Framing questions

We need to design questions such that they don’t provide obvious hints as to either the question’s answer or for the answers to other questions.

There is a lot at stake with the way we frame the questions because we propose that this test be one of the requirements for graduating from high school. Consequently, we need to frame questions such that the answer’s foundation is fact-based and not opinion-based.

Put yourself in the shoes of a high school student who was answering a question phrased such that it elicited an opinion and not a fact. Presumably such a question could be marked wrong if the person grading the test held a different opinion.


Consider, for example, the following question:

Which President arguably illegally suspended the Constitution?

This question, read literally, is eliciting an answer that is “arguable”. I know that I’m being pedantic and I apologize for the nit-pickery, but questions that elicit answers that can be measured against undisputed facts are better. Now consider the following question:

Which President suspended the Constitution?

This question is well framed because the answer is a matter of record.

Also I recommend that we avoid questions with multipart answers. Such questions should be factored into several questions that elicit a single answer.

We also should assume that the teachers might be tempted to simply “teach to the test”. The risk is that students might be taught that Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus without ever teaching the concept of Habeas Corpus. To my way of thinking, unless students understand what Habeas Corpus is they will have no idea what it was that Lincoln suspended.

All of this means that questions that allude to other noteworthy topics (e.g., Habeas Corpus) need to be accompanied by other questions that specifically test students knowledge of these concepts.