Quiz and Test Generator

I'm transitioning to Standards Based Grading (SBG) this year. One essential element of SBG is allowing students to reassess on any of the standards. I tried SBG last year, but the reassessments were unmanageable.

Over the summer I wrote software to automatically make quizzes and tests for me simply by clicking links on my class webpages. The links are set up with parameters specifying what kind of assessment it is, the title of the assessment, the skill or skills to be assessed, and the number of freeform and multiple-choice questions for each skill.

The software reads the parameters, selects skills from a test bank, selects random questions for each skill, and selects random variants of each question. It formats the assessment to be displayed on a screen, so that I can give a randomized quiz to a class on a whim. When I print an assessment, the software formats it differently, optimized for taking the test on paper instead of from a screen. The software will also display and print the answer key for me.

The random selection of questions and the randomization of variants gives me a countless variety of assessments. Even if a test gets out in the public, students who would cheat will see random variations on the questions. They will soon figure out that they must actually learn how to do the problems because the answers on their test will be different from the answers on the test from their friend's class.

You can see the links in the Assessment sections of my lesson plans. My test bank is hidden behind passwords, so you won't be able to see actual assessments by clicking on the links there.

But I have put up a publicly accessible sample so that you can play with it. Try these links to see samples:

• Quiz: Motion Graphs (has a bug making graphics unreliable)
• Quiz: Motion Graphs (with a workaround for the bug)
• Quiz: Triangle Review
• Quiz: Vectors (has a bug making graphics unreliable)
• Quiz: All Three (with a workaround for the bug)

I'm writing the test bank as I go this year. Since I'm writing the questions, they correspond exactly to the specific skills I'm teaching. If I don't happen to like the mix of questions on an assessment, I simply reload the page to get a new randomization.