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This paper has been designed to test achievement in English for XI class students. Different steps followed to develop the achievement test were Planning, Preparation, Pre try-out, Try-out, Scoring, Item analysis (difficulty & item discrimination) and Final form of the test. Initially, an objective type achievement test including 200 multiple choice items and fill in the blanks was administered for try-out to 200 students selected randomly from different senior secondary schools in District Rohtak. Final selection of the items was made on the basis of difficulty value and discrimination index of each item. The investigators selected most of the items of medium difficulty and a few of higher and lower difficulty values were also included. Ebel's (1979) criteria and guidelines were used for categorizing discriminating indices. Split-half method was used for estimation of reliability and 0.90 was found as the calculated value of Reliability coefficient. The test was also validated against the criterion of content validity. It was reported that most of the items were falling in acceptable range of difficulty and discrimination level; however some items were rejected due to their poor discrimination index. In this way, 100 items were selected for final test. The scoring key for the final test was also prepared. The time limit for the final test was one hour.
Keywords: item analysis, difficulty level, discrimination index, reliability, validity
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Academic achievement or academic performance is the outcome of education - the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals (Gupta & Lata, 2013). It is commonly measured by examinations or continuous assessment but there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects are most important -procedural knowledge such as skills or declarative knowledge such as facts (Annie, Howard, & Mildred, 1996). Any test that measures the attainments or accomplishments of an individual after a period of training or learning is called an achievement test (Downie, 1984). Achievement means accomplishment as proficiency of performance in a given skill or body of knowledge (Good, 1951). Academic achievement holds a cardinal place in the field of education and is the unique responsibility of all educational institution to promote a wholesome scholastic development of the students. It...