Assessment of Test Items Development Skills of Secondary School Mathematics Teachers in Delta State, Nigeria

The importance of test development skills in Mathematics can never be over emphasized because of the nature and place of the subject, and for its role in determining learners’ progress. This research is intended to assess the test development skills of the mathematics teachers in secondary schools in Delta State of Nigeria. The aim of the study was to determine the test development skills possessed by Secondary School Mathematics Teachers and the extent to which the teacher is competent in writing, analysis and validation of test items. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design, with population consisting of about 500 trained mathematics teachers in Government owned senior secondary schools in Delta State. A simple random sample of 106 Mathematics teachers was drawn from the population A four-scale self-constructed instrument was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts in educational tests and measurements and Cronbach Alpha technique was used to obtain a reliability coefficient of 0.83. Results showed that the item development skills possessed by secondary school Mathematics teachers in Delta State are test item printing and administration with a mean score of 3.09, item marking and scoring with a mean score of 2.89, item composition and drafting (2.86), item planning (2.74) and item writing (2.73). The results further showed that the teachers were poorly skilled in item analysis and item validation. Amongst others, the study recommended regular in-service training seminars and workshops on test development skills as well as robust follow-up monitoring and evaluation mechanism that will assess the extent of application of test development skills.