Resumen de Alignment of ACS Inorganic Chemistry Examination Items to the Anchoring Concepts Content Map

Keith A. Marek, Jeffrey R. Raker, Thomas A. Holme, Kristen L. Murphy

• The American Chemical Society-Examinations Institute (ACS-EI) released the first ACS Foundations of Inorganic Chemistry Examination in 2016 to better address the two generalized types of inorganic chemistry courses (i.e., at the foundation or second/third-year level and the in-depth or third/fourth-year level). The ACS Inorganic Chemistry Exam that has traditionally been offered addresses the content and skills most associated with a third/fourth-year level course. Topics selected for the foundations level exam were informed by a national survey of inorganic chemistry faculty; however, the topical framework for the survey study was notably different from the test architecture employed by ACS Exams (i.e., the Anchoring Concepts Content Map). We should note that when the foundations level exam was being developed, the Inorganic Chemistry Anchoring Concepts Content Map was not completed; however, now that the ACCM framework has been finalized, there is an opportunity to consider how the foundations and in-depth level examinations differ based on the content map. This study, therefore, compares content coverage of the 2016 ACS Foundations of Inorganic Chemistry Examination and the 2014 ACS Inorganic Chemistry Examination. Exam items were aligned using the Big Ideas and Enduring Understanding levels of the Anchoring Concepts Content Map (ACCM) and were also evaluated based on complexity. This work demonstrates the notable differences in the two examinations by content; this work also provides a structure for faculty or instructors to use when aligning test items or learning objectives from different courses and a discussion on how to utilize the results of those alignments.