We
look here at the benefits and shortcomings of several test anxiety scales:
Spielberger Test Anxiety Inventory
ü Is the
most widely used, and therefore the international standard.
ü Scores
items both positive and negative, so that left and right response bias does not
affect the
scoring
o Scale
picks up
worry, which impairs performance, but also emotionality, better termed
physiological arousal, which is only modestly related to impaired performance.
v Is licensed to users, and involves a licensing fee.
See
further Information or Purchase the scale
Westside Test Anxiety Scale (Richard Driscoll)
ü Focuses
strongly on performance impairments, with 6 of 10 items specifically about
performance problems.
ü
Assesses
worry, which impairs performance, but does not dwell on physiological arousal,
which is only loosely
related to performance.
ü Is quick
to administer and easily scored by the students themselves.
ü Includes
instructions to help students understand their scores.
ü Is
public access, from AMTAA.ORG,
and can be downloaded and used with no charge to your school.
ü Scale changes are found to be closely related to grade changes, suggesting that the scale is a sensitive register of anxiety impairments. See Validation
o Items
are all scored positive, making it the scale easy to score but also vulnerable
to left and right response bias.
o While the scale is relatively new, it does identify about 18% of students as highly anxious, which is the national norm, and it is being used in several ongoing research projects.
View or download the Westside Scale
Alpert-Haber 10 item Debilitative Anxiety Scale.
ü One of the first to measures anxiety performance impairments.
See: Alpert, R. & Haber, R.N. (1960). Anxiety in academic achievement situations. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 10, 207-215.
Cassady-Johnson Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale
ü Focuses on the cognitive dimension of test anxiety, which impairs test performance.
See: Cassady, J. & Johnson, R. (2001). Cognitive test anxiety and academic performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27, 270-295.
Irwin. G. Sarason Reactions to Tests (RTT) Scale
Is one of the early scales and has been used extensively in research.ü Measures: Tension; Worry; Test-Irrelevant Thinking; and Bodily Reactions.
ü
See Reactions to Tests. Sarason, I. G. (1984). Stress, anxiety, and cognitive interference: Reactions to tests. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 46, 929-938.
We are especially interested in scales which can be used without charge to the schools.