Statement of the Problem:

It has been ideal for teachers that, after a clear discussion of topics in a
chapter or a unit, teachers are to test if the students have really learned the
concepts. Often, we see a good teacher as a teacher who discusses very well and
shows dedication to the field of teaching. However, most teachers have not seen
the importance of test questions evaluation. We see the validity and effectiveness
of the test questions not as important as the strategies in discussion and classroom
management. Most of us, teachers, have not realized that these things including
the validity and effectiveness of the test questions must be observed in order to
obtain our goal to provide quality education.

Most of the time, after administering a test, a teacher will just assume that
the test was valid and effective without making any verification, only because we
don’t like to have more work. Worse, some questions will be repeated on the next
examinations or some, may even give exactly the same questionnaire, only
because we do not have enough time to prepare another set of questionnaires. In
any case, if we teach the same subject in the next year or years, we just look back
to our previous tests and give it to the new batch of students. That means the
assumption of validity and effectiveness of the tests are repeated over time. The
thing is, are the assumptions true? Maybe yes, maybe not!, If not, then just be it,
everything has been done. We should not forget that, it would never be enough to
assume validity and effectiveness of the test without evaluating it. Sometimes,
these things occur because we are too busy planning our lessons, we are
overloaded, we are stressed by student’s behaviors or sometimes we just want an
easier life regardless of what comes out afterwards.

There is a need to do an extra mile in our profession. As teachers who make

a questionnaire, we need to evaluate the effectiveness and reliability of the
questions. Some questions might be too difficult or too easy for them, which will
make the scores of the students invalid for general interpretations as passed or
failed. Item analysis is a way or another help the teachers evaluate each question
in a test paper. Through such method, teachers will now be able to see the difficulty
index of each question. With item analysis, the measures of learning (tests) will be
more reliable. This will help the teachers make questions just right for the type of
students he/she has. At the same time, this will also help us make questions just
right for the subject we handle.

Item analysis plays a very important role in the field of education. It is not
just on how we make questions but it is merely for the development of our skills as
teachers in making reliable questions to obtain better measures and interpretations
of the results.