Enhancing Assessment in a Mathematics General Education Course: The Development of a Standardized Item Bank

Effective assessment is essential in education to measure students' achievement and understanding.In higher education, particularly in general education courses like Mathematics in the Modern World (MMW), standardized and reliable assessments ensure that students are evaluated fairly and accurately.This study developed an item bank for the MMW course at the University of Northern Philippines to standardize examinations and enhance assessment quality.By standardizing exams, the study sought to improve assessment reliability and ensure that all students are evaluated under the same criteria.It aimed to determine item validity and analyze item responses using statistical measures, including difficulty index, discrimination index, and reliability index.Employing a quantitative approach with descriptive survey and developmental research designs, the study involved 258 students from the first term of school year (SY) 2022 to 2023, alongside three mathematics experts and three psychometricians for item validation.The primary instrument was an achievement test comprising two-hundred multiple-choice, eighty true/false, and forty short-answer items.Expert validation was followed by student testing to assess reliability.Data analysis led to a refined item bank, confirming high validity and reliability.Item difficulty and discrimination indices guided necessary revisions to optimize assessment effectiveness.The final item bank included 181 multiple-choice, 79 true/false, and 34 short-answer items.The study recommends using validated test formats aligned with evolving curriculum standards and revising low-discriminating or overly easy items to ensure comprehensive student evaluation.