Professional Services

What is PAT: Reading Vocabulary Adaptive?

PAT: Reading Vocabulary Adaptive is an online computer adaptive version of a PAT: Reading Vocabulary test. In a PAT: Reading Vocabulary Adaptive test, the questions for each student are automatically selected based on the responses they have given to previous questions. Students who struggle to answer the initial questions correctly are given easier questions until they begin to have some success. Students who answer the initial questions correctly are given progressively harder questions until they start to answer some of them incorrectly.

This means PAT: Reading Vocabulary Adaptive administers tests that are tailored to each individual student. Because the tests are well targeted in terms of difficulty level, an adaptive test will generally provide a more precise result for each student in a group than using one of the existing static PAT: Reading Vocabulary tests.

Who can complete an adaptive test?

The adaptive tests are suitable for students in Year 4 to Year 10. Students should be confident using a computer to complete a test. They are particularly useful for well below or well above students to ensure kaiako are clear about a student's vocabulary level.

How long is an adaptive test?

The length of an adaptive PAT: Reading Vocabulary test is 25 questions. Students should be given 16 minutes to complete the test. Teachers are able to use their discretion if a student requires a little more time to complete the questions however, the student's score cannot be compared to the norm reference data as the test was not completed in a standardised way.

How difficult are the first questions in an adaptive test?

The adaptive tests select the first question on the basis of the student’s year level. For most students in each year level the first question would be considered as moderately easy. If a student gets the first question correct, the next question is more difficult. Conversely, if the student gets the first question incorrect, the next question is  easier. The test is designed so the ‘jumps’ in difficulty are not too big, however, the student's actual level of capability is found within just a few questions.

How is achievement reported for PAT: Reading Vocabulary Adaptive?

PAT: Reading Vocabulary Adaptive tests report the same scale score and stanine information as the existing static PAT: Reading Vocabulary tests. At the end of an adaptive test the student’s achievement level is located on the PAT: Reading Vocabulary scale as a PATV scale score, and can be compared with the results of an appropriate national reference group using stanines.

Is the number of questions a student gets correct relevant in an adaptive test?

The raw score a student has answered correctly in an adaptive test should not be used to interpret a result or make comparisons between students. The scale score is the best way to interpret how well a student has done. The adaptive tests are designed so that most students will answer about 60 percent of the questions correctly. Because the questions are targeted at a students’ achievement level, some students will be administered harder questions than others.

Some of the NZCERAssist service reports will show how many questions a student answered correctly and how many they were administered altogether. The number of questions they were administered is useful to know. Students should do 25 questions in an adaptive test. When the number administered is much lower than this, it will usually mean that the student finished the test prematurely — for instance, by closing their browser.  NZCER Assist will still report a scale score in this case, but the score will be based on an incomplete assessment, and the margin of error associated with the score will be large. If a student has not finished the test it will be displayed as incomplete. The test status can be found in List and Student reports when viewing the reports tab.

Which reports are available on the NZCER Assist for an adaptive test?

NZCER Assist produces the same suite of reports for an assessment group that has completed an adaptive test as it does for a group that has completed a static test, except for the item reports. The item reports are not available for an adaptive test because the students in the assessment group will have completed different questions. It is possible to see how each individual student did on the particular questions they were administered. This can be done by clicking on the question links provided in each student’s Individual Report. Teachers require different strategies to analyse the data to avoid spending too much

How often should students complete an adaptive test?

The bank of PAT: Reading Vocabulary items available for adaptive testing is large enough so that students can complete about two adaptive tests per year without having to repeat a large number of the same questions each time.

Where do the PAT: Reading Vocabulary Adaptive questions come from?

PAT: Reading Vocabulary Adaptive uses questions that are part of the existing static PAT: Reading Vocabulary tests.  

Which type of PAT: Reading Vocabulary test should I use?

The adaptive tests and the static tests both have advantages. Which type you choose to use will depend on your reasons for testing and the kind of information you want to produce.

The main advantage of an adaptive test is that it tailors the content of the test to the individual student. This means that each student will be administered a test that is well-targeted to their achievement level. As well as ensuring that all students will have some success in terms of answering questions correctly, a well-targeted test also makes sure that each student’s achievement level is located on the PAT: Reading Vocabulary scale with a good level of precision. This is very difficult to achieve when we use the same static test with all students in a class. The variability between students in a typical New Zealand classroom is often quite large, meaning it is difficult to find one test form that will suit all students in the class. The adaptive PAT: Reading Vocabulary tests are also shorter (25 questions) than the static tests (40 questions).

The fact that the static tests present all students in a group with the same questions however, can sometimes be an advantage for analysis. Teachers can make next step teaching for groups of students instead of one student at a time. When everyone in a group completes the same questions it becomes possible to look for patterns in the students’ responses that may expose possible weaknesses (or strengths) across a class or year level cohort.

Regardless of which type of PAT Vocabulary Test you decide to use in your school, all results will be able to be reported as scale scores and stanines. Some schools may choose to use one type of test with some students and another type with others.

Key features of Adaptive and Static tests