LINEAR AND SEPARATE CALIBRATION METHODS OF EQUATING 2018 AND 2019 ENGLISH LANGUAGE BASIC EDUCATION CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION SCORES
Keywords:
Basic Education Certificate Examination, Test, Test score equating, Linear Equating, Separate Calibration EquatingAbstract
The study examines efficient techniques for the comparison of students’ performance in the English Language Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) scores. The study adopted an Ex-Post facto research design. The population for the study comprised 123,441 Junior Secondary School 3 (JSS 111) students who sat for the 2018 and 2019 English Language BECE conducted by the Ondo State Ministry of Education. The study sample consisted of 4,320 Junior JSS 111 students, selected from the population using a multistage sampling technique. The instruments for the study consisted of the students’ responses to 60 multiple-choice items from the 2018 and 2019 English language Ondo State BECE, extracted from the Optical Marks Record (OMR) sheet. Data was coded and analyzed using (BILOG-MG and Linear Equating framework implemented through the R language package environment for statistical packages. The research showed that the standard error of equating for the linear method was 0.6, which was lower than the separate calibration method of 0.7 across the obtainable scores. The study further revealed that the 2019 OSBECE English test was more difficult than the 2018 version by about 0.4 units. The research concluded that the linear method was better for equating 2018 and 2019 OSBECE English language tests. Also, the 2018 and 2019 OSBECE English language tests were not equivalent. The research recommended that the Ondo State government and Nigerian examination organizations should utilize the most suitable test theory model to verify the statistical equivalence of their examination test items before administration.
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