Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Chapter 9 Assessment of Achievement

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 8-2 Achievement can be defined as an individual’s knowledge or skills in a particular content area that he or she has received instruction (AERA et al., 1999). Achievement Test are comprised of items that require test takers to demonstrate some level of knowledge or skill. What is Achievement?

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 8-3 Achievement tests focus more on the present, i.e., what an individual knows or can do right now. Intelligence tests measure an individual’s current cognitive ability level. Differentiating Achievement Tests

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 8-4 Cover broad content areas common to most U.S. school educational standards. In education settings, standardized achievements tests are used to: Establish a student’s present achievement level Monitor student achievement over time Identify a student’s academic strengths and weaknesses Screen students for placement/selection decisions Evaluate instructional objectives and programs Standardized Achievement Tests

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 8-5 Standardized achievement tests serve many purposes in educational settings. Establishing a student’s present achievement level Tracking student achievement over time Identifying a student’s academic strengths and weaknesses Screening students for placement/selection decisions Evaluating instructional objectives and programs Assisting with diagnosis of learning disabilities Standardized Achievement Tests

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 8-6 Standardized achievement tests have several universal features, including: uniform administration and scoring procedures sound psychometric qualities nationally representative norm groups Standardized Achievement Tests, Cont.

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 8-7 There are several categories of achievement tests, including: Achievement test batteries Individual achievement tests Diagnostic achievement tests Subject area tests Standardized Achievement Tests, Cont

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 8-8 Achievement test batteries are comprised of subtests that assess basic skills in reading, language, mathematics and other grade- appropriate topics. Each subtest has a fairly limited number of items. Most achievement test batteries are group administered. Achievement Test Batteries

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 8-9

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved The Stanford Achievement Test: is a group achievement test battery designed for use in K-12 settings. measures reading, mathematics, spelling, language, social science, and listening. provides several types of scores, including raw scores, standard scores, percentile ranks, stanines, grade equivalents, Normal Curve Equivalents (NCEs), and performance categories Stanford Achievement Test

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Individual achievement tests assess broad academic areas Cover broad range of skill levels Useful for identifying individuals’ weaknesses in specific subject areas Often used with intelligence tests to diagnose learning disabilities. Individual Achievement Tests

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 8-12

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Individual Achievement Tests A number of individual achievement tests include: Wide Range Achievement Test, Fourth Edition (WRAT-4) Peabody Individual Achievement Test- Revised/Normative Update (PIAT-R/NU) Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Second Edition (WIAT-II) Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Achievement, Normative Update (WJ-III:ACH/NU) Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Second Edition (KTEA-2)

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved The purpose of diagnostic tests is to identify an individuals academic strengths or weaknesses. Unlike achievement test batteries and individual achievement tests, diagnostic tests: have a narrower focus contain a larger number and variety of items take longer to administer Diagnostic tests are often used for identifying and diagnosing learning disabilities. Diagnostic Tests

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Diagnostic Tests Examples of diagnostic tests: KeyMath-3 Diagnostic Assessment (KeyMath-3 DA) Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals, 4th Edition (CELF-4) Grey Oral Reading Test (GORT)

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved The term subject area tests generally refers to standardized achievement tests that measure content area knowledge in specific academic or vocational subject areas. Subject area tests measure not only an individual’s knowledge and skills in an area, but also predict how well an individual will do in the future. Examples of assessments that include subject area tests include the SAT and College-level Examination Program. Other examples include CBMs and CRMs Subject Area Tests

Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals, 7e Drummond/Jones © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved Other Achievement Assessment Instruments Adult Achievement Tests Criterion-Referenced and Minimum-Level Skills Test State Achievement Tests National Assessment of Educational Progress Curriculum-Based Assessment and Curriculum-Based Measurement Performance Assessment Portfolio Assessment