Test Item File
Instructions
,Using the Test Item Files
Test item files are assessment banks designed to assist instructors in providing high quality
assessments that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of—and ability to apply—key
chapter content. To accommodate different platforms, test item files are available (and
importable) for the following Learning Management System (LMS) formats:
• Blackboard
• Canvas
• D2L
• Moodle
Note: The Word document versions of the test item file are separated by chapter and
include every item that is provided in the LMS-compatible file. If your campus does not use
one of the platforms listed above, or if you wish to administer assessments on paper, you
can copy and paste items from the word document versions to create your own
assignments, quizzes, or tests. Use caution when copy/pasting assessment items—you will
want to remove any text that indicates the correct answer.
Assessment Item Types
Below you will find descriptions of possible assessment item types.
Assessment Type Format Description
Learning outcome (LO) quizzes are designed to
assess the learner’s comprehension of key
learning outcomes within a chapter. Each
Learning Outcome
Multiple Choice chapter learning outcome will have a dedicated
Quizzes
LO quiz. To help guide learning, feedback is
provided for both the correct and incorrect
answer choices.
Application exercises are designed to give
learners the opportunity to practice applying the
content and strategies from the chapter. These
exercises can be video-based, written
Short Answer/Essay (usually) case/scenario-based, or based on an artifact
Application Exercises
Multiple Choice (at times) (e.g., assessment results, student work, research
article, etc.). Feedback is provided in the form of
a model response to give the student guidance
on the accuracy of their response, and also to
assist the instructor in grading the response.
Multiple Choice Chapter tests can be used to assess students'
Chapter Test
Short Answer/Essay learning after all chapter readings and
assignments have been completed.
, Licensure exam practice exercises are modeled
Licensure Exam
after questions found on teacher licensure tests,
Practice
Multiple Choice and are meant to help readers prepare for their
Short Answer/Essay certification exams. Short answer questions
(Included in select
include feedback in the form of a model
titles only)
response.
These exercises help teacher candidates learn
how to effectively observe and analyze teaching.
While observing an authentic classroom video,
Video Observation
students use a rubric to guide their analysis of
and Analysis
the teacher in the video, while also making time-
Exercises
Short Answer/Essay stamped comments that identify specific events
in the video that align to the criteria being
(Included in select
evaluated. Feedback is provided in the form of a
titles only)
model response that includes relevant time
stamps and events, as well as the suggested
rubric rating from a subject matter expert.
Pearson eText
Some of the assessment items within Application Exercises may require access to the Pearson
eText version of this title. Within the eText you will find embedded video examples and/or
classroom artifacts that provide the background information required to answer these questions.
Assessment items that require eText content will include one of the following notes as part of
the question stem or prompt:
• Use Pearson eText Video Example X.X to answer the following question…
• Use Pearson eText Artifact X.X to answer the following question…
If you are an instructor and need access to the Pearson eText, contact your sales
representative: https://www.pearson.com/us/contact-us/find-your-rep.html.
Exercise Naming Conventions
Below you will find examples of how exercises in the test item file have been named, along with
an explanation for what each component represents.
Examples:
• 01 Learning Outcome Quiz 1.1
• 01 Learning Outcome Quiz 1.2
• 01 Application Exercise 1.1
• 01 Application Exercise 1.2
• 01 Chapter Test 1
• 02 Learning Outcome Quiz 2.1, etc.
, In the above examples, the first number (e.g., 01) indicates the assessment is aligned with
Chapter 1. The second term (e.g., Learning Outcome Quiz) indicates the assessment type. The
final number indicates the sequence numbering within the chapter. For example, if there are
three Learning Outcome Quizzes in Chapter 1, they will be numbered 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3. The first
number (1) represents the chapter number, and the second number (1, 2, and 3) represents the
sequence within the chapter. Based on these naming conventions, the first Learning Outcome
Quiz in chapter two would be named 02 Learning Outcome Quiz 2.1 (see final bullet above).
Importing and Using Test Item Files in Your Learning
Management System
Below you will find instructions for importing LMS-compatible files into your campus learning
platform (Blackboard, Canvas, D2L, or Moodle). Your campus might be using a version of the
learning platform software that is different from the one that was used when creating these
instructions. This could lead to slight mismatches between the instructions and what you are
seeing on your screen. If you encounter problems with the import process, please try contacting
your campus LMS administrator for assistance. If you are still unable to import the file, please
contact your sales representative (https://www.pearson.com/us/contact-us/find-your-rep.html).
Note: The import steps detailed below assume that you: 1) have already created your course
shell within your learning platform, and 2) have already downloaded the importable test item file
from the Pearson website.
Blackboard
Note: There will be two Blackboard-compatible .zip files available on the Pearson website: a
“Pool” file, and a “Test” file. Be sure you are aware of which file you downloaded, and the
differences between these two options (described in Step 2 below).
1. In the left navigation menu of your course shell, select Course Tools > Tests, Surveys,
and Pools.
2. Select one of the following options (do not use Surveys):
a. Pools (recommended)
b. Tests
Pools: The ‘Pools’ option imports each assessment as a set of questions that can be
added to any test you create within your course. This function is useful for storing
questions and creating question sets for more than one test. You will also be able to
vet each question before including it on a test. In short, pools provide the most
flexibility in terms of how you implement the assessment content.
Tests: The ‘Tests’ option imports each assessment as a pre-built test. This means
an individual test will be automatically generated (upon import) for each learning
outcome quiz, application exercise, and chapter test. A created test must be
deployed within a content folder before students can take the test.
