8/2/2019 Directions Table of Specifications

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Table of Specifications

A Table of Specifications is a blueprint for an objective selected response

assessment. The purpose is to coordinate the assessment questions with the time spent on

any particular content area, the objectives of the unit being taught, and the level of criticalthinking required by the objectives or state standards. The use of a Table of Specifications

is to increase the validity and quality of objective type assessments. The teacher should

know in advance specifically what is being assessed as well as the level of critical thinkingrequired of the students. Tables of Specifications are created as part of the preparation for

the unit, not as an afterthought the night before the test. Knowing what is contained in the

assessment and that the content matches the standards and benchmarks in level of critical

thinking will guide learning experiences presented to students. Students appreciateknowing what is being assessed and what level mastery is required.

Any question on an assessment should require students to do three things: first,

access information on the topic of the question. Second, use that knowledge to complete

critical thinking about the information. Third, determine the best answer to the questionasked on the assessment.

The left hand column is the specific content areas taught in the unit. For example,the content of a math unit could be whole numbers and decimals, addition and subtraction,

numerical form, and expanded form. These are the areas of content taught and should

match the state standards and benchmarks listed for the unit.Column two of the table is a summary of the number of questions for each content

area and is completed after the questions have been written or determined in advance based

on classroom instruction devoted to each content area.

Column three is the percent of questions devoted to each content area. This iscalculated by taking the number of questions per area and dividing by the number of

questions on the entire test.Columns 4-9 are based on Blooms Taxonomy. The question number is listed inthe column and row that best describes the content and level of critical thinking required to

answer the question. For example, the whole numbers and decimals row may have 4

questions, 11% of the total questions on the assessment. Questions 1, 2, 3 on the test maydeal with addition and subtraction as a simple memory or knowledge level. Question 35,

however, may require the student to synthesize information in the question in order to

determine the best answer. Question 35 is a more difficult question.

Textbook provided assessments or teacher made assessments should be analyzed bya Table of Specifications. Textbook assessments may stress areas of content the teacher

does not address with the same importance the text does. The assessment may not match

the time and level of thinking required by the teacher. A Table of Specifications can helpprevent this. It is possible the level of critical thinking required by a textbook test does not

match that required by state standards. Teachers should analyze assessments carefully and

match those assessments with state standards and what was actually presented in class.