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VSUP TEST ITEM BANK The Test Item Bank
is an important component of the Virginia School-University Partnership.
The Test Bank began in the fall of 2007 in response to the need for
quality test questions on formative assessments that helped
Master
Plan
TEST ITEM BANK MEETINGS
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prepare
students for the Standards of Learning tests. After focusing initially
on Math 6 and Math 7, during the past three years the Test Item Bank
has developed over 1,300 questions in the following subject areas: Grade
3 Reading (242), Grade 5 Math (161), Grade 6 Math (162), Grade 7 Math
(258), Grade 8 Math (71), US History I (161), and US History II (266).
This year the plan is to expand the Test Item Bank to include Math 3,
Math 4, and
Civics. These questions are used by VSUP school divisions for the purpose
of providing instructional support to teachers in assessing and remediating
students. In a survey given in May of 2011, 100% of VSUP divisions reported
using the Test Bank items and 100% rated the quality of questions (in
terms of their relationship to the SOL curriculum) as good (55%) or
excellent (45%). Only member school divisions have access to these Test
Bank items through Interactive Achievement or ExamView software and
Collab, UVA's on-line computer system.
Professional
Development is a strong part of the Test Item Bank. Member school divisions
provide release time for teachers and instructional specialists in each
subject area to attend four full-day meetings held throughout the year
at The Albemarle Resource Center in Charlottesville. At the first meeting
of the year, participants are given training in how to write quality
test items and how to enter them into the Test Bank. This year a large
part of the training will be focused on writing questions which effectively
test higher level thinking (since in the May 2011 survey, the quality
of questions in terms of their reflection of higher order thinking skills
was rated excellent by only 18% and merely fair by 18% of school divisions).
Participants are asked to bring questions to each meeting and then they
work in groups to review and revise these questions. Each item for the
Test Bank is reviewed for quality, content, SOL alignment, and level
of difficulty according to Bloom's Taxonomy. Three readers/groups approve
each item prior to inclusion in the Test Bank. In addition to the reward
of producing this invaluable resource of high quality questions which
can be used by their home school or division, participants also benefit
from the training and practice they receive in writing good questions
and from the opportunity to participate in a Professional Learning Community
made up of colleagues from across Central Virginia with whom they can
share ideas. This year VSUP is also encouraging all Test Bank participants
to take advantage of further professional development opportunities
by attending selected VSUP conferences for the discounted rate of only
$25 per conference.