Faculty of Education - Theses

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Author: Malatt, Dianne × End date: 2000 × Start date: 2000 × Type: Masters Research thesis × Subject: Study and teaching ×

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    TIMSS : a question of validity
    Malatt, Dianne ( 2000)
    The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the largest comparative study of its kind, was administered to approximately 500,000 students worldwide. In Australia, the results of this study are being used to compare our students and schools to other students and schools around the world. The results may also influence decisions about curriculum reform and allocation of educational funding within Australia. This thesis sets out to investigate the TIMSS test items for Population 2, with the objective of determining the degree of validity of these test items to Australian mathematics teachers and their students. By eliciting feedback from a sample of Australian mathematics teachers, their thoughts on the validity of the TIMSS test items were documented. This was achieved through a mail out questionnaire that included a representative sample of 32 TIMSS test items from population 2. Four review questions were developed to target teacher beliefs as to whether enough content had been taught to Australian students by the time TIMSS was administered, the validity of including such items in the TIMSS study, the usefulness of the TIMSS test items for ascertaining student competence, and student familiarity with the item styles used in TIMSS. The results from the questionnaire were used to establish the overall validity of the TIMSS test items to Australian Mathematics teachers and the students they teach. In total, 154 teachers, representing Government, Catholic and Independent schools, from around Australia replied to the questionnaire. The study found widespread variability in the type and amount of content taught by teachers to their Australian students. Consequently, differences in content validity of the TIMSS study were found to exist across Australia. These differences appeared to be more apparent between states and territories than between school sectors. Respondents also expressed concern about the general appearance and layout of the TIMSS test items. In particular, some of the language used in test items relating to Proportionality, appeared not to be used in Australian classrooms. In addition to this, teachers reported that the TIMSS test items were not particularly useful for ascertaining student competence. This casts doubt over the value of any inferences made from the results of TIMSS. Furthermore, this research found significant variability in student familiarity with the item formats used in the TIMSS study. Overall, students were found to be most familiar with the short answer format and least familiar with extended response and performance assessment formats. This is a particularly important result as the TIMSS designers placed great emphasis on the use of extended response and performance assessment formats.