Scenario-Based Assessments in Writing: An Experimental Study

Writing from source text is critical for developing college-and-career readiness because it is required in advanced academic environments and many vocations. Scenario-based assessment (SBA) represents one approach to measuring this ability. In such assessment, the scenario presents an issue that the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Educational assessment 2019-04, Vol.24 (2), p.73-90
Main Authors: Zhang, Mo, van Rijn, Peter W., Deane, Paul, Bennett, Randy E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Common Core State Standards
Essays
Evaluation Methods
Grade 8
Middle School Students
News Media
Persuasive Discourse
Primary Sources
Scores
Sequential Approach
Test Construction
Test Reliability
Time on Task
Vignettes
Writing
Writing Evaluation
Writing Skills
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Summary:Writing from source text is critical for developing college-and-career readiness because it is required in advanced academic environments and many vocations. Scenario-based assessment (SBA) represents one approach to measuring this ability. In such assessment, the scenario presents an issue that the student is to read and write about. Before writing, lead-in exercises are presented to encourage the examinee to engage with the source materials and to model the process used in a classroom writing project. This study experimentally manipulated a middle-school assessment design to understand if (1) the lead-in/essay structure increased scores erroneously with a concomitant decrease in test technical quality, and (2) the presence of a single unifying scenario affected scores or score meaning. In general, the SBA design did not appear to artificially increase total-test or essay scores. As importantly, it functioned as well as, sometimes better than, the alternative designs in terms of the measurement characteristics examined.
ISSN:1062-7197
1532-6977
DOI:10.1080/10627197.2018.1557515