VASSI Mathematics Proficiency Test

C.P. Vassiliou

The VASSI Mathematics Proficiency Test is a South African assessment tool that was developed for English, Afrikaans and previously disadvantaged learners. The test is standardised for English-, Afrikaans- and Sesotho-speaking learners in the foundation phase (Grades 1-3) and intermediate phase (Grades 4-6).

The VASSI Mathematics Proficiency Tests was developed by Dr Colleen Vassiliou. Dr Vassiliou was a mathematics teacher before studying further as a psychologist. Due to the problems she encountered as a mathematics teacher and due to the absence of mathematical proficiency testing she decided to develop the VASSI Mathematics Proficiency Test.

The first task in helping a learner who is struggling with mathematics is to identify the problem. Thus, if a learner fails to meet the expectations of the curriculum or fails to carry out the cognitive processes necessary for successful task completion, the VASSI Mathematics Proficiency Test can be used to identify and address this problem.

Users

• Educators of Grade 1 to Grade 6 learners

• Remedial teachers

• Psychologists

The VASSI Mathematics Proficiency Test

• Determines whether a learner has a problem in Mathematics, in which learning area the problem lay and what cognitive processes need to be stimulated to assist the learner to cope with the necessary mathematics tasks that are expected

• Can be administered to groups of learners or to individuals

• Is standardised for English-, Afrikaans- and Sesotho-speaking learners from Grade 1 to Grade 6. During standardisation, separate norms for each term were calculated. These norms are available in both stanines and percentile ranks

• The answer sheets are available in English, Afrikaans and Sesotho

• Can also be used qualitatively to determine not only the learning strand in which the learner may be experiencing problems, but also the specific cognitive process, such as receiving, interpreting, organizing, applying, remembering and problemsolving, which might be preventing the learner from reaching his or her full mathematical potential

• Is bias free and culturally friendly. During the construction of this test, care was taken to ensure that the test was cross-culturally adapted. Differential Item Functioning was used to limit the possibility of cultural bias. The Item Response Theory and the Classical Test Theory were also used for item analysis and selection

• Is a reliable and valid measuring instrument since the bias of the assessment measure has been decreased. This was done by eliminating any item that was biased towards a specific cultural group. The test can therefore be used in practice with confidence.