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Computer
Adaptive Test in National Examination

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Computer
Adaptive Test in National Examination

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Assessment is an important part of educational process. Lamprianou and James (2009), state that assessment will affect the people’s lives powerfully including the students, the educators, and policy makers. In this case, the national examination is an important final form of assessment before graduating school. In Indonesia, the government annually implements it in written form. Nowadays, due to the advancement of technology, Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) is introduced as an assessment tool to change paper test. In my opinion, this technology is a positive improvement although this policy needs long preparation. In this essay, I will discuss its advantages and drawbacks as well as the recommendation.
CAT has unique combinations of questions for each test taker to avoid cheating (Royal, 2003); has three levels of complexity: easy, medium, and difficult which enable the teachers to estimate the students’ ability and competency (Ruiz et all, 1995); and consequently, based on case study, could give the positive attitude (Ash, 2008). Batram (2005) also believes that the psychological aspect is important for the test takers as people define a test negatively (Lamprianou and James, 2009). Besides, Ruiz et all (2009:1) states that computerized test ‘offers more frequent test administration, enhanced reliability of candidate performance, potential for reduced testing time, personalized test administration conditions, and more timely reporting of scores’. These advantages are strongly needed in Indonesia which has large territory and barriers to transfer and report traditional test nationally. It will also minimize the disapproving image of the national examination.
In contrast, implementing this type of test costs a lot of budgets and requires a database (Bartram, 2005); and needs huge numbers of computerized questions in a ‘bank.' (Royal, 2003). Thus, the government should spend large national budget to prepare the facilities such as compatible computers, test centers, internet services, and professional administrators to implement the CAT since the national examination should be conducted together by all students nationally without the possibility to postpone. Besides, some teachers in Ash’s research (Ash: 2008) said that despite its efficiency, CAT did not provide detailed diagnostic information that led the trouble in the standard. Some test takers may also think that the different complexities of questions are unfair. The result of students test will be questionable. If this policy is not carefully conducted, the national examination will fail and cause the chaos in the society due to unorganized and unequal assessment.
Finally, this regulation cannot be made in the short-term preparation. It needs time to evaluate the weaknesses before it is nationally implemented. However, the advancement of technology makes CAT possible to be applied as piloting project. The software or website used as ‘the bank’ should be easy to access and hosted by authorized local servers. Besides, the scoring system should be fairer based on questions’ complexity. The test takers could also be limited to the particular grade, high school students for example because emotionally they are more ready to use this device until it is ready to be implemented at all educational levels. Regarding the condition in Indonesia, the implementation of CAT is possible in some regions especially in the big cities due to the facilities and internet access.  The rural areas which still face obstacles are more likely to use traditional testing until the facilities needed are accomplished.

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Ruiz, B., Fitz, P.A., Lewis, C. & Reidy, C. 1995, "Computer-adaptive testing: A new breed of assessment", American Dietetic Association.Journal of the American Dietetic Association, vol. 95, no. 11, pp. 1326.

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Ruiz, B., Fitz, P.A., Lewis, C. & Reidy, C. 1995, "Computer-adaptive testing: A new breed of assessment", American Dietetic Association.Journal of the American Dietetic Association, vol. 95, no. 11, pp. 1326.

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This journal states that the use of computers is now becoming a necessity. It mentions several types of computerized tests, including Computer Adaptive Test as a tool for dietitians and dietetic technicians examination. This test can be used to estimate the students’ ability and their classifications about certain competencies. It is because CAT has a wide range of questions with different complexity: easy, medium, and difficult. However, the authors are still questioning about some obstacles that might appear if CAT is implemented. This article is not new but some definitions are still relevant to my research questions.

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Royal, V.H. 2003, "Compter adaptive tests and computer-based tests", Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 84, no. 8, pp. 567-567,630+.

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Royal, V.H. 2003, "Compter adaptive tests and computer-based tests", Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 84, no. 8, pp. 567-567,630+.

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Royal explains the Computer Adaptive Test (CAT) and Computer Based Test (CBT). CAT has unique combinations of questions that make the opportunity to cheat avoidable. It also adjusts the students’ performance level. It is also more flexible to administer for single or group test takers at the same time. On the contrary, developing CAT needs energy, time, and budget because the designer should provide  huge numbers of computerized questions in a ‘bank’. This article does not provide clear example but it provides brief explanation about the advantages and difficulties to implement CAT.

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Lamprianou, I & Athanasou A J, 2009, A Teacher’s Guide to Educational Assessment, Sense Publisher, Rotterdam.

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Lamprianou, I & Athanasou A J, 2009, A Teacher’s Guide to Educational Assessment, Sense Publisher, Rotterdam.

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This book explains how important the assessments are, not only to the students, but also to the educators, and policy maker since it has a powerful impact on the peoples’ lives. Its result might be either a motivation to study harder or the demotivation for low average students. Each assessment should be planned carefully based on its purposes, and there is no single best form to assess the people’s certain skills. Therefore, some different instruments might be delivered such as portfolios, performance tests, objective test, and others. However, it should meet the requirement that the assessment given should be valid, reliable, accountable, and able to administer.

Assessment actually has a wide definition, but people mostly define it as ‘test’ which is seemed to be negative. Based on its schedule, the tests are divided into two kinds: formative, and summative. The formative test is usually conducted before the learning process begins because it has a purpose to know the level of students’ comprehension and to categorize them into appropriate groups. The summative test is designed to assess how deep the students comprehend the lessons that have been taught.
For the broader scope, such as national examination, the summative test should be standardized and practical in use. Commonly, the government prefers to implement written test because of its practicality to administer, diagnose, report, and evaluate.
This book delivers some important fundamental ideas for conducting the assessment but it has lack elaboration to solve the problems appear in conducting the assessment.

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Bartram, D. 2005, The changing face of testing, British Psychological Society, Leicester.

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Bartram, D. 2005, The changing face of testing, British Psychological Society, Leicester.

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The author states that assessment should include accuracy, validity, and relevance. Some improvements of the tests are presented and psychological aspect is important to be taken into account. Psychologically short assessments are more favorable than the longer although it may provide reliability and validity. Therefore, a shorter test should provide efficient measurement. This journal also states that the computerized test has advantages and disadvantages compared to the traditional test.  Implementing this type of test costs a lot of budgets and requires a database but it improves efficiency and time-saving. However; the use of technology is potential to be implemented in the future. This article is useful to know how some tests might have the different responses by the test takers. It also provides some considerations to conduct assessment.

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Ash, K. 2008, "Adjusting to Test Takers", Education Week, vol. 28, no. 13, pp. 19-19, 21.

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Ash, K. 2008, "Adjusting to Test Takers", Education Week, vol. 28, no. 13, pp. 19-19, 21.

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This journal provides the result of a research conducted to humanities teachers and students at Oak Valley Middle School in San Diego. Research found that Computer Adaptive Test can give more positive attitudes to the test students because the high achiever students will not get too easy questions while the struggling students will not be frustrated by too difficult questions. On the other hand, this test cannot be conducted for every section of the learning assessment since the assessment should be appropriate for the goals. Despite the various curriculum, it is believed that this test can be implemented nationally. This research finding is important as the example of my essay.

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CAT as A Summative Test in National Examination (Rationale Draft)

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CAT as A Summative Test in National Examination (Rationale Draft)

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The use of computer for educational purposes in developing countries, and Indonesia is not the exception. Nowadays, the idea of using Computerized Test on National Examination is introducing although there are pros and contras.
What are the advantages and drawbacks of CAT (Computer Adaptive Test) in national examination? Is there any possibility to be implemented as the main form of assessment in this examination?