Assessment of Senior Secondary School Physics Teachers' Knowledge of Multi-Choice Test Construction Procedures

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to assess the senior secondary school physics teachers' knowledge of multiple-choice test construction. The study employed a survey type research design and the sample consisted of 50 senior secondary school teachers in Ilorin South, East, and West Local Government Areas, which were randomly selected as the sample for this study. Questionnaire was used as instrument that probed teachers' knowledge and their perceived use of test construction strategies. The reliability index of the instrument; Physics Teachers’ Knowledge of Test Construction Procedure (PTKTCP) was determined using Cronbach's alpha approach, which enables one to estimate internal consistency when the scoring of items on a test is not limited to 1 point (for correct) or 0 points (for incorrect response). The collected data were analysed using mean, independent t-test and ANOVA to test if there was a significant difference among the teachers on all the scales. Findings from this study indicated that most teachers consider the preparation of test blueprints important during test construction and that there are no gender differences or influences of teachers' level of experience on their knowledge of multiple-choice test construction procedures. The study recommended that teachers in training colleges of education and universities should be exposed to the technicalities in preparing test blue print in order for their assessment instrument to be valid.

Keywords: Assessment, test construction, multiple-choice test, teachers, physics, senior secondary schools