Chapter: 1 Science & Engineering Indicators 93
Constructed Response Items
Constructed response test items are open-ended questions that ask students to derive and explain their answers. The format lends itself to more indepth assessment
of higher order thinking, and it can be readily standardized and scored with relatively high validity levels. According to the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA 1992), constructed response items can be beneficial
because they
- may be more similar to tasks that are familiar to students;
- may better reflect complex, real-world learning situations; and
- evoke answers that minimize student guessing and random answer selection.
Also, items can be scored so that students can get partial credit for partially correct answers. For these reasons, NAEP and some state assessment programs use constructed response items.
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