Developing and piloting a framework for studying the alignment of mathematics examinations with the curriculum: The case of Lebanon

Abstract

This research aimed at developing a methodological framework to investigate the alignment of the Lebanese national math exam tests with the curriculum at the middle school level, during the transitory period of a major curricular reform. The focus is on exploring the characteristics of an ''assessment culture'' set by the national exams during the long life of the old curriculum.A framework for analyzing non-objective type tests is developed and piloted. The study considered a sample of 3 model tests reflecting the analyzed curriculum, and 11 official exam tests administered over the last 6 years of its life. The 2 sets of exams were analyzed and compared.It was found that the official tests have a stable structure in format and in content, and involve a limited set of topics that determine a ''mini-curriculum''. The results showed discrepancies between the official and the model tests, indicating lack of alignment.

A study of the alignment between the Lebanese secondary-level national math exams for the literature and humanities track and the reformed math curriculum. (c2012)

“…The above characteristics of the official exams shape the national assessment in Lebanon, and hence they form a certain guide that encourages teachers to adopt instead of the curriculum texts. This fact is consistent with what Osta (2007) reached after analyzing the Grade 9 official exams of the pre-reform Lebanese curriculum. "Based on…”

“…Moreover, Osta (2007) conducted a study on the alignment between national curriculum and assessment considering the case of Lebanon. She found a weak alignment between the Lebanese pre-reformed curriculum with its model tests and the official math tests, and hence discrepancies occur between the intended, the taught, and the tested curriculum.…”

“…As previously mentioned, Osta (2007) In this paper, the design for analysis developed by Osta (2007) is adopted.…”

“…4.2.2.1 -Correlations Between Official Exams and Model Tests.Taking into considerationOsta's (2007) definition of a test item (quoted in chapter three), there are 49 test items in the 3 model tests and 464 test items in the 20 official exams. The data inTable Mod(presenting numerical data for the three model tests together) and Table OffEx (presenting numerical data for the 20 official exams together) were converted into percentages to establish a unified base for comparison.Table 1in Appendix M presents the distribution in percentages of the test items in the model tests and official exams as to their corresponding cognitive domains and the math topics they address.…”

Benchmarking the performance of Bhutanese students with the performance of the students from the OECD's PISA countries

“…BMCS and PML were compared in terms of their objectives and content domains by using a method that Osta (2007) would have termed as text analysis. First, the objectives of BMCS were compared to the objectives of PML by identifying similarities and differences in their keywords.…”