Development and application of the student test used in the School Health Education Evaluation

To accurately assess the health knowledge, attitudes, and practices of students in grades four-seven, the staff of the School Health Education Evaluation (SHEE) project devoted extensive effort to identify a test appropriate for such assessment. An extensive literature review failed to produce an instrument sufficiently comprehensive or psychometrically sound that could be employed. In this paper, the philosophic orientation and the detailed processes followed in developing a noncurriculum specific, psychometrically sound evaluation instrument for use in the study is described. Included are the bases for the test framework, test objective development, test item review, the various measures constructed using the test blueprint, student performance on the test battery, the psychometric qualities of the test, and suggestions for appropriate use of the final test in other school health education settings.