Teachers' Use of Test-Item Banks for Student Assessment in North Carolina Secondary Agricultural Education Programs.

摘要

Higher expectations are on all parties to ensure students successfully perform on standardized tests. Specifically in North Carolina agriculture classes, students are given a CTE Post Assessment to measure knowledge gained and proficiency. Prior to students taking the CTE Post Assessment, teachers have access to a test item bank system that contains questions that can be incorporated throughout instruction. Agriculture teachers' decisions to utilize test item bank questions within instruction are based on their motivations and internal and external factors.;The purpose of this study was to determine how agriculture teachers in North Carolina use test item bank questions in their classroom and the impact test item banks have on experiential learning. Five specific objectives centered this study: 1. Determine the extent North Carolina agriculture teachers utilize test item bank questions for both formative and summative assessments. 2. Describe the internal and external factors that influence teachers to use test item banks. 3. Determine other types of assessments being used by agricultural education teachers. 4. Determine agriculture teachers' perceptions regarding the use of test items banks. 5. Determine agriculture teachers' perceptions regarding the influence test item bank usage on experiential learning in the classroom or lab.;A questionnaire that incorporated Likert-type items, multiple response items, and an open ended was created to determine teachers' use of test item banks in their classroom and the item banks influence on experiential learning was created. Prior to the questionnaire being distributed to the pilot participants, university faculty and a panel of experts reviewed the questionnaire. Test- retest deemed no significant differences. The finalized questionnaire was distributed using Qualtrics to all 338 North Carolina high school agriculture teachers who were not identified as first year teachers. In the end, 225 teachers completed the survey for a response rate of 67%.;The results indicated that test item banks do play a major role in the North Carolina high school agriculture classroom. The majority of teachers received training on how to use test item banks, and 47% use the bank questions at least once a week on formative assessments. Teachers are comfortable with developing their own tests; however, 36% of teachers use only test item bank questions for their summative tests. The majority of teachers indicated that their CTE Post Assessment scores were important to their county, principal, and CTE director and this was an influence in their decision to use test item banks.;In addition to test item banks, teachers reported using worksheets, discussions, questioning, and lab activities the most as formative assessments. In addition to summative tests, major projects and papers were also given. Overall 97% of teachers believe summative tests should include appropriate levels of higher level thinking. While teachers utilize multiple choice items the most, fill in the blank, short answer, and matching were also reported to be used frequently on summative tests. Teachers (69%) do not believe the CTE Post Assessment accurately measures student knowledge.;The experiential learning component was also evaluated and the majority of the teachers believe experiential learning is an important part of agriculture education. A large majority (87%) believe that experiential learning activities enhance student performance on the CTE Post Assessment.;Test item banks are an integral part of the agriculture classroom and teachers viewed the banks positively. Teachers balance preparing students for the post assessment and incorporate experiential learning activities. Future studies should be conducted to compare test item bank usage in high stakes states and low stakes states. In addition, teachers should be trained not only on how to use the item banks, but also how to incorporate the test items into instruction.