Lecture by: Chris Ross

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Chapter 3 How Standardized Test.

• Lecture by Chris Ross

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How Standardized Tests Are Used with Infants
Young Children

• Types of Standardized Tests
• Ability gt current level of knowledge or skill in
  a particular areas.
• Psychological tests like intelligence,
  achievement, aptitude test are used for ability
  as well.
• Achievement gt related to the extend to which a
  person has acquired certain information or
  mastered identified skills.
• Peabody Individual Achievement Test- Revised
  (measures achievement in math, reading
  recognition and comprehension, spelling and
  general information.

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How Standardized Tests Are Used with Infants
Young Children

• Types of Standardized Tests
• Aptitude gt is the potential to learn or develop
  proficiency in some area, provided that certain
  conditions exist or training is available.
• The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
• Personality tests gt measure a persons tendency
  to behave in a particular way.

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How Standardized Tests Are Used with Infants
Young Children

• Types of Standardized Tests
• Interest inventories gt used to determine a
  persons interest in a certain area or vocation
  and are not used with very young children.
• Attitude measure gt determines how a person is
  predisposed to think about or behave toward an
  object, event, institution, type of behavior, or
  person (group of people).

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How Standardized Tests Are Used with Infants
Young Children

• Tests for Infants
• Apgar Scale gt is administered one and five
  minutes after birth to asses the health of the
  newborn.
• Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale gt
  measures temperamental differences, nervous
  system functions and capacity of the neonate to
  interact.
• The Gesell Developmental Schedules gt first
  scales to measure infant development.
• Several measures are discussed on pages 54-55

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How Standardized Tests Are Used with Infants
Young Children

• Tests for Preschool Children
• Screening Tests
• Denver II
• Ages and Stages Questionnaire
• Brisance Screens
• First Step Screening Test for Evaluating
  Preschoolers
• Devereux Early Childhood Assessment
• Many More tests are discussed on pages 56-58 61

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How Standardized Tests Are Used with Infants
Young Children

• Diagnostic Tests (pgs 58-59 61)
• Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale
• Standford-Binet Intelligence Sale
• Battell Developmental Inventory-II
• Language Tests (59-60 61)
• Preschool Language Scale
• Pre-LAS
• Achievement Tests (60-62)
• National Reporting System

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How Standardized Tests Are Used with Infants
Young Children

• Tests for School-Age Children (pg. 61-66)
• Bilingual Syntax Measure II
• Test of Visual-Motor Integration
• Child Observation Record

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Steps in Standardized Test Design
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Specifying the Purpose of the Test

• Purpose should be clearly defined
• APA guidelines for including the tests purpose
  in the test manual. The standards are
• The test manual should state explicitly the
  purpose and applications for which the test is
  recommended
• The test manual should describe clearly the
  psychological, educational and other reasoning
  underlying the test and the nature of the
  characteristic it is intended to measure.

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Determining Test Format

• Remember not all younger children can write, so
  verbal tests or child must possess a way to
  complete the assessment fairly.
• Older children may do written (if able).
• Some tests are designed to be administered
  individually or in a group setting

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Developing Experimental Forms

• Process often involves writing, editing, trying
  out, and rewriting/revising the test items.
• Preliminary test is assembled and given to a
  sample of students. Experimental test forms
  resemble the final form.

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Assembling The Test

• After the item analysis the final form of the
  test is created.
• Test questions (or required behaviors) to measure
  each objective are selected.
• Test directions are made final with instructions
  for the takers and administrators.

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Standardizing the Test

• The final version of the test is administered to
  a larger population to acquire normative data.
• Norms gt provide the tool whereby childrens
  tests performance can be compared with the
  performance of a reference group.

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Developing the Test Manual

• The final step in test design
• Test developers now must explain the
  standardizing information, describe the method
  used to select the norming group, give the number
  of individuals included in standardizing test is
  reported, geographic areas, communities,
  socioeconomic groups, and ethnic groups. Should
  also include the validity and reliability of the
  test

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Validity Reliability

• Validity gt degree to which the test serves the
  purpose for which it will be used.
• Reliability gt extent to which a test is stable
  or consistent.
• Content validity gt The extent to which the
  content of a test such as an achievement test
  represents the objectives of the instructional
  program it is designed to measure.

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Validity Reliability

• Criterion-related validity gt To establish
  validity of a test, scores are correlated with an
  external criterion, such as another established
  test of the same name.
• Concurrent validity gt The extent to which test
  scores on two forms of a test measure are
  correlated when they are given at the same time.
• Construct validity gt The extent to which a test
  measures a psychological trait or construct.
  Tests of personality, verbal ability, and
  critical thinking are examples of tests with
  construct validity.

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Validity Reliability

• Alternative-form reliability gt the correlation
  between results on alternative forms of a test.
  Reliability is the extent to which the two forms
  are consistent in measuring the same attributes.
• Split-half reliability gt a measure of
  reliability whereby scores of equivalent sections
  of a single test are correlated for internal
  consistency.

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Validity Reliability

• Internal consistency gt the degree of
  relationship among items on a test. A type of
  reliability that indicates whether items on the
  test are positively correlated and measure the
  same trait or characteristic.
• Test-retest reliability gt a type of reliability
  obtained by administering the same test a second
  time after a short interval and then correlating
  the two sets of scores.

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Factors That Affect Validity Reliability

• Some common factors are
• Reading ability
• Testing room conditions
• Memory
• Physical condition of test taker
• Lack of adherence to time limits
• Lack of consistency

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Standard Error of Measurement

• Standard error of measurement gt as estimate of
  the possible magnitude of error present in the
  test scores.
• True score gt a hypothetical score on a test that
  is free of error. Because no standardized test
  is free of measurement error, a true score can
  never be obtained.

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Standard Error of Measurement

• What are some items that can impact the test
  reliability?
• Population sample larger the sample will
  generally mean a more reliable test.
• Length of test longer test are usually more
  reliable than shorter. More items to measure
  can enhance true score and reliability.
• Range of test scores from the norming group the
  wider the spread of scores the more reliably the
  test can distinguish among them. The spread of
  test scores can be related to the number of
  students taking the test.

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Considerations in Choosing Evaluating Tests
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Considerations.

• Brown (1983) factors that test users must
  consider
• Purpose of test
• Characteristics to be measured
• How are test results to be used
• Qualifications of people who interpret scores and
  use results
• Practical constraints

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Considerations.

• Think of the quality of a test/measure/assessment.
  A good manual should include the following
  information
• Purpose of the test
• Test design
• Establishment of validity and reliability
• Test administration and scoring