Standardized Tests

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Standardized Tests

• What They Measure
• How They Measure

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Construction

• Constructed by test construction experts
• Assisted by curriculum experts, teachers, and
  school administrators
• Administered and scored according to specific and
  uniform (i.e. standard) procedures

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Purpose

• To determine a students level of performance
  relative to the performance of other students in
  similar age and grade

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Type Criterion-Referenced Test

• Comparison is made to meeting a criterion or
  absolute standard
• Helps develop proficiency in or master of some
  skill or set of skills
• Helps determine if student needs more work with a
  skill.
• Does not rank or place
• PSSA tests

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Type Norm-Referenced Test

• Students are compared to a norm or average of
  performance by other similar students.
• Helps to determine place or rank

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How are tests normed?

• Compiled from scores of students who took the
  tests years earlier when the test was being
  developed or revised
• Current test takers do not affect the norm

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The Bell Curve
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Comparison with Other Students

• Grading on a Curve or Norm Referenced
• Grade of Students
• A 10
• B 25
• C 40
• D 20
• F 5

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Problems with Normed Tests

• Group tested can vary greatly from group who
  normed the test
• May not match curriculum
• May not match schedule
• (traditional vs. block)

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Student-Related Issues

• Age, Sex, and Development
• Motivation
• Emotional State
• Disabilities

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Test Bias

• The presence of some characteristic of an item
  that results in differential performance for
  individuals of the same ability but from
  different ethnic, cultural, socio-economic, or
  religious groups

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Interpreting Scores Grade Equivalents

• Biggest Problem People interpret them as a
  standard rather than a norm!
• They are estimates above or below grade level
• 7th grader has 11.3 reading grade level
• Only students one year below and above were
  tested
• Equal distance in scores do not necessarily
  reflect equal distance in achievement.
• Growth from 2.6 to 3.6 is not the same as growth
  from 7.6 to 8.6 (more sophisticated skills)
  

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Age Equivalents

• Same issues as grade equivalents
• Used often to ascertain normal child development
• Have not attracted widespread acceptance in
  schools

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Percentile Rank

• Not a percentage!
• Best indicator
• Comparison are within grade level
• Less likely to be considered as standards for
  performance
• Easiest for all to understand
• Percentile rank of 62 means the student scored
  62 better than those who took the test.

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Stanine

• 1-9 levels of markings to show where student
  falls in the norm referencing. It is same as
  percentile. 5 is average. Every other number
  is a certain standard deviation above or below
  the mean (average).

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