The Comparative Influence of Two Testing Techniques on Achievement in Science and Critical Thinking Ability1
SUGGESTIONS FOR improving classroom exam inations typically include an analysis of item statis tics. Unfortunately, as Flanagan (7) noted some time ago, this technique is useful primarily in the case of secure examinations or standardized tests and is of little practical value to the teacher? Har ris' (10) recent review of the status of educational testing, laments the lack of new principles for the development of achievement tests. He summarizes his position rather succinctly by saying "We are in the doldrums. " This same point of view is reflect ed in the writings of Or ata (11) as he avers that de spite the assertion of progressive outlooks and the like, the same old techniques are used in testing. He concludes by saying that what we need in evalua tion is new approaches, not merely new questions handled in the old way. The present influx of students at all educational levels and the rather awesome trends in enrollment point to the need for developing new evaluative d e vices which are both economical and effective. In the search for improved methods of assessing pupil performance, scoring procedures need to be viewed as concommitants of "improvement". Dual-pur pose achievement tests m ig ht be designed which would serve simultaneously to expedite the learning process and yield maximum discrimination power. Such an instrument would possess a "double-barrel" potency. It is the task of this study to determine the extent to which one such instrument is successful in attaining these rather ambitious goals.