ITEM RESPONSE THEORY ESTIMATION OF A SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL CERTIFICATEPHYSICS PRACTICAL EXAMINATION

Abstract

The research was conducted using a descriptive survey research design. The study's population were all Osun
State senior secondary school three Physics students. Six hundred and thirty-one senior secondary school
Physics students were chosen using a multistage sampling technique for the study sample. NECO 2018 physics
practical examination was used to collect relevant data for the study. The -2loglikelihood chi-square value,
Generalized Partial Credit Model, Standard Error of Estimate (SE), standardized fit index (Zh) and limitedinformation fit measure were used to analyze the collected data. The results showed that only five out of the 37
the tasks required to judge the proficiency of students in Physics practical were of adequate level of difficulty.
However, 28 out of the 37 tasks required to judge the proficiency of students in Physics practical has high
discrimination parameter estimates that were greater than the benchmark of 0.35. The result also showed that
out of the 37 tasks used in assessing the proficiency of students in Physics practical by NECO, 34 items fitted the
generalized partial credit model used in the calibration of the test. The study concluded that the psychometric
properties of 2018 NECO physics practical examination items were adequate but with deficiency in the difficulty
level. The study therefore concluded that information provided by IRT model on the estimates of the test were
dependable and can be reliably used in the evaluation of the quality of Physics practical test items.