I. What are standardized tests and how are they used?

SELF-CHECK ITEMS: What is the main difference between standardized and nonstandardized tests? How are standardized test results used in student selection, placement, diagnosis and evaluation? What is a minimum competency test, and how does it hold teachers and schools accountable for what students learn?

QUESTION 1: What is the main difference between standardized and nonstandardized tests?

POSSIBLE ANSWER: Standardized tests provide information to test takers about their performance relative to others of their age or grade-level who have already taken the test (the norm sample). Nonstandardized tests cannot provide the same information, because a norm sample is not available for purposes of comparison.

QUESTION 2: How are standardized test results used in student selection, placement, diagnosis and evaluation?

POSSIBLE ANSWER: Standardized tests are generally used to compare students to other students (e.g., locally or nationally) in ways that cannot be accomplished by teacher-made tests. Sometimes standardized tests are used for selection or placement, such as when students take SAT tests or ACT tests for college entry or placement. Standardized tests are also used to place students into college preparatory, general, or vocational programs. They are also sometimes used for diagnosis, such as when employed to determine presence of a learning disability or mental retardation. They can also be used to assess development on several dimensions, such as cognitive, physical, or social. Finally, standardized tests are often used to evaluate student, teacher, and school performance. Such tests inform parents, administrators, and governing bodies of the efficacy of the education process.

QUESTION 3: What is a minimum competency test, and how does it hold teachers and schools accountable for what students learn?

POSSIBLE ANSWER: Minimum competency tests are criterion-referenced tests that focus on important skills students are expected to master for promotion or graduation. Schools are held accountable because they must prepare students to meet selected criteria, such as reading and mathematics.

SELF-CHECK ITEMS: Define aptitude test and achievement test and describe how each is measured. What is the difference between a norm-referenced achievement and a criterion-referenced achievement test? Give an example of an appropriate use for each type of test.

QUESTION 1: Define aptitude test and achievement test and describe how each is measured.

POSSIBLE ANSWER: Aptitude tests are designed to assess student potential, measuring general abilities and predicting future performance, whereas achievement tests measure how much students have learned in a given context. Aptitude tests include tests of general intelligence, like the IQ test, and those that tests scholastic aptitudes, like the SAT, and elementary and secondary school tests, such as the Differential Aptitude Test. Intelligence tests are administered either to individuals or in groups. Achievement tests, like the California Achievement Test and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, are used to measure individual or group achievement in a variety of subject areas. These tests are administered in small tests covering a variety of subject areas over several days in groups.

QUESTION 2: What is the difference between a norm-referenced achievement and a criterion-referenced achievement test? Give an example of an appropriate use for each type of test.

POSSIBLE ANSWER: Norm-referenced achievement tests are designed to assess achievement of individuals against a normative sample. These tests allow parents, teachers, school administrators, and colleges and universities to assess individual percentile rankings with respect to average test takers. SAT is used by colleges as one of a variety of sources to determine college admission. Alone, it does not provide enough information to predict college performance accurately, as many other factors (e.g., motivation) play an important role in college performance. However, when used along with other sources, such as interviews and GPA, the SAT may provide useful information to admissions officers.

Criterion-referenced achievement tests are designed to test individual performance against a criterion. For instance, driver tests assess individual ability to drive a car in traffic safely. The appropriate use of criterion-referenced achievement tests include assessment of individual ability for diagnostic purposes and the correction of deficits with reference to the criterion. For example, when a student fails a driving test, the failure does not mean the student cannot ever drive. Instead, the failure indicates more practice is necessary.

SELF-CHECK ITEMS: Describe how standardized test percentile scores, grade-equivalent scores, and standard scores are derived and interpreted.

POSSIBLE ANSWER:

• Percentile scores refer to the percentage of students in the norm sample who scored lower than a particular score. Percentile scores are derived by ranking students’ test scores from bottom to top and dividing the student’s ranking by the total number of students ranked, and then multiplying by 100 to get a percent score.
• Grade-equivalent scores refer to where students score in relation to students of different grade levels on the test administered. After tests are administered, grade-equivalent norms are set, by taking the average test score (e.g., reading test) for each grade (e.g., fifth grade), and setting that score as the grade-equivalent score on the test (e.g., a score of 70 on a reading test at the beginning of the fifth grade). Grade equivalent scores are composed of grade and month, with the month appearing after the decimal point, so that a grade-equivalent score of 5.6 for a fourth grader on the fourth grade reading test, refers to a fourth grade student scoring the equivalent of a fifth grader in the sixth month of the fifth grade on the fourth grade reading test.
• Standard scores are based on normal distributions of grades, represented by a bell-shaped curve, with the majority of scores falling around the mean, and relatively few scores falling at either tail of the distribution. Associated with standard scores is the concept of standard deviation. Standard deviation is a measure of the dispersion of scores. Roughly, 68.3% of scores fall between the mean and one standard deviation above and below the mean, and about 95.4% of scores fall between two standard deviations above and below the mean. Scores on standardized tests are often reported by how far they differ from the mean as measured in standard deviations. Tests like the IQ, SAT, are normed so that they have a given mean and standard deviation. For instance, IQ scores have a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. SAT scores have a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of 100. Standardizing scores allows individual performance to be compared to average performance, so that test takers know how they stand in relation to other test takers.

SELF-CHECK ITEMS: Define validity and reliability. What criticisms of standardized test relate to issues of validity and reliability?

QUESTION 1: Define validity and reliability.

POSSIBLE ANSWER: The validity of a test is the degree to which the test measures that which it is designed to measure. For example, a scale purchased to measure weight should measure weight accurately to be valid. Reliability refers to the consistency of test scores obtained from the same student at different times.

QUESTION 2: What criticisms of standardized test relate to issues of validity and reliability?

POSSIBLE ANSWER:
Critics argue that standardized tests are not always valid and reliable, as they:

• give false information about the status of learning in the nation’s schools
• are biased against some students, particularly those of lower socioeconomic status and ethnic minorities
• corrupt teaching by forcing teachers to focus on material tested
• focus greater effort on mastering skills that are more easily tested than critical thinking and creative endeavors