The Test That Doesn't Match the Objective
Your Grade 10 team's unit objective is: 'Students will be able to write a clear topic sentence and support it with two relevant details.' The end-of-unit test, written by a colleague, contains: 10 multiple-choice grammar items, a 5-sentence paragraph with no prompt about topic sentences, and a vocabulary matching section. A student who writes excellent topic sentences but has weak grammar scores 55%. The student's parent asks why their child 'failed' despite strong writing. Your team must decide whether to keep, revise, or replace the test before grades are finalized.
1. Evaluate the test's alignment with the objective, and recommend a course of action.
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Alignment is poor. The objective is about writing a topic sentence with two supporting details. The test measures:
- grammar recognition (MC) - not the objective;
- vocabulary matching - not the objective;
- a paragraph with no topic-sentence criterion - related but unassessed.
A student can meet the objective fully and still score 55%. This is a construct-validity problem: the test measures something other than what was taught.
Recommendation: revise, don't just keep. Keeping it would misreport learning and is unfair to the student and parent. Replacement is ideal but may be infeasible before the deadline; revision is the pragmatic choice:
- Add a targeted writing task: 'Write a topic sentence and two supporting details on [prompt].' Score with a 3-point rubric (clear topic sentence / detail 1 relevant / detail 2 relevant).
- De-emphasize grammar and vocabulary items, or report them separately as diagnostic, not as the unit grade.
- Re-score the affected student against the revised task before finalizing.
2. How would you explain this to the parent, and what does it model about assessment literacy?
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To the parent (plain, non-defensive):
- Acknowledge the concern is legitimate: 'You're right to ask - the test didn't measure what your child was taught this unit.'
- Explain simply: 'The unit focused on building a strong topic sentence with supporting details. The test mostly checked grammar and vocabulary, so it didn't capture your child's writing strength.'
- State the action: 'We're adding a task that directly assesses that skill and will re-score before grades are final.'
What this models about assessment literacy:
- Construct alignment - assessment must match the objective.
- Transparency and fairness - a grade should reflect learning, not test design error.
- Data use - a surprising score is a signal to check the instrument, not just the student.
This also protects the team: an unaligned test produces invalid data that misleads instruction and erodes trust.