Managing Classroom Assessment Quality Evidence on Teacher Test Construction Competence, Test Quality KPIs, and Pupils Performance in Western Area Rural, Sierra Leone
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Volume 14 - November 2025 (11)
Abstract
The researcher reposition classroom assessment as a management system by testing whether teachers’ test‑construction competence (TCC) operates as a process KPI that improves teacher‑made test quality and, indirectly, pupil performance in junior secondary mathematics.The study covers Western Area Rural, Sierra Leone (30 schools; 60 teachers; 300 pupils). We audited tests for blueprint coverage, item difficulty and discrimination, distractor performance, and internal consistency (KR‑20/α) to build a Test Quality Index (TQI). Multilevel models with school random intercepts and a mediation specification assessed TQI as an indirect pathway between TCC and achievement.
Findings: TCC correlated positively with achievement (β≈0.22–0.28). Introducing TQI attenuated the direct TCC path (β≈0.17; p≈.065) and produced an indirect effect of about 0.08 SD (bootstrap 95% CI ≈ [0.02, 0.14]).
Practical implications: Treating TCC and TQI as KPIs supports a low‑cost continuous quality improvement (CQI) cycle: blueprint checks, item‑writing clinics, marking moderation, and termly dashboard review embedded in district QA governance.
Originality/value: By recasting psychometric indicators as management devices, we offer a pragmatic blueprint for assessment quality management (AQM) in low‑resource public education systems, linking process control to measurable gains in information quality and student outcomes.
Keywords
quality management; KPIs; continuous improvement; assessment quality management; performance dashboard; public sector; Sierra Leone
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