1. School-age Speech and Language Center: Formal Assessment Administration Overview
Group meeting week:

2. Administering Norm-Referenced Standardized Tests
When using a norm-referenced standardized assessments, you should ask yourself a series of questions:
What is the Purpose of Administering a Certain Test: Why are you giving a certain test? What is your clinical question or hypothesis?
Test Utility: How are the assessment results going to help you? Eligibility, Intervention Planning, Progress Monitoring?
Which Assessment to Choose? Are there tools that employers specifically use? Timing? Specific Communication Constructs? Other Factors?
What are the Limitations: All tests have limitations. Be aware of these. Many are noted within the examiner’s manual.
Corroborating with Other Information: No single measure should be used. Triangulate your findings with language sample results, work samples, other school data (i.e., ESL testing, summative or formative assessments).

3. History of the Norm-Referenced Standardized Tests
The use was formally initiated by French psychologist Binet and Simon and the beginning of the 20th century as a systematic means of measuring intelligence.
Over the years, tests were expanded to measure aptitude, personality, and educational achievement.
Speech-language pathology has borrowed and accepted the tradition of assessing communication skills through standardized testing.

4. What are Standardized and Norm-Referenced Tests?
Standardization is a research process that includes careful selection of test items, administration of the items to a representative sample drawn from a defined population, statistical analysis of results, establishment of age-based norms, and the development of instructions and response scoring procedures.
Most standardized tests are norm-referenced. Norm-referenced tests are ALWAYS STANDARDIZED. Norm-referenced tests help compare a client’s performance to the performance of another group of individuals called the normative group. The normative group is usually a representative sample of individuals of the same age, sex, and cultural group as the client.

5. The Design of a Test Should Include (Found in the Examiner’s Manual):
The size of the sample: The American Psychological Association states that a sample should not be less than 100.
The ethnocultural and socioeconomic levels of the individuals selected for standardization: The more heterogeneous the population, the greater the utility.
Other relevant noted variables: IQ, medical status, disability status, and range of education and occupation of parents.
Types of validity addressed: Is the test measuring what it claims to measure.
Descriptive statistics: The manual should include means and standard deviations for all groups on who the test items have been administered; additional statistical transformation of raw scores (e.g., standard scores & percentiles) may also be specified.

6. Question Design
Test developers carefully select items that they believe represent the skill the test seeks to measure.
The analysis then establishes a “normal distribution of scores”.

7. Normal Curve (i.e., Bell Curve)

8. Score Descriptions are Typically in the Examiner’s Manual & Interpretation’s are in the Technical Manual
Raw Score: Number of correct responses – to use as a comparison is not meaningful, so scores are statistically transformed into other scores (i.e., derived or scaled).
Percentiles: Represents the percentage of individuals in the standardized sample scoring at or below a given raw score. (e.g., a student scoring at the 30th percentile is thought to have performed lower than 70% of those in the normative sample.
Standard Scores (Z and T-Scores): Represents the degree to which a child’s score deviates from the mean. The SD is a measure of the distance between the group mean and and the individual score.
Stanine: Developed by the Air Force during WW II as a statistical measure on a 9 point scale.
Equivalent Scores: Instead of a comparison to the total distribution, the equivalent score is a comparison to a particular age group or educational level.

9. Preparing to Administer a Test
Prior to administering ANY assessment, you should do the following:
Always read and review the examiner’s manual and technical manual.
Always review the testing protocol
If it’s your first time administering a certain test, practice with another person (even setting up the assessment material and seating arrangements are important to consider). Don’t assume that tests measuring the same construct are designed the same way and have the same administration rules.
Know how to complete, score, and interpret and score a complete protocol. All of this information can be found in either the administration or technical manuals.

10. Administration: Basel and Ceiling Levels
Many standardized tests will require the examiner to establish a basal level and a ceiling level. The tests will define this in terms of correct and incorrect scores .The basal score is the entry level and the ceiling score is the test-terminating score.
Basal: Many tests will provide an option of not starting at the beginning but an arbitrary level judged appropriate for the child. After a series of consecutive correct answers the clinician will know if they began at the proper level. If not, then the clinician moves down until the basal is established.
Ceiling: The ceiling represents the highest number or level of test items administered or the point at which the test administration is stopped because the remaining higher level items are all considered to be incorrect responses.
A test may require that a basal and ceiling be established to calculate a raw score. This gets converted into standardized scores and percentiles.

11. What to Typically Include in a Formal Evaluation?
Parent Interview and Developmental History
Appropriate Norm-Referenced Standardized Test (based upon information obtained prior to assessment).
Conversational / Language Sample
DA or Stimulability Testing – if Appropriate
Oral Mechanism Evaluation
Informal Measure of Fluency and Voice
Hearing Screening
* What might be different for a bilingual assessment? A very relevant question to to think about.

12. Example Administration of the PPVT-4
Since we will be practicing the administration and scoring of a couple norm- referenced standardized tests, the following video sample may help you and your assessment partner during your practice session (If you use this video to practice your scoring technique, please use the DOB I sent to you in schedule change ):
YouTube video of a child being administered the PPVT-4.

13. Other Video Examples of Test Administration for Other Common Norm-Referenced Tests
Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation – 3 (GRTA-3rd Ed; Goldman Fristoe, )
Video training webinar: (Start at Time Index: 5:46)
CELF -5:
Video training webinar:
Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test
Video training webinar:

14. ACE Assessment Experience
You will all observe, score, and conduct a preliminary analysis on two formal assessments being administered.
The Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation – 3rd Edition
The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – 4th Edition

15. ACE Process
Each of you will be provided a protocol of each assessment and a portion of the examiner’s manual to assist with scoring and interpretation.
One supervisor will serve as the examiner and the other as the client.
Each of you will score your own protocol and determine the score. As a group we will discuss everyone’s results and then in small groups discuss analysis of the results and potential recommendations in terms of eligibility, and treatment (Think in terms of Type of Ingredient and Components of the Active, Essential, and Inactive ingredients).
You will also observe and note evaluation behaviors by the examiner that reflected both clinically sound techniques and areas that could be improved.
You will turn in your protocols at that end of the session.

16. Client Data for your Protocol
GFTA-3
Client: Jim Wright
Date of Examination: 10/30/17
DOB: February 28th, 2000
PPVT-4
Client: Frank Bender
DOB: November 19th, 2000

17. GFTA-3 Results and Analysis
Raw Score: 80
Standard Score: 40
CI (95%): 37 – 50
Percentile Rank: < 0.1
Test Age Equivalent: < 2:0
Growth Scale Value: 364
Phonetic Error Analysis: Can you look at your data and identify certain error patterns? You can also use the document.
Recommendations?

18. Normal Curve (i.e., Bell Curve)

19. PPVT-4 Results and Analysis
Ceiling: 120
# of Errors: 27
Total Raw Score: 93
* There is a Double Basal, but you go back to the LOWEST Established Basal set, to establish the raw score.
SS = 86; CI = 79-93; Percentile = 18; NCE = 30; Stanine = 3;
GSV = 137; AE = 5;9; GE = K.1
Classification of Parts of Speech in Error: Nouns: 18 /52 = 35%; Verbs: 12/12 = 100; Attributes: 7/7 = 100%
Recommendations?

20. Normal Curve (i.e., Bell Curve)

22. Examiner’s Administration Skills
What did the examiner do well according to the administration manual and keeping the client focused and engaged during the assessment in order to obtain the most valid and reliable results of the client’s performance?
Jim (PPVT-4)
Frank (GFTA-3)
What could have the examiner have done differently to improve their administration skills or reducing any potential impact that their behavior could have impacted the client’s performance on the assessment?

23. 2 ACE Hours for Your Clock Hours