{"title":"Scenario-Based Assessments in Writing: An Experimental Study","authors":"Mo Zhang, P. V. van Rijn, P. Deane, R. Bennett","doi":"10.1080/10627197.2018.1557515","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Writing from source text is critical for developing college-and-career readiness because it is required in advanced academic environments and many vocations. Scenario-based assessment (SBA) represents one approach to measuring this ability. In such assessment, the scenario presents an issue that the student is to read and write about. Before writing, lead-in exercises are presented to encourage the examinee to engage with the source materials and to model the process used in a classroom writing project. This study experimentally manipulated a middle-school assessment design to understand if (1) the lead-in/essay structure increased scores erroneously with a concomitant decrease in test technical quality, and (2) the presence of a single unifying scenario affected scores or score meaning. In general, the SBA design did not appear to artificially increase total-test or essay scores. As importantly, it functioned as well as, sometimes better than, the alternative designs in terms of the measurement characteristics examined.","PeriodicalId":46209,"journal":{"name":"Educational Assessment","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2019-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/10627197.2018.1557515","citationCount":"15","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Educational Assessment","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10627197.2018.1557515","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 15
Abstract
ABSTRACT Writing from source text is critical for developing college-and-career readiness because it is required in advanced academic environments and many vocations. Scenario-based assessment (SBA) represents one approach to measuring this ability. In such assessment, the scenario presents an issue that the student is to read and write about. Before writing, lead-in exercises are presented to encourage the examinee to engage with the source materials and to model the process used in a classroom writing project. This study experimentally manipulated a middle-school assessment design to understand if (1) the lead-in/essay structure increased scores erroneously with a concomitant decrease in test technical quality, and (2) the presence of a single unifying scenario affected scores or score meaning. In general, the SBA design did not appear to artificially increase total-test or essay scores. As importantly, it functioned as well as, sometimes better than, the alternative designs in terms of the measurement characteristics examined.
期刊介绍:
Educational Assessment publishes original research and scholarship on the assessment of individuals, groups, and programs in educational settings. It includes theory, methodological approaches and empirical research in the appraisal of the learning and achievement of students and teachers, young children and adults, and novices and experts. The journal reports on current large-scale testing practices, discusses alternative approaches, presents scholarship on classroom assessment practices and includes assessment topics debated at the national level. It welcomes both conceptual and empirical pieces and encourages articles that provide a strong bridge between theory and/or empirical research and the implications for educational policy and/or practice.