QUICK
REFERENCE
GUIDE
Simple
definition
Criterion-referencedvs.
Norm-referencedAssessment
Criterion-referenced
assessment
Norm-referenced
assessment
Measuresastudent’sperformancebasedon
masteryofaspecificsetofskills.Itmeasures
whatthestudentknowsand doesn’tknowat the
time of assessment. Thestudent’sperformance
is NOT compared to other students’performance
on thesameassessment.
Measuresa student’s performancein
comparison to theperformanceofsame-age
studentsonthesameassessment.Normative
scoring is based on a bell curve,meaning only
half of those tested can score above the 50th
percentile.
DrivingTests:
Driving tests are designed to
determineifadriverhasmastered
theskillsrequiredtodriveontheroadsafely.
Drivingtestsdonotrankdriversagainstother
drivers.All drivers can get100%if theymaster
the skills required (and we hope they do)!
Real-world
examples
End-of-unitexamsin school:
Theseexamsaredesignedtodetermine
whether students have mastered
the material presented in a specific unit. Each
student’sperformanceis measured basedon
thematerialpresented(whatthestudentknows
andwhatthestudentdoesn’tknow).Again,
all studentscan get 100%if theyhave fully
mastered the material.
PediatricGrowthCharts:
Growthcharts are commonly used
bypediatriciansto trackachild’s
growthascomparedtothegrowthofother
childrenofthesameage.Growthcharts compare
a child’s height,weight,and bodymass index
totheheight,weight, and body mass index of
same-age and same-gender children.
TheSAT:
A classic example of a normreferenced test, the SAT is designed
to determine one high school student’s abilities
ascomparedtotheabilitiesofotherhigh
schoolstudents.
CONTINUED ON FOLLOWING PAGE
BRIGANCE® QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE CRITERION-REFERENCED VS. NORM-REFERENCED ASSESSMENT
Criterion-referenced
assessment
Uses in
Special
Education
BRIGANCE
IEDIII
BRIGANCE
CIBSII
• Pinpointing a student’s present level of
performance (PLOP)
• Writing goals and objectivesfor an IEP
• Planning individualized instruction
• Monitoring incremental progress
• Initially identifying students who may be
eligible for special services
The BRIGANCE® Inventory of
EarlyDevelopment III(IEDIII)has
more than a 100 assessments
that cover a broad sampling of
students’ sk
skills and behaviors in key academic
and developmental domains.
The BRIGANCE® Inventory of Early
Development IIIStandardized
(IEDIIIStandardized)covers key
academic and developmental
domains, includes 55 norm-referenced
assessments, and has been updated based on
the latest standardization and validation research.
Age ranges are determined by developmental
age,meaning the IED IIIcanbeused withany
student—regardless of chronological age—
who functions at a level from birth through the
developmentalage of seven.
The BRIGANCE® Comprehensive
Inventory of BasicSkills II(CIBSII)
consists of two volumes (Reading/
ELA and Mathematics) that offer
nearly 400 criterion-referenced
assessments and grade-level
placement tests.
The CIBS IIcan be used with studentsin grades
K–9.
Showof
growthin
students’
skills
Norm-referenced
assessment
Using the criterion-referencedassessmentsfor
ongoing assessment throughout the academic
year allows a comparison of a student’s current
skill mastery to his/her skill mastery at previous
pointsin the year. Because the skill sequences
are broken down into gradual steps along the
skill continuum, progress can be measured in
verysmallincrements.
• Supporting ongoing eligibility for special
services
• Benchmarking or pretesting and post testing
Agerangesare determined bychronologicalage,
meaning theIEDIIIStandardizedcannotgenerate
validscoresfor anyoneolder than7years—
regardless of his/her developmental level.
The BRIGANCE® Comprehensive
Inventory of BasicSkills II
Standardized(CIBSIIStandardized)
consists of 45 valid and reliable
readiness, reading/ELA, and mathematics
norm-referenced assessments.
The CIBS IIStandardized generates valid and
reliable scores for students ages 5–12.
Using the norm-referenced assessments
tobenchmarkor topretest andposttest is
useful for seeing gains a student has made
over the duration of a full academic year.
But because performance is represented in
normative scores, gains shown are relative to
those of same-agepeers.
14-030-04