Study aim: this study examined the item difficulty and item discrimination scores for the HRFK PE Metrics cognitive assessment tool for 5th-grade students.

Materials and methods: ten elementary physical education teachers volunteered to participate. Based on convenience, participating teachers selected two 5th grade physical education classes. Teachers then gave students (N = 633) a 28-question paper and pencil HRFK exam using PE Metrics Standards 3 and 4. Item difficulty and discrimination analysis and Rasch Modeling were used data to determine underperforming items.

Results: analysis suggests that at least three items are problematic. The Rasch Model confirmed this result and identified similar items with high outfit mean square values and low Point Biserial correlation values.

Conclusions: teachers are in need of valid and reliable HRFK assessment tools. Without the removal of three items in the PE Metrics HRFK exam for 5th-grade students, complete use of the exam could offer incorrect conclusions.