TABLE OF SPECIFICATION (TOS) | Definition, Importance, and Preparation | #TestBluePrint

Summary

In this session, Teacher Tantan explains the significance of the Table of Specification (TOS) in constructing valid and reliable classroom tests. TOS serves as a blueprint, ensuring test questions are aligned with learning objectives and measure both lower and higher-order thinking skills. The session covers the importance of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy, how to allocate test items based on cognitive levels, and the steps to construct a TOS. Teachers are guided through creating a fair, balanced test, ensuring all competencies are accurately represented. The session concludes with a motivational message for educators committed to improving their teaching practices.

Takeaways

• 😀 The Table of Specification (TOS) is an essential tool in test construction, helping teachers create valid and reliable tests aligned with learning objectives.
• 😀 TOS serves as a blueprint for test construction, similar to blueprints used in engineering or architecture, ensuring tests are well-organized and effective.
• 😀 The importance of TOS includes ensuring a fair distribution of test questions across various competencies and improving the validity of assessments.
• 😀 TOS helps teachers ensure their tests measure both lower and higher-order thinking skills, with a suggested 70-30 distribution of easy to difficult questions.
• 😀 Bloom's Revised Taxonomy is crucial for constructing a TOS, as it provides a classification of thinking skills from lower to higher levels: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.
• 😀 The revised Bloom's Taxonomy uses verbs instead of nouns to better reflect the active nature of thinking (e.g., 'remembering' instead of 'knowledge').
• 😀 Understanding the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy (remembering, understanding, applying) is key to distributing test items appropriately for different thinking skills.
• 😀 A well-constructed TOS requires teachers to use simple mathematical computations to allocate test items proportionally according to instructional hours.
• 😀 The process of constructing a TOS involves several steps: reviewing the curriculum guide, allocating hours for learning objectives, and determining the number of items based on percentages.
• 😀 Teachers should aim to allocate 60% of test items to lower-level skills (remembering, understanding, applying), and 30% to higher-order skills (analyzing, evaluating, creating), leaving 10% for more challenging areas.
• 😀 Once the TOS is prepared, the placement of test items can be determined based on the finalized test paper, ensuring it aligns with the cognitive levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of a Table of Specification (TOS)?

A Table of Specification (TOS) serves as a blueprint for constructing a valid and reliable test. It ensures that the test covers all relevant content areas and cognitive levels, helping teachers create fair and organized assessments.

How does a TOS contribute to the validity of a test?

A TOS improves the validity of a test by ensuring that test questions align with the learning objectives. This helps ensure that the test measures what it is intended to measure, thus enhancing the test's accuracy and relevance.

Why is it important to include both lower-order and higher-order thinking skills in a test?

It is important because a balanced test assesses a wide range of cognitive abilities. Lower-order thinking skills like remembering and understanding help assess basic knowledge, while higher-order skills like analyzing, evaluating, and creating distinguish deeper cognitive abilities and critical thinking.

What is the relationship between Bloom’s Taxonomy and TOS?

Bloom’s Taxonomy provides a framework for classifying cognitive skills, which is used in a TOS to allocate test items based on different levels of cognitive complexity. A TOS ensures that each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is properly represented in the test questions.

How are test items allocated based on Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy in a TOS?

Test items are allocated proportionally to reflect the cognitive levels outlined in Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. Lower-order thinking skills like remembering, understanding, and applying typically make up 70% of the test, while higher-order skills like analyzing, evaluating, and creating make up the remaining 30%.

What steps are involved in constructing a Table of Specification?

The steps include reviewing the curriculum guide to identify learning competencies, allocating time for each competency, calculating the percentage for each competency, determining the number of items per competency, and allocating test items across cognitive levels. Finally, test items are marked and placed into the appropriate categories.

What is the significance of using a curriculum guide in constructing a TOS?

The curriculum guide helps ensure that the TOS reflects the actual learning competencies that need to be assessed. It provides the foundation for aligning the test items with the content and skills outlined in the curriculum.

How is the percentage for each competency calculated in a TOS?

The percentage for each competency is calculated by dividing the number of hours spent teaching that competency by the total number of hours for the entire grading period, and then multiplying by 100.

What does it mean to align test items with learning objectives in a TOS?

Aligning test items with learning objectives means ensuring that the test questions directly assess the skills and knowledge outlined in the learning competencies. This helps verify that the test is measuring the intended outcomes of the instructional period.

How does a TOS help ensure that a test covers both content and thinking skills?

A TOS helps ensure this by providing a structured plan that includes both content areas and cognitive levels (e.g., remembering, understanding, applying). It ensures that each area of content is tested appropriately, and thinking skills are represented across various levels of difficulty.