Att betygsätta elevers kunskaper – möjligheter och begränsningar <br/> Grading pupils' knowledge – possibilities and limitations

Authors

  • Frank Bach Institutionen för didaktik och pedagogisk profession Göteborgs universitet
  • Birgitta Frändberg Institutionen för didaktik och pedagogisk profession Göteborgs universitet
  • Mats Hagman Institutionen för didaktik och pedagogisk profession Göteborgs universitet
  • Eva West Institutionen för didaktik och pedagogisk profession Göteborgs universitet
  • Ann Zetterqvist Institutionen för didaktik och pedagogisk profession Göteborgs universitet

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/nordina.5896

Keywords:

national curriculum, science school subject, national tests, grading, factor analysis, Rasch modelling

Abstract

National tests in the natural sciences for grade 6 were carried out 2013 - 2015. One aim was to provide information about students’ scientific knowledge according to the “abilities”: communicating, exploring and explaining, as stated in the syllabus. Are these “abilities” possible and reasonable to distinguish from each other? Answers (60,000) were used for exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and controlled for dimensionality in a Rasch model. The results show that the tests mainly capture one overall ability. It was not possible to separate the three “abilities” in a reliable way. Thus, our analyses show that dividing the test into subscales for grading the “abilities” jeopardize test validity. A more reliable option might be to let students’ strong and weak performances in relation to different parts of the syllabus compensate for each other. Lastly we discuss our results in relation to the Swedish educational legislation.

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Published

2019-04-09

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Section

Articles