My class, my test

In San Juan Evangelista School, teachers were assigned to prepare tests for the entire level. The problem was that sometimes “test developers” did not know what the other teachers had taught or their methodology; therefore, the entire assessment process was not valid. Teachers should be able to develop their own tests for their own students because of three main reasons: first, teachers are aware of the content taught in the class, second teachers know with which methodology they have taught the content, and lastly teachers must use tests as part of the learning process. In this essay, I will argue why teachers should be allowed to develop their own tests.

The only way teachers can create a test is by knowing what contents students have reviewed and learned. When other teachers develop tests, these may include content which students have not been taught. In technical terms this is known as content validity. This means that teachers should assess what you have taught with a representative sample of the content domain. For example: if a teacher is assessing his/her students reading comprehension with open-ended questions, he/she should not assess grammar or spelling in the answers since that is not part of the reading comprehension domain.

A test, in order to be valid, needs to consider the methodology in which students have learned the contents. Instructional validity is the technical term for explaining how a test needs to consider the way in which students have been taught the contents. For example: if students have studied the meanings of certain words and how they collocate with others in a written manner, teachers cannot assess use of words in an oral manner because that is not the method in which they taught the words. In our country, PSU is the selection test for students to enter the university. This test format is multiple choice/objective tests. Therefore, students should practice their tests with a similar format. Format is also what instructional validity seeks for.

When teachers develop their own tests it is even more feasible to promote learning with the tests. However, assessment is closely connected to learning; the latter will not come automatically. When teachers develop their own tests, they are aware of the entire process of assessment and with that awareness they will be able to promote learning by deeply analyzing tests results and evaluating their methodology and teaching styles. Feedback is also essential in order to promote learning through assessments. When we provide students with detailed and meaningful results, we will be promoting autonomy and learning because they will be able to see their strengths and weaknesses.

As a conclusion, we can state that these three arguments are key in order to discuss the issue of test development. The assessment process needs to have a high level of validity which can be provided by knowing the context of each class. Teachers are the ones that best know their context, and they should be able to develop their own tests for their own classes. When teachers are given standard tests, they are not able to use tests as a learning tool; therefore, they are not able to take 100% advantage. Most of the times, the best things are tailor-made.