Cognitive diagnostic assessment with ordered multiple-choice items for word problems involving 'Time'

Diagnosing students' mistakes in solving word problems using Newman's Error Analysis (NEA) is time-consuming. To address this limitation, NEA was incorporated in the Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (CDA) with Ordered Multiple Choice (OMC) word problem testlets developed in this study for assessing students' attribute mastery level in solving word problems involving 'Time'. The assessment instrument was developed based on the principled assessment design which comprised four building blocks: (i) construct map, (ii) item design, (iii) outcome space, and (iv) measurement model. The construct map was adapted from NEA for guiding the development of the assessment instrument. The assessment instrument was administered to a sample of 90 Year Four students in three elementary schools. The results indicated that the instrument showed appropriate difficulty level and discrimination power, satisfactory model-data fit, and high reliability. Thus, the CDA with OMC word problem testlets developed could be a valuable instrument for pinpointing students' mistakes and their mastery level of word-problem-solving attributes involving 'Time'.