Construction and standardization of achievement test for secondary school students

The main objective of the present study was to construct and standardize an achievement test in science for the secondary school science students in grade 8. An achievement test having 120 test items was prepared by the facilitator based on the four main learning objectives of teaching science that are knowledge, understanding, application, and skill. An achievement test of multiple-choice items was used as a data collection tool for 300 selected samples from six different schools in Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka State, India. The computer-based Microsoft Excel spreadsheet was prepared to document the obtained score, and the same was used for statistical analysis. Each test item was analyzed by calculating the difficulty index and discerning power for each item. Out of 120 test items, 40 items were rejected, and finally an achievement test of 80 test items was prepared by the facilitator. Recommendations were made that the standardized test could be used to assess and compare the measurement of students from year to year.