1. Standardized Test Reporting
TCH 345 Assessment & Evaluation Strategies
Han Liu, Ph.D.
Department of Teacher Education
Shippensburg University

2. Standardized Test Reporting
Norm-Referenced
Norm-referenced tests (NRTs) compare a person's score against the scores of a group of people who have already taken the same exam, called the "norming group."
Criterion-Referenced
Criterion-referenced tests (CRTs) are intended to measure how well a person has learned a specific body of knowledge and skills.

3. Norm-Referenced Test
Definition: Norm-referenced scores make comparisons of children's achievement against those children in an appropriate norm or comparison group.
Purpose:
Compare
Rank
Select
Score format:
Percentile score

4. Criterion-Referenced Test
Definition: Criterion-referenced scores seek to see how well children have mastered identified achievement goals or targets. They do not compare children against other children, but compare children's achievement against achievement targets -- to see if they have achieved national, state, or districtwide learning goals.
Purpose:
Verify if meet standards
Individualized performance
Score format: Percent correct (passing rate)
Below basic
Basic
Proficient (Passing)
Advanced

5. Norm-referenced or Criterion-referenced?
Standardized Test
Purpose
Norm-Referenced
Criterion-Referenced
IQ Test
Measure Intelligence
Yes
SAT
College Admission
CAT
GRE
Graduate Admission
TOEFL
Foreign Language
PRAXIS
Teacher Certification
Driver’s Test
Driver Certification
PSSA Pennsylvania School System Assessment
Student Achievement
SOL Virginia: Standard of Learning Test
MEAP Michigan Educational Assessment Program
FCAT Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test
CAT California Achievement Test
ITBS Iowa Test of Basic Skills

6. Major Types of Norm-referenced Test Scores
Raw Scores
Raw scores represent the basic score (not modified or compared in any way) that the child achieved. For example, if a student got 36 items correct on a 72-item test, his raw score would be 36. It is difficult to interpret raw scores and they are not often reported.
Percent Correct
Usually raw scores are at least converted into percentages. This refers to the percentage of items the student got correct compared to the total items on the test. For example, if the student answered 36 of 72 items correct, his percentage score would be 50%.
Percentile Scores
Scores can also be reported as percentiles. Percentiles are not percentages. Rather they involve the norm group. A percentile is the percentage of scores in the norm group that a given child's score exceeded. Thus, a percentile score of 70 does not mean that the child got 70% of the questions correct. Rather, it means that he scored higher than 70% of the students in the norm group.

7. Major Types of Norm-referenced Test Scores
Stanines
Stanines divide the distribution of scores in units of ninths (rather than sixths for standard deviations or tenths which is often the case for other types of scores). For example, if a student scored in the third stanine, he would have scored relatively low since there are six stanine divisions higher than the one in which he scored. Stanines are relatively inexact and yield more broad information than percentiles.
Grade Equivalent Scores
Grade equivalent scores refer to the child's grade level in his accuracy of responses. A child who scores at the fifth-grade level on reading is reading similarly to the fifth-grade students in the norm group. If the child actually were in seventh grade, he would be reading below grade level. If he were in fourth grade, he would be reading above grade level. Grade levels are reported by years and months within each grade. Thus a child reading at grade level 5.7 would be reading at grade 5 month 7 as defined by students in the norm group.

8. Stannie Normal Distribution

9. Test Score Summary

10. Reference