CXC Examiner May 2012 - Caribbean Examinations Council

The Caribbean ExaminerCXC Examination SystemCriterion-Referenced Testsas used by CXCBy Anthony Haynes, PhDIntended purposes: Why Use CriterionReferenced Tests (CRT)?Criterion-Referenced Tests (CRTs) wereintroduced and made popular in educational andassessment fields by Popham and Husek (1969)and Glaser (1963). A criterion-referenced testcan be described as one where the candidate’sperformance on the test is compared with anexternal criterion or standard of performancewithout regard to the distribution of scoresachieved by other candidates. In other words itis the performance on or mastery of the criteriathat matters, even if all the candidates obtainthe same score.There are various definitions of CRT butthe one which best describes CXC’s experienceis that given by Glaser and Nitko (1971, p. 653).They defined a CRT as one“..that is deliberately constructed so as toyield measurements that are directly interpretablein terms of specified performance standards....The performance standards are usually specifiedby defining some domain of tasks that thestudent should perform. Representative samplesof tasks from this domain are organised into atest. Measurements are taken and are used tomake a statement about the performance of eachindividual relative to that domain.”From its inception in 1972, CXC adoptedthe CRT model and used this approach when itsfirst examinations were administered in 1979.CRT was implemented since it provided themeans for reporting on students’ achievement inrelation to content, cognitive abilities and skillsthat are clearly defined in syllabuses developed byCXC and readily available to the public.In adopting the CRT model, CXC hasfocused on three main aspects: performancestandards, test development and certificationwhich involves the interpretation of the testscores.Performance Standards: SyllabusesCXC employs a consultative process forsyllabus development. Under the guidance ofsyllabus officers, subject panels prepare syllabusesfor the various subjects examined by CXC.The performance standards for a subject areclearly outlined in the respective syllabus. Therequired content and skills are arranged into units/content areas, profiles and specific objectives.Typically, three papers are administered ondifferent occasions. The various steps to enhancetest validity involve providing syllabuses withobjectives clearly defined, from which specificobjectives are targeted to create a table ofspecifications which is used to plan the test.The selected specific objectives are judged bythe examining committee to be important andrepresentative of the test domain. The test itemsare based on the specific objectives in the table ofspecifications. These items are written to fit thespecific objectives in the table of specifications aswell as the profile dimensions specified by eachobjective. The items are subsequently aligned tothe selected criterion grade levels. The specificobjectives in the syllabus are considered ascriteria to be achieved or skills to be masteredby the candidate. The critical question whichmust be answered to judge the level of masteryis: has a candidate demonstrated a given level ofcompetence, allowing the examiner to state, withsome degree of confidence, that the candidate hasachieved the minimum standard required for aparticular grade?24 MAY 2012 www.cxc.org