Chew, Lee Chin

School-based testing is an integral part of the teaching and learning process, and it provides teachers with vital information about students' learning progress. What are the current practices in school testing in Singapore, and what are some of the issues arising therefrom? Do conventional testing practices measure up to the needs of recent changes in Singapore education, in the areas of IT, Thinking, Project Work, and the "School Excellence Model"? What are some innovations in educational assessment that may be more compatible with these changes? How can computer technology support and enhance these innovative assessments? This paper will first examine the assessment system in Singapore education, and discuss some issues related to current testing practices. In the light of recent changes in education, the need for a rethink on these practices is proposed. The paper will then explore some innovations in educational assessment that may bring about a more meaningful assessment of student capabilities and potentials in learning. A place for technology in educational assessment will also be discussed.

In an effort to spearhead the use of IT for education, the Centre for Learning Technologies, which is jointly set up by the Ministry of Education, Kent Ridge Digital Labs and Infocomm Development Authority, has embarked on an R&D project named eduTOOLS. This project aims to provide teachers and students a suite of on-line tools for project work. For the teachers, the use of these tools could help them monitor and assess students' project work processes and products. For the students, these tools could help them collaborate on-line in their project work with other group members. Also available to students are a collection of recommended project resources and a list of experts. This paper reports on the development of eduTOOLS by examining the conceptual and technical aspects of each tool. The discussions bear implications to the use of IT for project work and some pertinent issues for consideration.

This study attempted to provide a better understanding of the career development and career guidance needs of students in a Singapore secondary school. The influences of age/grade level, gender, academic ability, socioeconomic status and parental examined. The relationship between career maturity and career guidance needs was investigated; and the best independent predictors of career maturity and career guidance needs were also determined.

Using a cross-sectional design and a stratified random sampling technique based on grade level, gender and academic ability, a sample of 521 students was drawn from a secondary school; and a purposive sampling technique was used to obtain sub-samples for the SES and parental influence variables. Data were collected using a General Information Questionnaire, the Career Development Inventory - Australian version and a Career Problem Checklist. The students responded to the three instruments in one sitting.

Results of this study revealed a prototypic pattern of progressive increase in career maturity by grade level. Significant differences in career maturity were observed between the upper and lower secondary students. Although no significant differences in the overall maturity of students were observed for the gender and academic ability variables, it was found that female students were more mature in the cognitive aspect of career development whereas male students were more mature in the attitudinal aspect. Also, students of lower academic ability were significantly less mature in the cognitive aspect of career development but not in the attitudinal aspect. Results also suggested a positive effect of high SES and parental influence on the career development of students.

In terms of career guidance needs, significant results were obtained for the SES and parental influence variables. Students of a more favourable SES background or those who had been exposed to greater parental influence in their career planning, had less career guidance needs.

A link between career maturity and career guidance needs was also established. Students who were more career mature had less career guidance needs. The independent variables of grade level and parental influence were found to be important predictors of career maturity. On the other hand, SES and parental influence variables were found to be the best predictors of career guidance needs.

With an insight into these factors which may either aid or hinder the career development of students, implications for the planning and implementation of comprehensive career guidance programmes in schools were discussed and suggestions made.

This paper will describe a WALK approach to assessing students’ constructivist learning in mathematics which is aimed at tapping their ability in posing, formulating and solving mathematical problems. The implementation study was conducted in a single-sex secondary school in Singapore involving a total of 168 boys at the secondary four level. The participants completed the WALK assessment tasks in three phases and within restricted time limits – phase 1 for posing mathematical problems based on a given stimulus material, phase 2 for formulating three problems selected from problems posed in the first phase, and lastly, phase 3 for solving the problems formulated earlier. The potentials and challenges of using this WALK assessment method for a summative purpose, and for constructivist teaching and learning in classrooms of Singapore schools will be discussed.

This research has focused on an application, in actual classroom practice, of computerised adaptive testing (CAT) in assessing learning achievement. The concept of CAT, an application of item response theory, has become feasible with the advent of high-speed computers. Basically, the testing in CAT is tailored to an examinee's ability level: the computer first obtains an estimate of the examinee's ability level based on his or her responses to initial test items, and then makes subsequent item-selection decisions that are most appropriate for measuring his/her performance level.

Based on the literature review, investigative directions for this study were conceptualised in terms of the development and validation of computerised adaptive tests with and without the provision of performance diagnosis. 'Item response theory' and the unitary validity concept formed the theoretical basis of the research.

This research on CAT was thus partitioned into three closely related studies. Study 1 focused on the calibration of a test-items bank on biology under the item response theory (IRT). It also examined relevant practical issues encountered in the development of a computerised item bank. In Study 2, an automated construction of tests using the calibrated pool of test items was performed. Whilst the IRT-calibrated item bank was used to construct both conventional fixed-length and adaptive variable-length tests, the functioning of the item pool was particularly investigated for computerised adaptive testing (CAT). Study 3 validated the computerised adaptive tests using students in a Singapore school. The effects of student factors - i.e. gender, ability, computer familiarity (viz. computer ownership, computing experience and frequency of computer use), and affective characteristics (viz. attitude towards computers and to science learning) - on three measures of CAT outcomes, namely, test performance, attitude towards the test administration and benefits derived from the testing, were investigated.

Results of this study indicated comparability of test scores obtained with the computerised adaptive tests and those obtained with a parallel paper-and-pencil test. In brief, ability was the best predictor of test performance in biology using CAT. Overall the students were positive towards the CAT administration; but they were most bothered by their inability to review test items during the testing. Some differences were found in the reactions to certain aspects of CAT of students in different subgroups defined by gender, computer familiarity, and affective characteristics. However, these differences did not appear to affect their test performance on CAT. Satisfactory benefits were derived from the use of CAT. These included an average of 10% reduction in test length and 50% reduction in test time, and the testing showed adequate adaptability to individual students' ability level. Students who were treated with CAT with performance diagnosis indicated the usefulness of the feedback and diagnosis facility.

With these insights into the use of CAT in a secondary school in Singapore, implications for future implementation and use of computerised adaptive tests in school-based testing are discussed. The limitations of the research are also explained and suggestions for further research indicated.

In the Singapore context, with increased availability of computers and a broader access to computers in the coming years, computerised testing where computers are used as devices for delivering tests has good potential. More specifically, computerised adaptive testing (CAT) holds promise as a new and innovative strategy for testing and measuring student achievement. However, the acceptability of CAT by both the public and those directly involved, namely, school administrators, teachers and students, is critical. They will need to be convinced of the suitability of computer technology to many of the testing tasks, and of the equity of this new testing method especially in terms of students’ test performance. This paper reports on the findings of an investigation study of several pertinent factors that were hypothesised to influence student performance at computerised adaptive tests on biology. The variables included a) student gender and ability, b) student computer ownership and experience, and the frequency of their use of computers, c) student attitudes to computers, and to science learning.

A single overall grading is the hallmark of test reporting practices in education. This assessment system has provided an efficient and convenient means of reporting test results for a summative purpose such as certifying students on completion of a course of study or selecting students who can benefit from the next level of education. However it is less useful for reporting results for a formative purpose such as monitoring students' learning progress or diagnosing their learning difficulties. The National Institute of Education has developed a computerised assessment tool known as "NIE Computerised English Language Test" (NIECELT) for testing the English language proficiencies of prospective students in pre-service teacher training programmes. NIECELT, however, can be used for creating appropriate tests meant for any other grade level as well – primary, secondary or college. This paper will describe a profiling assessment system to be incorporated into the test reporting of language proficiencies. NIECELT, an interactive mode of computerised testing, presents a number of sub-tests for assessing a student’s level of competence in English sentence structure, collocation, text cohesion, text meaning, editing skills as well as semantic awareness. By harnessing the computer's unique capabilities in data management, the student's performance in specific language skill areas can be profiled.