Norm-Referenced Achievement Tests
The standardized tests widely used in school are “multiple-skill achievement test that evaluate knowledge and understanding in several curricular areas. Typically they are group-administered and norm-referenced, providing comparisons to other students in the same grade level across the country. Considerations in selecting an achievement teat or test battery include content validity (e.g. , the test should not be too easy for the students), and related issues. Questions that norm-referenced test typically answer include:
Where does a student stand in a given area of achievement in relation to other students and compared to the norm group of students?
How does the overall achievement in one teacher’s class compare with that of another’s?
How does the achievement in the given content area for students in the selected school district compare with the national norms or with another school district?
See Appendix B for examples of norm-referenced tests.
Criterion- Referenced Tests
Criterion-referenced measurement is “an approach to assessment in which a student’s test performance is interpreted according to how much of a defined assessment domain has been mastered by the student.” Typically, they are designed to test whether students have reached an established criterion in a clearly defined domain. Questions that criterion-referenced test answer include:
• What is student’s level of Knowledge in the domain (e.g., what percentage of problems of a given type can we expect the student to solve correctly)?
• What are the student’s specific strengths and deficiencies in the domain ?
• What are the specific strengths and weaknesses of a given school program or curriculum?
• What specific changes in student performance have occurred as a result of changing the curriculum or instruction?
See Appendix B for examples of criterion-referenced tests.
While standardized tests, both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced, are insufficient to judge the whole of student learning (and certainly not teacher effectiveness), they can provide information on various dimensions of learning, such as the acquisition of basic knowledge and skills. The information tests provide seems to be a good starting point for identifying students who have difficulty learning material or teachers who have difficulty teaching specific content. Diagnosing the precise problem and providing the needed assistance require professional understanding of the dynamics of teaching and learning. Standardized testing should not be used as a final judgment of failure or success, but as an indicator or source of information about possible problems that educators can analyze systematically for patterns of strength and weakness.