests by Directions
identifying the most important topics
Student-friendly tests have clear,
and concepts they taught and the per-
complete directions that help students
centage of instructional time devoted to understand the context and conditions
each. Teachers also collaborated to plan associated with items. Such direc-
their testing schedules.
Fostering Accessibility
As the Madison team discovered,
tions say concisely what students are
expected to do, note the precision stu-
dents should provide in their answers
(for example, angle measurements
confusing tests hinder students’ perfor-
within a specific number of degrees),
mance. These teachers drew on research highlight point totals for items and sec-
and proven strategies to create tests
tions, and present formulas and other
enclosing directions in text boxes all
enhance student attention to test items.
Giving students an appropriate
amount of space to write their answers
helps them structure the length of their
responses (Salend, 2009). It’s best to
have students record answers on the
test rather than on a separate score sheet
(Walker & Schmidt, 2004). Numbering
test pages helps teachers give clearer
directions and helps students locate—
and ask questions about—specific
items.
