Most of the educational boards in India conduct
examinations at the end of 10th and 12th grades. The 10th
grade result plays a big role in narrowing down student’s choice of academic
discipline for further studies (e.g., liberal-arts, commerce, or science-stream);
whereas the 12th grade result serves as a criterion (at times, a
sole criterion) for the choice of career as well as admission to the higher
education institution. Over the years, the board examination system has changed
at administrative level with things happening in a more efficient way. However,
things were poor, are poor, and are on a path towards poorness when it comes to
scientific assessment. Here’s why:
The state boards have never published any of the psychometric properties
(e.g., reliability, validity, item discrimination, & difficulty value) of
their tests. Perhaps nobody has ever cared for asking for it. Today, through
this article, I would like to raise this vital issue and draw your attention to
a mass-deception exercise in the form of the “Board Exams” that decides careers
of our youth.
Ten big points for improving the Board Examination:
1.
Improving
Reliability and Validity of Test Items
All tests have these two basic
characteristics:
·
Validity: Measure
the concepts that we want to measure (i.e., A weighting-machine should measure
weight, not any other property).
·
Reliability: Scores should be consistent for the same competency level of student (i.e., A
weighting-machine should show same weight every time we step on it, as long as
our weight is constant).
The State Board Examination papers often have test items that are likely
to have significantly poor reliability and validity.
Moreover, some test items
simply measure the memorization of the opinion (and not scientific facts) of
text-book authors that has nothing to do with the subject content. Let’s have a
look at the following test items, which are taken from Question
Bank-2008 of Gujarat
Secondary Education Board (Source- http://203.77.200.35/gseb/question-paper.htm).
Towards
what Indians have developed the feeling of equality? (Std. 10- Social Science)
A) Huge living beings
B) Nature
C) All living beings
D) Animals
Which
one is the most valuable asset to human being? (Std. 12- Psychology)
A) Money
B) Strength
C) Mind
D) Language
What could
be the rationale for above test items? Perhaps, “how well do you remember
personal (unscientific) opinions of our authors?” The test maker should check
validity and reliability for tests and provide rationale for each test item.
2. Diminishing
Excessive Focus on Lower Cognitive Level
In this era of globalization, where our youth will compete with the best
of the world, we got to encourage critical and creative thinking and problem
solving skills. Research shows that the teaching methodology of teachers and
the learning methods of students greatly depend on the type of final
examination (type and quality of questions). Thus, if the majority of our
students are choosing rote memorization and superficial learning strategies to
crack the State Board examination, something must be wrong with the type of
questions being asked. The board exams focus excessively on knowledge and
understanding levels of cognition (as per Bloom’s Taxonomy). The students
rarely get opportunities to exhibit their in-depth learning driven by mastery
oriented goals. Our test items should measure higher levels of cognition as
well (i.e., application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation).
Let’s look at the following question taken from March-2010
10th grade social science test-item.
What
is Environmental Degradation? Mention the measures to control Environmental
Degradation. (5 marks)
This question is
at knowledge-level and requires only good memorization skills to get a full
score. How about questioning in the following manner-
Based
on your knowledge of social science text book, prepare a detailed plan of
action to cope up with the Environmental Degradation in your home
town/village/city. (5 marks)
The above
question will demand insightful learning of environmental degradation; and will
measure higher levels of cognition. Of course, this will also demand better
teaching from teachers. Such test items have potential to break the cycle of poor
teaching→ poor learning → poor testing; and encourage students to study
for mastering the subject, rather than remembering the content. They will also encourage
teachers to facilitate learning, and to critically analyze, evaluate, and
discuss issues in the classroom.
3. Preparing
Tests that Distinguish Students
In the present scenario, the test items are not designed so that they
distinguish between a mediocre student, a poor student, and a brilliant student
(i.e., discrimination parameter in technical terms). This requires creation of
large item pool and thorough item analyses of each item.
4. Making
Difficulty Level Uniform
Many times test paper of one subject is more difficult than that of
other subjects. It is a mystery if the difficulty level of a test is analyzed
by the test-developers. If the difficulty level of tests of optional subjects
is different, it will be unscientific to compare the total scores across exams
of these subjects. For example- student “A” has scored 80 in Sanskrit-test,
which has lower difficulty level, whereas student “B” has scored 80 in
Hindi-test, which has high difficulty level. In such case, the score of 80 in
Hindi has higher value than that of in Sanskrit. In current practice, these
technicalities are completely ignored.
5. Rationalizing
Time Limits
Many times, some exam-papers are lengthy and some are not. And at times,
for two students of same competency level, the difference in their result is
determined by their writing speed. Now, should the measurement of writing speed
be an objective of the state board examination? We ought to devise the length
of exam rationally and uniformly. Do we want to give our students time to
critically think, to evaluate, to judge, to analyze, and to apply their
knowledge? Or we simply want them to vomit out all rote-learning of the
previous night? Have the test developers considered the speeededness factor in analyses?
6. Establishing
Uniform Test Administration
Though tests are administered simultaneously in the entire state, the
testing conditions are not uniform. The supervisors are not trained and do not
have standardized code of conduct. Thus, it is likely that the students in
different exam-halls interact differently with the supervisor. Some supervisor
may be proactive and helpful, while others may be sluggish and arrogant. This
can severely affect the morale of the test taker. The conditions in which
students take examination ought to be standardized. Also, environmental factors
(like- temperature, wind/rain), physical distance between students, quality of
writing desks, noise level, and supervisor behavior should be controlled
uniformly across the state. Thus, someone who takes exam in a private school
in Ahmedabad has the same exam-experience as someone writing
exam in a remote village of Dang. In addition, we need to
control systematic cheating that takes place in many exam-centers. No student
should get “center-advantage” or “center-disadvantage”.
7. Eliminating
Subjective Evaluation and Improving Transparency
Many teachers/ parents/ students/ educationalists keep questioning the
credibility of the board examination. Subjective evaluation is one of the major
factors hurting the credibility of the test. This is related with the
inter-rater reliability of test. The test score should be consistent even if
different examiner evaluates the test. We got to study the inter rater
reliability of these exams. At the very least, inter-rater reliability
coefficient has to be greater than 0.7, given that the stakes are high for
students. We cannot allow mood/ personality/or personal views of examiners
to determine the careers of our future citizens.
In addition, the examination system has to be more transparent. The
students should have an opportunity to know why their score is cut, and what
information is missing. They should also get an opportunity to see the
answer-key. Of course, there may not be one right response for an essay type
question but a model response should be shared with the students so that they
can work on their deficiencies. This will also help teachers to have deeper
understanding of what objectives they should consider while teaching.
8. Accommodating
Students with Special needs
Most of the educational boards do not provide information on how they
accommodate children with special needs except for blind, or speech/hearing impaired. There is a
wide range of children that require support. For example- learning-disabled,
emotionally disturbed, autistic, schizophrenic, & intellectually challenged etc.
When will we acknowledge that formally in educational system?
9. Improving
Predictive Value
If the result of an examination is to be considered for admission or
employment purpose, then such examination should have proven predictive value.
Though its results are used for admissions and employment, the board exam is
aimed only to measure the present competency of student. It does not predict the
future success of student in respective subjects. In simple terms, score of 100
in Physics does not predict that the student will succeed in Physics courses at
the University level. Now, if we want the result of this examination to be
considered for university admissions/ employment, we may include subject-wise
aptitude test like SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) in the US. With help of
experts, the board can generate tests of high predictive value. The result of
such tests may provide important additional information to the
universities/colleges/employers about the natural proclivity of
the student towards the subject.
10. Gradually
move on to Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT)
In this era of IT
revolution (something that India is proud of), we can no longer carry on laborious
expensive and exhaustive ways of large scale assessment. The boards should
devise concrete action plans to move on to CAT. Of course, this will take time
(to self-educate, to educate educational
administrators/teachers/students/parents and masses and to generate resources).
But, there are great advantages of CAT as mentioned below:
·
Facilitating convenience of Students/ Parents
·
Standardize test-administration, higher
credibility and scientific testing
·
Better control on systematic cheating
·
Greatly encourage computer literacy into
masses
·
Development of testing industry in India
In technical terms, the
present practices represent a crude and a bit distorted version of classical
testing theory. Research in the field of educational measurement suggests that
item response theory (IRT) is superior indeed. Many developed nations have
moved on to more scientifically rigorous ways of assessing educational outcomes
through IRT. It is a high time for Indian states to begin reforms in this
direction as well; else they will be out-educated by developed nations with a
great margin. There are endless reasons why India has continued these
practices. I am simply not going to dig that up as that will be nothing more
than a blame game. But, it is clear; I cannot tolerate the current status quo
on this front, can you?
