EVALUATING ASSESSMENT QUALITY IN BIOLOGY EDUCATION USING THE RASCH MODEL: EVIDENCE FROM AN ANIMAL DIVERSITY COURSE
Ernie Novriyanti, Iva Sarifah, Achmad Ridwan

Program Studi Doktor Penelitian dan Evaluasi Pendidikan, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Assessment quality is a critical component of effective learning evaluation in higher education, particularly in biology courses that involve complex conceptual structures such as classification and phylogenetic relationships. This study aims to analyze the quality of item characteristics in a final examination of an Animal Diversity course using the Rasch model, with a focus on the alignment between item difficulty and student ability. A quantitative approach was employed using Rasch analysis with Winsteps software. Data were obtained from student responses to a multiple-choice examination and transformed into dichotomous format. Key parameters analyzed included item difficulty, person ability, fit statistics, reliability, separation index, Wright Map, and test information function. The results show that the instrument demonstrates high reliability and acceptable model fit. However, item difficulty is predominantly concentrated at the moderate level, resulting in limited discrimination of high-ability students. The Wright Map indicates a mismatch between item difficulty and student ability, while the test information function reveals that measurement precision is highest at average ability levels and decreases at the extremes. In conclusion, although the instrument meets basic psychometric standards, improvements are required to enhance its discriminatory power and measurement precision. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating a balanced range of item difficulties and higher-order cognitive tasks in biology assessments.

Keywords: Rasch model- biology assessment- item difficulty- student ability- Wright Map

Topic: Ethonopedagogy (Local Wisdom, Socio Culture)