What is a standardized test?

Standardized Teacher-Made

Outcomes and content General skills found in Adapted to the specific

measured the majority of schools outcomes at the local
level
Quality of test items Very high Unknown (lower)

Reliability Between .80 and .95 Unknown

(high)
Administration and Standardized with Flexible with unwritten
scoring specific instructions instructions

Score interpretation Compared to norm Limited to class or

group. Materials school. No guidelines
available to help
 Characteristics of Standardized Tests
•Keep in mind that standardized tests are usually
constructed by measurement experts, and have as their
purpose to determine a student’s level of performance
relative to the performance of other students at the same age
or grade level.
•Thus, because of their emphasis on ________________
performance, most standardized tests are_______
REFERENCED.
 Characteristics of Standardized Tests
•Second, most standardized test attempt to measure or assess
__________________________.

•Third, standardized test are called”standardized” because they

are administered and scored according to ________________.
 Characteristics of Standardized Tests

• Fourth, under the 1997 Amendments to the Individuals with

Disabilities Education Act (IDEA-97), special education
students must now participate in
__________________________________________
Performance of special learners evaluated under non-
standardized conditions may not be directly comparable
with:
(c) their own ________________;
(d) the performance of ________________________; or
(e) students evaluated under _________________________.
Accommodations
IDEA-97 insists all students are tested
Special needs students must be given
accommodations
1.
2.
3.
Cannot _________________ to norm group
May not _______________________
____________________ of other special needs
students
 Administering Standardized Test
•For standardized tests, specific instructions are given
the test administrator as to what to say and what to do
during the test. Everyone must administer the test in
EXACTLY the same way.

_____________________________ refers to the

increasingly common practice of educators violating
standardized test procedures in an attempt to increase
standardized test scores.
Administering a standardized test
Errors in standardized tests are fewer because of
uniform specific instructions.
You cannot individualize test administration for
slower students. Creates test score pollution.
 Characteristics of Standardized Tests
•Fifth, standardized tests are the heart of “high-stakes”
decisions

•Finally, the trend is toward

_________________________________
•This is due to increasing accountability and high-
stakes testing.
 Will performance and portfolio assessment make
standardized tests obsolete?
•First, administering standardized performance and portfolio
assessments for all students would be

•Second, for performance and portfolio assessment to be useful in

comparing schools or districts on a state or national level,

•Third, when performance and portfolio procedures that meet

appropriate standards developed,
Use of standardized tests
•Historically,
•High stake decisions
•State-mandated assessments
•________________ for students, curriculum or programs
•________________
Can you…?
A new teacher in your school has been reviewing
cumulative records for her students and asks you to
explain the differences between grade equivalent and
percentile ranks for several of her students on the
standardized achievement battery. How effective
would you be in explaining the difference?
 M e a s u r in g & R e p o r t in g S t u d e n t P e r fo r m a n c e

C r it e r io n - R e fe r e n c e d T e s t in g N o r m - R e fe r n c e d T e s t in g

1 . # a n d / o r % c o rre c t D e v e lo p m e n t a l G r o w t h S c a le s P e r c e n t ile R a n k s S ta n d a rd S c o re s
2 . P e r fo r m a n c e - s p e e d
3 . P e r fo r m a n c e - q u a lit y
4 . P e r fo r m a n c e - p r e c is io n

1 . G r a d e e q u iv a le n t s c o r e s L in e a r S c o r e s N o r m a liz e d S c o r e s
2 . A g e e q u iv a le n t s c o r e s z -s c o re s S t a n in e s
T -s c o re s D e v ia t io n I Q
N o r m a l C u r v e E q u iv a le n t
Types of Scores Yielded by Standardized Test
Grade Equivalents:
Grade equivalents are the most widely used vehicle
the most misinterpreted.
 Grade Equivalents
In order to determine grade equivalents, a test is administered
to a targeted grade (e.g.,5th) plus the grades immediately
above and below it (6th and 4th).
Other problems associated with GEs are:
1.

2.

3.
Age Equivalents:
•These scores are very similar to grade equivalents and
determined in the same fashion

•Equal differences in scores may not reflect equal differences in

achievement.
Age Equivalence
•Age equivalents are only meaningful if subjects are taught
across all grades.
•Age equivalents may be misinterpreted as standards, rather than
as averages (norms).
•Growth across subject areas may vary greatly, even if age
equivalents show equal growth.
Percentile Ranks
•With a GE of 4.5, we can say a student did as well on the test
as an average fourth grader during the fifth month of school.
But, most of the time, we are more interested in determining
how a student’s performance compares with that of students in
his or her own grade or of the same age.
Percentile Ranks
•Percentile ranks have several advantages over grade and
age equivalent scores.

•Second,
Percentile Ranks
•However, they do have two shortcomings:
1.

2. Equal differences between percentile ranks do not

necessarily mean equal differences in achievement.
Evaluating norm tables
•Relevance: groups are comparable
•Representativeness: Classifications or demographics match
•Recency: How old are the norms?
Interpreting scores
Things to consider:
Test-related factors
Student-related factors
Interpreting Standardized
Tests: Test and Student
Factors
•Test - related factors can influence An acceptable standardized test
or limit the interpretability of the should have reliability
test’s results coefficients of about:

.95 for internal consistency

.90 for test-retest
•Therefore, when interpreting these .85 for alternate-forms
scores, you need to ask yourself:
Are the test scores reliable?
Interpreting scores
•Test-related factors
–Reliability
–Accuracy (SEM)
–Criterion related variables
–Empirical norming dates
–Specialized norm tables
–Local norms
Interpreting
Are the test scores accurate

Are the test scores valid?

It is MOST important to evaluate the
____________________ of standardized achievement test.
Interpreting scores
•Student-related factors
–Language and culture
–Age, gender, and maturation
–Motivation
–Emotional state at testing
–Disabilities
–Aptitude
Interpreting
Are the students who comprise the norm group similar to my
students on relevant characteristics?

Were standardized procedures followed (if not, that affects the

test’s reliability to an unknown extent)?

Student related factors:

Interpreting
•Keep in mind that, for every test, answers can be scored in terms
of number of items correctly

•Scores must be interpreted with respect to a TABLE OF

NORMS.
Category Question Suggestions
Standing How does my child compare to others? Use percentile rank. Explain test
Is my child’s progress normal for his/her is only partial information. Use
grade? classroom performance to explain
progress.
Growth Is my child’s growth on track? Use grade-equivalent scores from
previous years. Use composite
scores to show general growth.
Use subject scores to explain
growth in specific areas.
Improvement Where are my child’s weaknesses? Use percentile rank to identify
needed How can I help my child improve? weaknesses. Look at clusters.
Don’t overfocus on weaknesses,
explain strengths too.
Strengths What does my child do well? Use percentile ranks. Use class
information for illustration.
Intelligence How smart is my child? Explain an achievement test is not
an intelligence test. It is sensitve
to what was taught in class and
only reflect opportunities to learn.
Parent Misunderstandings
•Grade-equivalent scores tell which grade the student should
be in…
•Percentile rank and percent-correct mean the same thing…
•Percentile rank norm group consists of only the students in
that class…
•“Average” is the standard to beat…
•Small changes in percentile ranks over time are
meaningful…
Finding and Evaluating Published Assessments
•Mental Measurement Yearbooks
•Tests in Print
•Test Critiques
•Educational Testing Service File
•Technical Manuals
•ERIC/AE
Selecting/Evaluating a Test
•Purpose
–General school setting
–Intended decisions, purposes, and uses
–How do test scores provide information to improve decision-making
–Balance between strengths and limitations

•Context
•Review Materials
–Examine reviews

•Summarize your review