Test Specifications

The Ohio Department of Education has released a set of test specification documents, including descriptions of the assessment components and item types, assessment blueprints, and item specifications, to help educators and the general public better understand the design of Ohio's State Tests. These documents are used to guide the development of the Ohio's State Tests for English Language Arts.

Overview of Ohio's Test Specifications

How can educators use Test Specifications?

• Designing Curriculum, Create your local instructional calendar
  Identify standards that can be grouped together into units of instruction based on a common topic, theme, or concept. Determine the amount of local instructional time to spend on each unit.

• Planning Instruction, Dig Deep into Learning Standards
  Plan instructional activities that allow all students to engage in rigorous grade level content at different levels of cognitive complexity.

• Creating Local Assessments, Assess Content in the Classroom
  Design local assessments based on units of instruction that assess rigorous grade level content at different levels of complexity.

Links to Test Specifications

Test Specifications documents for each grade/subject area available in the resources section of Ohio's Assessment System. Select a grade level and peruse through a test specification for one each of English Language Arts, mathematics, science and social studies.

Connecting Test Specifications to Improving Instruction

The test specifications are organized by standard and provide granular level information related to the types of questions students can expect to see on state assessments. The information contained in the test specifications is imperative for teachers to incorporate in their instructional planning and delivery.

Apply It!

Select a standard and use the test specifications document to identify possible instructional modifications that may result from mapping available item analysis data to the test specifications.