Norm Reference Test

What’s the Connection?

1. Where is the best place to examine direct data about student learning?

2. List at least three advantages and three disadvantages to using standardized assessment tools.

3. List at least three advantages and three disadvantages to using local or homegrown assessment tools.

4. What are some advantages to embedded assessment?

As a society, we like numbers. If sometime can be quantified, it

is viewed as valid or more scientific. If it cannot be quantified,

we view the activity with suspicion.

Machine scoring of a test is fast, efficient, and cheap.

Hand scoring of a test is slow, time consuming, and very

expensive.

Mass testing came about in the late 1800’s / early 1900’s.

Originally used to decide who was qualified to attend universities and who was bound to work in factories.

Attempted to model the efficient factory methods of Henry Ford – test should be easy, cheap, and work for everyone.

Early IQ Tests (the Alpha-Beta Tests) were developed for the U.S. Army as a way to decide the career path of new recruits.

Early test also developed to determine which immigrants could enter the U.S.

Criterion-Referenced Test

Criterion-referenced tests, also called mastery tests, compare a

person's performance to a set of objectives. Anyone who meets

the criterion can get a high score.

Everyone knows what the benchmarks / objectives are and can

attain mastery to meet them.

It is possible for ALL the test takers to achieve 100% mastery.

Norm-Referenced TestNorm-referenced tests compare an individual's

performance with the performance of others. They are designed to yield a normal curve, with 50% of

test takers scoring above the 50th percentile and 50% scoring below it, so half the test takers MUST pass and half the test takers MUST fail

The test makers design the test with questions that MOST people will get incorrect.

If too many people get a question correct, or too many score well, then test questions are “thrown out” until they achieve a normal curve again.

Raw score. This is the number of items the student answered correctly. It is used to calculate the other, more useful scores.

Stanine. One of nine equal sections of the normal curve. Stanines can be easily averaged and compared from test to test, but are less precise than other scores.

Normal curve equivalent (NCE). For these scores, the normal curve is divided into equal units ranging from 1 to 99, with an average of 50. These can be averaged and compared from test to test or year to year.

Half of the test takers are grouped into the “passing” region of the curve and half into the “failing” region of the curve.

So by definition, half the test takers MUST “fail”, i.e. be below the 50th percentile.

So when a school says that their goal is to have 70% of their students above the 50th percentile, is this possible?

Well, yes, but it would mean that another school would have to have 70% of their students below the 50th percentile.

In 2001, SDCS officials reported that as a district (second largest in the state), they had 66% of their students above the 50th percentile on the SAT/9 test for 2000.

The news media reported “the shame of SDCS” because 1/3 of their students where below the 50th percentile.

Was this a fair report??

Many educators and members of the public fail to grasp the distinctions between criterion-referenced and norm-referenced testing. It is common to hear the two types of testing referred to as if they serve the same purposes, or shared the same characteristics. Much confusion can be eliminated if the basic differences are understood.

The following is adapted from: Popham, J. W. (1975). Educational evaluation. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Dimension Criterion-Referenced

Tests

Norm-Referenced

Tests

Purpose To determine whether each

student has achieved specific

skills or concepts.

To find out how much

students know before

instruction begins and after

it has finished.

To rank each student with

respect to the

achievement of others in

broad areas of knowledge.

To discriminate between high

and low achievers.


Tests

Norm-Referenced

Tests

Content Measures specific

skills which make up a

designated curriculum.

These skills are

identified by teachers

and curriculum

experts.

Each skill is expressed

as an instructional

objective.

Measures broad skill areas

sampled from a variety of

textbooks, syllabi, and the

judgments of curriculum

experts.


Tests

Norm-Referenced

Tests

ItemCharacteristics

Each skill is tested by at

least four items in order to

obtain an adequate sample

of student performance and

to minimize the effect of

guessing.

The items which test any

given skill are parallel in

difficulty.

Each skill is usually tested by

less than four items.

Items vary in difficulty.

Items are selected that

discriminate between high

and low achievers.


Tests

Norm-Referenced

Tests

ScoreInterpretation

Each individual is

compared with a preset

standard for acceptable

achievement. The

performance of other

examinees is irrelevant.

A student's score is usually

expressed as a percentage.

Student achievement is

reported for individual

skills.

Each individual is compared

with other examinees and

assigned a score--usually

expressed as a percentile, a

grade equivalent score, or a

stanine.

Student achievement is

reported for broad skill

areas, although some norm-

referenced tests do report

student achievement for

individual skills.

California Achievement Test – 6th Edition (CAT/6):

National Norm Referenced Test

California Standards Test (CST): State Norm

Referenced Test w/ Scaled Scores

Golden State Exam: Criterion Referenced Test

CA-High School Exit Exam (CA-HSEE): Criterion

Referenced Test

In this scenario we will use a fictitious “norm-referenced” test being given a a single high school.

John and his fellow students at Anywhere High School are given the “Let’s Achieve Test” version 1 (LAT/1).

The LAT/1 is a norm-referenced test.

John does not perform well on the test, compared to the other test takers.

He scores below the 50th percentile and is classified “below grade level”.

John spends the next school year getting extra tutoring, staying after school, and going to Saturday tutoring sessions.

The following school year on the LAT/1, John performs better than he did the previous year.

However, because of a school-wide focus on the test, all the other students in the school also perform better.

As a result, John’s norm-reference test score is still below the 50th percentile and he is still classified as “below grade level”.

The API score was originated to provide a systematic

method to rank order schools based on a number of

criteria. It is to measure academic growth and

performance of a school. The schools would receive a

rank compared to ALL other schools in the state and a

second ranking comparing them to SIMILAR schools around the state.

Test Results (SAT/9) – 60% of score

Attendance Rates

Graduation Rates

Other statewide test results (GSE, CA-HSEE)

From 1999 to 2002 ONLY the SAT/9 Test results are

used to calculate 100% of a school’s API score.

California Achievement Test (CAT/6) – about 12% of score. Includes mathematics, reading, language, science

California Standards Test (CST) – about 73% of score.Includes mathematics, science, language arts, social science

CA- High School Exit Exam (CA-HSEE) – about 15% of score.

Eventually API scores will also include graduationand attendance rates from schools as part of the overall “score”.

So, does this system adequately measure the success of CA students?

Does it reflect the learning that is happening in CA classrooms?

What are the appropriate uses of Norm-reference tests? Criterion-reference tests?

How should these test be used at the state/district/school level?

What role does testing play in looking at school performance? Student performance? Teacher performance?

Testing is a reality that is here to stay. It has been legislated by the state of CA

under the STAR system and by the federal government by the NCLB Act.

So we should really be asking;How do we use these tools to support students and their learning in CA schools?