ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the general guidelines related to developing any type of constructed-response item. These guidelines are a compilation of one's review of assessment experts in the field as well as their own experiences as teachers, instructional leaders, state assessment developers, and, currently, professors. Constructed-response items allow teachers to assess a range of cognitive levels, depending on the type of constructed-response item and the complexity of the item. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium makes a clear distinction between constructed-response items and performance assessment tasks. The chapter explores three critical elements of creating any type of constructed-response item: the prompt, the response format, and the scoring criteria. This item is measuring a student's ability to construct a diagram of a water cycle and then to explain the relationship of the processes to the overall water cycle. In addition, the item clearly aligns to the intended learning outcome. All of these considerations increase both the validity and reliability of the item.
