Designing and using adaptive tests for large scale formative assessment: 1999 to 2008

This presentation is concerned with the development and trialling of sets of adaptive computer-based and (non-adaptive) paper-based tools used primarily to assess the literacy, language and numeracy skills of adult learners in both academic and work settings in the UK. In 2002, the Skills for Life Unit of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) commissioned AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd and BTL Group Ltd to develop suites of assessment tools to be used to support learners and teachers embarked on its Skills for Life 'Learning Journey'. The DfES was particularly concerned to have in place a collection of reliable and valid paper-based and computer-based ‘tools’ for assessing learners during the early stages of their journey towards improved literacy, language and numeracy skills. After an intensive period of development and trialling, a collection of fifteen computer-based assessment tools and twenty-five paper-based assessment tools and associated guidance materials was delivered to the DfES, Skills for Life Unit in 2006. These tools have been used very extensively in hundreds of centres with thousands of learners for diagnostic and formative assessment purposes and are one of several outputs from an ongoing development of computer-based adaptive formative assessment tools. As this report will demonstrate, trials confirmed that the tools are both powerful and engaging for teachers and learners alike. Although the expectation was that most centres would use the computer versions of the tools, paper-based versions were also commissioned for use in situations where computers were unavailable or assessors considered them inappropriate.