CALIBRATION OF MATHEMATICS AND GEOGRAPHY ITEMS
FOR JOINT COMMAND SCHOOLS PROMOTION
EXAMINATIONS OF NIGERIAN ARMY EDUCATION CORPS IN
NIGERIA
Many schools and organisations examine their students or candidates with
items that are not of quality. This could be because they do not have item
banks or that they do not know what it takes to develop item bank. Previous
studies that calibrated items did so for external examinations for
certification or placement. Mathematics and Geography items for Joint
Command Schools Promotion Examination, an external examination meant
for promotion organised by Nigerian Army Education Corps using Item
Response Theory, were calibrated in this study. Survey research design that
adopted multistage sampling technique was used in selecting a sample of 600
and 2,400 senior secondary two (SS2) students from Command Day
Secondary Schools in Nigeria for the validation and calibration processes
respectively. A-200 multiple-choice items for each subject pooled from four
year JCSPE were validated. A-100 valid items each were used for the
calibration of the items using Bilog-MG and Windstep 3.75 computer
software programmes. The average difficulty, discrimination and guessing
parameters of mathematics items were 0.63, 0.76 and 0.30 while that of
geography were 0.24, -2.64 and 0.00 in that order. Mathematics items with
difficulty level ranging from -1.20 to 2.01, discriminating level ranging from
0.24, -2. 1. 45 and guessing parameter ranging from 0.11 to 0.50 were more
difficult than Geography items with difficulty level ranging from -4.85 to
3.49, discriminating level ranging from 0.11 to 0.90 and guessing parameter
ranging from 0.00 to 0.24. Average mathematics ability of students was 0.25
while that of geography was 0.96, indicating that mathematics items were
more difficult than geography items. On the basis of the analysis, it becomes
necessary that NAEC should develop item banks in all school subjects that it
examines students on to ensure item quality.
Keywords: Item response theory, Command Secondary Schools, Calibration,
Mathematics, Nigeria
Valentine O. Enu & Eugenia A. Okwilagwe
CALIBRATION OF MATHEMATICS AND GEOGRAPHY ITEMS FOR JOINT COMMAND SCHOOLS PROMOTION EXAMINATIONS OF NIGERIAN ARMY EDUCATION CORPS IN NIGERIA
Many schools and organisations examine their students or candidates with items that are not of quality. This could be because they do not have item banks or that they do not know what it takes to develop item bank. Previous studies that calibrated items did so for external examinations for certification or placement. Mathematics and Geography items for Joint Command Schools Promotion Examination, an external examination meant for promotion organised by Nigerian Army Education Corps using Item Response Theory, were calibrated in this study. Survey research design that adopted multistage sampling technique was used in selecting a sample of 600 and 2,400 senior secondary two (SS2) students from Command Day Secondary Schools in Nigeria for the validation and calibration processes respectively. A-200 multiple-choice items for each subject pooled from four year JCSPE were validated. A-100 valid items each were used for the calibration of the items using Bilog-MG and Windstep 3.75 computer software programmes. The average difficulty, discrimination and guessing parameters of mathematics items were 0.63, 0.76 and 0.30 while that of geography were 0.24, -2.64 and 0.00 in that order. Mathematics items with difficulty level ranging from -1.20 to 2.01, discriminating level ranging from 0.24, -2. 1. 45 and guessing parameter ranging from 0.11 to 0.50 were more difficult than Geography items with difficulty level ranging from -4.85 to 3.49, discriminating level ranging from 0.11 to 0.90 and guessing parameter ranging from 0.00 to 0.24. Average mathematics ability of students was 0.25 while that of geography was 0.96, indicating that mathematics items were more difficult than geography items. On the basis of the analysis, it becomes necessary that NAEC should develop item banks in all school subjects that it examines students on to ensure item quality. Keywords: Item response theory, Command Secondary Schools, Calibration, Mathematics, Nigeria