A Study On The Alignment Between Chemistry Academic Achievement Test And Curriculum Standard In Junior High Schools Of Hubei Province

In recent years, countries around the world have commenced standard-based education reform,and the alignment between assessment and curriculum standard has drawn extensive attention. China initiated the eighth curriculum reform of elementary education at the turn of the century, in which the Ministry of Education has emphasized many a time that junior high school graduation test and entrance examination must be strictly implemented according to the curriculum standard. From 2015 on, under the leadership of the Provincial Department of Education, led by the Provincial Academy of Educational Science and the Provincial Education Assessment Institute, Hubei province has been executing the assessment of junior high school academic achievement test for two years running in an attempt to promote compulsory education reform and establish quality standard system. Under this background,this study centers on the alignment between Hubei junior high school chemistry academic achievement test and curriculum standard.The theoretical significance of this research is that by localizing the transformation of foreign alignment analysis tools and constructing a alignment analysis framework based on the subject characteristics and research needs, the study of alignment theory in China tends to be propelled to a certain degree; the practical significance is to reveal the level and specific features of the alignment between chemistry academic achievement test and curriculum standard of junior high schools in Hubei province, and to provide reference for the betterment of academic test papers as well as the assessment of junior high school academic chemistry achievement test.There are five research questions in this study as follows:(1) How to take advantage of the existing research results to localize the analytical tools for constructing a suitable alignment analysis framework of junior high school chemistry achievement test and curriculum standard? (2) How to analyze the chemistry achievement test and chemistry curriculum standard of compulsory education on the basis of the alignment analysis framework? (3) Is Hubei province junior high school chemistry achievement test consistent with curriculum standard? What about the specific features of alignment? (4) Is there any significant difference in the alignment coefficient of junior high school chemistry academic test papers in different years and cities of different economic levels? If so, what about the specific features of alignment? (5) How to advance designing of the chemistry achievement test in junior high schools in Hubei province in accordance with the research results?The paper consists of six parts. The first part is the introduction, which mainly introduces the research background, illustrates the research significance, the content and the method, and puts forward the research hypothesis. The second part is the literature review, which primarily clarifies and defines the core concepts, as well as analyzes and compares the more mature alignment analysis tools abroad, with reviewing the alignment between the academic test and the curriculum standard combined. The third part is the research design, chiefly elaborating the basic framework of the research, the selection and transformation of the research tool, the coding principle and method as well as the research validity and reliability. In the fourth part,the "SEC" analysis model is utilized to analyze and compare the alignment between the 42 papers of Hubei province in 2014,2015, 2016 and the curriculum standard from varied perspectives—the overall level,content subject distribution, cognitive level distribution different years and cities with different economic levels. In the fifth part, nine papers of three test designing units with higher, medium and lower level of alignment are selected grounded on the results of the"SEC" analysis model and the Webb analysis model is used for the analysis and comparison of the alignment between these papers and curriculum standard in terms of four dimensions—the category of knowledge, the depth and breadth of knowledge, and the balance distribution of knowledge. The sixth part mainly elaborates the research results, the proposals, the reflection and the prospect.The study results are as follows:Hubei province junior high school chemistry achievement test and curriculum standard do not have a statistically significant alignment.(1) The overall comparison of the alignment between the papers with the curriculum standard indicates that there is no significant alignment between them; (2) The degree of alignment between the test papers and the curriculum standard on the content subject distribution is relatively low; (3) The test papers and the curriculum standard on the cognitive level distribution also displays low degree of alignment; (4) There is no significant difference in the alignment coefficient between the test papers and the curriculum standard in different years, and their alignment level differs slightly; (5)There is no significant difference in the alignment coefficient between the test papers and the curriculum standard in cities of different economic levels, and the alignment level also reveals no distinct difference; (6) The papers and the curriculum standard demonstrate a high degree of alignment in the category of knowledge and the balance distribution of knowledge with a low degree of alignment in the depth and breadth of knowledge.On the basis of the study results, the amendments are proposed as follows:(1) Provincial and municipal education departments are obliged to strengthen both the quality monitoring of junior high school chemistry academic achievement test papers and the personnel training of testing (2) Emphasis ought to be laid on balanced distribution of content subject in test papers (3) By making appropriate adjustments to the percentages of questions belonging to different cognitive levels, more attention should be focused on the basics of test papers (4) Provincial and municipal education departments can make use of curriculum standard for the establishment of performance standard.