Test Items Rationale

 Rationale for Test Item Choices:
The following is my rationale for the choices in my test choices to some of my objectives for The Great Gatsby Unit.  My rationale is all based from steps described in Tom
Kubiszyn's Educational Testing and Measurement: Classroom Application and Practice, 9th Edition.

Given a list, students will identify characters and traits at at least   90% accuracy

Matching

The Great Gatsby: Characters

Directions: Column A lists descriptions of the characters mentioned in The Great Gatsby and Column B character names. Match the character with the correct description by placing the appropriate letter in the space to the left of the number in Column A. Each name may be used only once but not all characters will be used.

Column A

_____ 1. Narrator of The Great Gatsby who previously resided in the Midwest.
_____ 2. Professional golfer and notorious cheater.
_____ 3. Mechanic and ill-treated by others.
_____ 4. Adulteress and car-accident fatality
_____ 5. Prohibition bootlegger who was infamous for fixing the 1919 World Series.
_____ 6. Protagonist and a main character who is disillusioned by the power of money

           Column B

a. Daisy Buchannan
b. GeorgeWilson c. Jay Gatsby
d. Jordan Baker
e. Meyer Wolfsheim
f. Myrtle Wilson
g. Nick Carraway
h. Tom Buchannan

Rationale:
 I felt that this objective just lent itself to being a matching test item, so I didn't have to think very much about what type of question this would be.  As for how I developed the list, I followed the steps discussed in Educational Assessments and Measurements: Classroom Application and Practice.  I titled the list to focus students. I put the description first and the names second to help students.  I added more names than description to avoid students from guessing and not getting an accurate assessment result.  I stated very thorough directions to help students too. I also tried to avoid unclear choices.
 
After learning and discussing, students can explain how the American Dream theory pertains to aspects of The Great Gatsby when asked.

Essentially the American Dream is an idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all people have the potential to live happy, successful lives. Jay Gatsby tried unsuccessfully to achieve the idea of the American Dream. Provide at least three examples from the novel The Great Gatsby that illustrate Jay Gatsby’s pursuit of the American Dream. Then explain clearly what you think caused Gatsby to never truly succeed in this dream. Your essay must include an introduction and conclusion, three illustrations of Jay Gatsby’s pursuit of the American Dream, and your explanation of Gatsby’s failure of the American Dream. Spelling, mechanics, and proper grammar will also be evaluated.  

Rationale:

I chose this essay format because I wanted students to be able to come with their own evaluation of the topic.  I did not want to feed the information to them.   Like the previous question I also used the steps discussed in  Educational Assessments and Measurements: Classroom Application and Practice.  I started the question with providing examples and not what.  I later added explaining and not what or when words.  I provided directions on how the format and the approximate length of the essay should be.  Spelling and grammar issues were mentioned to provide insight to student on this aspect. 



After reading the novel, students can recall major events from the story with 95% accuracy.

The Great Gatsby EventsTrue or FalseDirections: The following are statements about the events that take place in the novel The Great Gatsby. Some are true and some are false. Indicate whether the statement is true or false by circling the T for true and the F for false.

 

T / F 1. Nick Carraway moved to East Egg to work in the bond business.

T / F 2. Tom Buchannan took Jay Gatsby to New York to meet Myrtle Wilson and have a party.

T / F 3. Nick Carraway hits Myrtle Wilson at the party for making fun of Daisy.

T / F 4. While Nick and Jordan were talking in the library, they met “Owl Eyes”.

T / F 5. Myrtle and George Wilson move out West after the death of Jay Gatsby.

Rationale: 
I chose this format because I felt that true and false format would easily evaluate whether student were aware of major events in the story.  The true and false format seemed to do the job without having students having to list events.  From there I tried to provide very exact directions.  I had the students circle the t or the f to reduce confusion of whether the letter is a t or an f.  I tried to keep the statements relatively all the same length.  I also tried to avoid trivial or trick statements.