Measuring student knowledge and skills

Alternative item formats in mathematics
When mathematics becomes a major domain in OECD/PISA in 2003, it may be possible to extend the range of
assessment tasks that can be used. This will be particularly important if future cycles intend to pay greater attention
to the assessment of tasks in Competency Class 3.
Extended response essay tasks
One possibility is to use extended-response essay tasks. According to Gronlund (1968), extended-response
essay tasks are inefficient for measuring knowledge outcomes, but they provide a freedom of response which is
needed for measuring complex outcomes. These complex outcomes include the ability to create, to organise, to inte-
grate, to express, and similar types of action and behaviour that call for the production and synthesis of ideas.
Extended-response essay tasks give students an opportunity to probe more deeply into a complex problem. In
contrast to a series of items linked to a common stimulus, such tasks allow students to develop their own responses
as they examine a problem. This is a particularly appropriate format for assessing Competency Class 3.
Figure 20 provides an example of an extended-response essay task.

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Measuring Student Knowledge and Skills
80
OECD 1999
Oral tasks
In some countries, oral assessment is or has been common practice, even as part of national examinations.
There are different forms of oral assessment, such as:
– an oral discussion on certain mathematical subjects that are known to the students;
– an oral discussion on a subject, covering a task to be done at home, that is given to the students prior to the
discussion; and
– an oral discussion on a task to be done at home after the assessment has been completed by the students.
The oral assessment format is frequently used to operationalise higher-order processes.
Two-stage tasks
A combination of different task formats can be referred to as a two-stage task. A written task followed by an oral
task on the same subject is a typical example. Two-stage tasks combine the advantages of traditional written tests
with a set time limit with the opportunities provided by open tasks.
The following describes a two-stage task. The first stage comprises a written assessment with the following char-
acteristics:
– all students are given the assessment at the same time;
The four pyramids show the population of the Netherlands.
The first two show the actual population in 1950 and 1986.
The last two show the expected population for 2000 and 2035.
Discuss the extent to which the information provided in these population pyramids suggests an aging of
the population in the Netherlands; where appropriate use alternative graphical displays to support your
argument.
Figure 20.