Test Blueprint for N3 Programming and Software Development (83MD)

About Test Blueprints

Test blueprints are created to provide guidance to Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) during the item writing phase of test development. In addition, we believe that they can assist those instructors who did not participate in item writing (and administrators) to understand the broad content of the item bank. Items are formally allocated across a course outline in a three-step process*:

1. CETE psychometricians send a survey starting in the summer prior to item writing and until the item bank is written. The survey asks teachers to identify competencies they deem to be most important within the course as well as the difficulty level of writing items to each competency. Survey data is used to create a suggested blueprint for review by the Ohio Department of Education program specialists and SMEs.
2. SMEs review the blueprint as a large group before item writing for a specific EOC test. There and in small groups, SMEs review the course outline and have the ability to make changes to the blueprint with a documented rationale based on their experience and expertise.
3. Any revisions during small group work must be approved by the larger panel of SMEs attending an item writing workshop, as well as the program specialist from the Ohio Department of Education, which is the last step and produces the final blueprint which is summarized in this document.

Test blueprints can provide high-level guidance to instructors on preparing students for testing. It is important to keep in mind that the blueprint is a tool that is used when developing the test item bank during initial item writing and test creation. As with all tests, the End-of-Course test forms are a sample of the item bank.

Interpreting the Blueprints

Test blueprints display the total number of test items SMEs planned to write to a particular outcome (as designated in the course outline created by the Ohio Department of Education Office of Career-Technical Education or by a vendor). The blueprint describes structure of the item bank which is the total pool of test items created. Final test forms of 40-items are created from the item bank.