Ethics in test construction and administration

One of my research undertakings pertains to ethical standards in test construction and administration in the Philippine educational system which is both challenging and rewarding. Challenging because it runs against practiced and established norms in the public education sector in this country and rewarding because it opens opportunity for stakeholders in education to better understand the predicament of students and teachers in view of the assessment and evaluation of student performance as evidenced by the results of the tests being administered in the classroom.

I was inspired to undertake the research topic primarily because when I came to enroll in my ethics and social responsibility class at the graduate school of education at the La Salle University under Dr. Biscocho, an esteemed scholar who teaches education courses in our university in Ozamis City, I have realized the need for such research undertaking. Many of the teachers I have initially talked to and have responded to my request for them to fill out the questionnaire commented that indeed, there is a Code of Ethics in the Teaching Professions in the Department of Education but ethical standards in tests construction and test administration varies differently from the general teaching profession and is very important. This is so because many of the teachers in both basic education sector and the tertiary level have not intensified the proper use of a TOS (Table of Specifications) which is the basis for test construction. Much more, in the Department of Education, the TOS has been a requirement in tests construction but there is laxity in its evaluation and validity. Mostly, teachers submit TOS to Master Teachers or Principals for perfunctory purposes like for report and submission requirements. Seldom too, teachers conduct an item analysis for their tests after it has been administered to check on its validity.

As a requirement before test construction, a Table of Specification has to be made by the classroom teacher and this will be the basis for the tests as to how many items it will be, the level of difficulty and the like. The TOS is not anymore a stranger practice among basic education teachers however, many in the college level, has not been oriented with the TOS in their test construction. Because of this, I came to know one college instructor who gave a quiz which to my dismay is obviously has not been ethical because the test consisted of at least 150 items and it’s just a quiz. Expectedly, most of the students failed in the quiz. This is the primary reason why I have to insist on the institutionalization of the TOS as well as the clear-cut observance of ethical standards in tests.

Another obvious ethical lapse in tests is in the manner of its administration, may it be teacher-made or standardized. The glaring malpractice in test administration usually happens in national standardized tests like the NCAE and NAT. Because schools are competing with each other for higher MPS in the NAT among their student-takers, teachers tend to ‘coach’ students or else, conduct ‘review’ classes using previously administered test questions. Isn’t it ironic? A student exemplifies higher MPS in either math or English and yet, when they reached college or university, they have difficulty understanding the basics of math and English. I said there is something wrong with the way tests are administered in most of our basic education sector (both private and public) because in spite of the high MPS in the NAT and high ratings in the NCAE, many graduates in high school, upon entering into college and university, again, as I argued, does not have the facility to be able to hurdle the academic rigors and competition. Why is this so? Perhaps because teachers and principals has been too concerned about the directive of the division or district offices to improve the previous year’s performance in the NAT and in the NCAE without necessarily looking at the future of their graduates.

This is lamentable at worse. It is simply because a wrong assessment and evaluation of student performance in class because teachers are not aware of ethical standards and ethical dimensions of teaching profession, often than not, results to miscalculation of what these graduates can do best in the future. As commonly observed among us in the PhD in Educational Management program in the La Salle University that as teachers, we are not touching the present or the past of our students however, we are meticulously altering the future of our students. What we do now resonates in the future. This is true as I observed that my classmates in the elementary and secondary schools who excelled and received so many academic distinctions does not excel in college or university, worse, in their chosen profession. Many brilliant students in the elementary and high school failed to maintain the momentum they have started when they reached college or university perhaps it is attributable to the failure of teachers in assessing and evaluating the true academic performance of these students while they administered their tests. This is the true essence of academic freedom, in which not only teachers can ever invoke but also the parents and the community to fully understand and partake.