Analysis of test items in school-based assessment and National Achievement Survey with reference to learning outcomes in science at the middle stage

Abstract Learning outcomes (LOs) in elementary education have been crucially emphasized by the Indian Education Policies as a vital source for holistic development and future learning of a child. This study probes the effectiveness of assessment practices in Science, for the students of class VIII with the mandated LOs as designed by NCERT using Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy as a conceptual framework. It offers a comparative study between standardized National Achievement Survey (NAS) questions and teacher-made test items, which emphasizes on the broad level of cognitive distributions while adhering to the specified LOs of NCERT Science Curriculum. The methodology interprets the empirical data of 300 teacher-made tests and NAS data (2017 and 2021) through a mixed method approach. The findings revealed that the teacher-made assessments overwhelmingly favoured lower order skills of cognition such as remembering rather than understanding, whereas the NAS endured progressive skills such as applying, conceptualizing and analysing. The insights of this study jeopardize the gaps in teacher’s awareness, preparedness, implementation of curriculum as well as ensuring the coherence between the competency base objectives and classroom assessments. The study also accentuates the necessity for training teachers for the targeted interventions of designing the assessments to bridge and nurture the learning of science at the middle school level in meaningful manner. This analysis also reveals the unevenness in the integration of curriculum-defined assessments and teacher-made test questions. These highlights are crucial for educators, curriculum developers, policy makers those who aim to amplify the education of science at the middle school level.