COMPLETE GLOSSARY
Administrative Outcomes
Operational and specific statements derived from a unit’s core
functions that describe the desired quality of key services within an
administrative unit and define exactly what the services should
promote (modified from Selim et al., 2005, p. 19).
Alignment
The process of assuring that learning outcomes, local curriculum
and instruction and the system of assessment all support and match
each other.
Aggregated Scores
The combined scores for a population of students often expressed
as an average. Aggregating scores requires that all the scores be
based on the same or equivalent assessments administered in
uniform ways.
Analytic Scoring
The use of specific criteria or features to evaluate and assign points
to each essential part of a product or performance. Analytic scoring
is diagnostic, allowing planning for specific remediation. (See
Holistic Scoring for the alternative approach.)
Alternative Assessment (Authentic
Assessment, Performance
Assessment):
An assessment that requires students to generate a response to a
question rather than choose from a set of responses provided to
them. Exhibitions, investigations, demonstrations, written or oral
responses, journals, and portfolios are examples of the assessment
alternatives we think of when we use the term "alternative
assessment." Ideally, alternative assessment requires students to
actively accomplish complex and significant tasks, while bringing to
bear prior knowledge, recent learning, and relevant skills to solve
realistic or authentic problems. Alternative assessments are usually
one key element of an assessment system.
Analytic scoring:
Evaluating student work across multiple dimensions of performance
rather than from an overall impression (holistic scoring). In analytic
scoring, individual scores for each dimension are scored and
reported. For example, analytic scoring of a history essay might
include scores of the following dimensions: use of prior knowledge,
application of principles, use of original source material to support a
point of view, and composition. An overall impression of quality
may be included in analytic scoring.
Anchor tests
1. A common set of items administered with each of two or more
different forms of a test for the purpose of equating the scores
obtained on these forms. 2. "Anchor papers provide a connection
between a rubric narrative and student writing, and an example of
what writing at a certain score of the rubric should look like." (From:
the REEP Writing Assessment Trainer's Manual.) (see also
Benchmark tasks; Benchmarking.)
Annotated Rubric
The notes from an assessment development group, often after a
field test and initial scoring, which explain the meaning of criteria or
distinctions between the criteria on a rubric. Annotation is an
important tool to increase scoring reliability and to train others to
score consistently.
Assessment
Any systematic method of obtaining information from tests and
other sources, used to draw inferences about characteristics of
people, objects, or programs; the process of gathering, describing, or
quantifying information about performance; an exercise-such as a
written test, portfolio, or experiment-that seeks to measure a
student's skills or knowledge in a subject area. Also, a systematic
and ongoing process of gathering and interpreting information to
discover if programs/services are meeting intended
outcomes/objectives and then using the information to enhance the
programs/services (adapted from Virginia Commonwealth
University, 2002 & Marchese, 1987).
Authentic
A characteristic of assessments that have a high degree of similarity
to tasks performed in the real world. The more authentic the
assessment, the less inference required to predict student success
after graduation. Unit Effectiveness Handbook Page 82
Authentic assessment (alternative
assessment, performance
assessment)
Assessment is authentic when we directly examine student
performance on worthy intellectual tasks.... Authentic assessments
present the student with a full array of tasks that mirror the priorities
and challenges found in the best instructional activities.
Benchmark
A detailed description of a specific level of student performance
expected of students at particular ages, grades, or development
levels. Benchmarks are often represented by samples of student
work. A set of benchmarks can be used as "checkpoints" to monitor
progress toward meeting performance goals within and across grade
levels. In ABE, SPLs (Student Performance Levels) are examples of
benchmarks; targets for instruction.
Benchmark tasks
Pieces of student work selected by a group of lead teachers as
exemplifying a certain score level. (See also Anchor Test.)
Benchmarking
Comparing performances of people on the same task; raters use
"anchors" to score student work, usually comparing the student
performance to the "anchor"; benchmarking is a common practice in
the business world. (See also Anchor Test.)
Bias
A situation that occurs in testing when items systematically measure
differently for different ethnic, gender, or age groups. Test
developers reduce bias by analyzing item data separately for each
group, then identifying and discarding items that appear to be
biased.
Competency:
A group of characteristics, native or acquired, which indicate an
individual's ability to acquire skills in a given area.
Competency-based assessment
(criterion-referenced assessment)
Measures an individual's performance against a predetermined
standard of acceptable performance. Progress is based on actual
performance rather than on how well learners perform in
comparison to others; usually still given under classroom conditions.
CASAS and BEST are examples of competency-based assessments.
Constructed response item
An exercise for which examinees must create their own responses or
products (performance assessment) rather than choose a response
from an enumerated set (multiple choice).
Constructivist theory
Posits that people build new information onto pre-existing notions
and modify their understanding in light of new data. In the process,
their ideas gain in complexity and power. Constructivist theorists
dismiss the idea that students learn by absorbing information
through lectures or repeated rote practice. For example, EFF
embraces a school of constructivism, which invites learners to create
their own meaning and achieve their own goals by interacting actively
with objects and information and by linking new materials to existing
cognitive structures.
Content standards
Broadly stated expectations of what students should know and be
able to do in particular subjects and (grade) levels. Content standards
define for teachers, schools, students, and the community not only
the expected student skills and knowledge, but what programs
should teach. For example, in Equipped for the Future (EFF), there
are 16 content standards or skills, each containing key aspects which
are essential for being able to apply the skills to real tasks or
activities. "Read With Understanding," then, entails: determining the
reading purpose, selecting reading strategies appropriate to that
purpose, monitoring comprehension and adjusting reading
strategies, analyzing the information and reflecting on its underlying
meaning, and integrating it with prior knowledge to address reading
purpose. In Massachusetts' Curriculum Frameworks, each of the
disciplines contains its own set of broader standards (The
Massachusetts Common Core of Learning), as well as its own set of
strands. The strands in English Language Arts (ELA) then, are
reading, writing, oral communication, and critical thinking. Under
reading, there are six levels of standards around symbol mastery,
phonology and decoding, word recognition, and comprehension.
Core Concepts (ACLS)
The core concept of each framework articulates why the subject
matter is important in the lives of the adult learner. The core
concepts underlie the goals, the principles, knowledge, and skills the
adult learner needs to have ownership of the subject matter.
Countable Outcomes (ACLS)
Results that can be quantified; all measures of student outcomes
except learning gains, including executive function skills, and
affective-related measures. Learning gains are gains in speaking,
listening, reading, writing, and numeracy. Executive function skills
include problem-solving, critical thinking, and metacognition.
Affective-related measures include self-esteem, self confidence, and
interpersonal communication. Examples of Countable Outcomes
include: number of people who get jobs, number of people who
register to vote, number of people who achieve a GED.
Course-Level Assessment
Assessment to determine the extent to which a specific course is
achieving its learning goals. (For comparison, see Program
Assessment and Institutional Assessment.)
Criterion-Referenced Test
A measurement of achievement of specific criteria stated as levels of
mastery. The focus is performance of an individual as measured
against a standard or criteria rather than against performance of
others who take the same test. See Standardized, Norm‐referenced
Tests. Unit Effectiveness Handbook Page 83
Creaming
The process of focusing on participants who are easy to serve, with
the possible consequence of neglecting those participants who are
most in need of services.
Criteria
Guidelines, rules, characteristics, or dimensions that are used to
judge the quality of student performance. Criteria indicate what we
value in student responses, products or performances. They may be
holistic, analytic, general, or specific. Scoring rubrics are based on
criteria and define what the criteria mean and how they are used.
Criterion-referenced assessment
(competency-based assessment)
An assessment where an individual's performance is compared to a
specific learning objective or performance standard and not to the
performance of other students. Criterion-referenced assessment tells
us how well students are performing on specific goals or standards
rather that just telling how their performance compares to a norm
group of students nationally or locally. In criterion-referenced
assessments, it is possible that none, or all, of the examinees will
reach a particular goal or performance standard.
Criterion-referenced tests
Tests that assess a learner's achievement against an absolute standard
or criterion of performance (rather than against a norming group).
Curriculum (ACLS)
All of the instruction, services, and activities provided for students
through formal schooling including but not limited to: content,
teaching methods and practices, instructional materials and guides,
the physical learning environment, assessment and evaluation, time
organization, leadership, and controls. Curriculum includes planned,
overt topics of instruction as well as unseen elements such as norms
and values taught by the school and through classroom interactions
between the teacher and learner, hidden social messages imbedded
in the curriculum materials themselves, and the material that is not
included in the overt or planned curriculum.
Curriculum Framework (ACLS)
A curriculum framework is a document outlining content strands
and learning standards for a given subject area. The Massachusetts
CFs are grounded in an understanding of how adult students learn,
and they address the question "What do adult learners need to know
and be able to do to function successfully in their roles of
parent/family member, worker, and citizen?" Curriculum
frameworks provide a structure from which lessons and curricula
can be organized and presented to the student. The specific
knowledge and skills taught in the classroom are based on student
needs and objectives as identified by the teacher and students. By
providing examples of learning activities and successful instructional
strategies, the frameworks link statewide learning standards found
within the framework to educational practices developed at the
classroom level. The process of developing standards-based
assessments using the frameworks is intended to produce
consistency in learning standards among ABE programs across the
state.
Curriculum Mapping
A matrix showing the coverage of each program learning outcome in
each course. It may also indicate the level of emphasis of each
outcome in each course (from Bridgewater State College, n. d. as
Course Mapping).
Cut Score
The number of points needed which represents the criteria for
successful completion of an assessment task, such as eight out of 10,
or the percent that must be attained to be determined as successful
in performing an assessment task (e.g., 80%). Cut score also refers to
the critical point for dividing scores into two groups in reference to
some criterion. It is possible to set multiple cut scores from differing
criterion (e.g., meets, does not meet and exceeds).
Cut score
A specified point on a score scale, such that scores at or above that
point are interpreted or acted upon differently from scores below
that point. (See also Performance Standard.)
Direct Assessment
Method of gauging student achievement of learning outcomes
through evaluation of student work products (Bridgewater State
College, n. d.). For comparison, see Indirect Assessment.
Equipped for the Future
A customer-driven, standards-based, collaborative initiative of the
National Institute for Literacy. EFF's large goal is to align the
components of the nation's adult learning system to focus on the
range of skills and knowledge that adults need to achieve their
primary purposes for learning. EFF has been instrumental in shifting
approaches for adult literacy education from an emphasis on
replicating K-12 education to one that uses research-based standards
to prepare adults to meet their real-world goals.
Evaluation
When used for most educational settings, evaluation means to
measure, compare, and judge the quality of student work, schools,
or a specific educational program.
Exemplar
Actual samples of student work that illustrate the essential
characteristics of work typical of exemplary student work at the top
scoring level on a scoring rubric. Several exemplars are desirable to
promote creativity so that students see multiple
products/performances are possible.
Embedded Assessment Methods
A method in which evidence of student learning outcomes for the
program is obtained from assignments in particular courses in the
curriculum (Bridgewater State College, n. d.).
Expectation
An estimate of the percent of students who will meet the defined
standard for a learning outcome. Unit Effectiveness Handbook Page
84
Feasibility/Reasonableness
A characteristic of scoring criteria ensuring that the judging of
student work is appropriate for the conditions within which the task
was completed.
Formative assessment
Assessment that provides feedback to the teacher for the purpose of
improving instruction.
Generative Skills
The term EFF gives to the skills or knowledge that their research
revealed to be core to the performance of a wide range of tasks
carried out in multiple roles. The Generative Skills are durable over
time in face of changes in technology, work process, and societal
demands. They cross functions and serve as the foundation for
effective adaptation to changes in role requirements.
Goals
The general aims or purposes of a program and its curriculum.
Effective goals are broadly stated, meaningful, achievable and
assessable. Goals provide a framework for determining the more
specific educational objectives of a program, and should be
consistent with program and institutional mission.
Grade Level Equivalent (GLE)
The school grade level for a given population for which a given score
is the median score in that population. For example, if a test was
administered during the month of October to a norming group of
sixth grade students and the median scale score obtained was 475,
then the grade equivalent for a scale score of 475 on that test would
be set at 6.1 - 6 representing Grade 6 and .1 representing the month
of October (September is taken as the beginning of the school year
and equals .0).
Grade level norms
Interpreting scores on a test in reference to the average performance
of children at each grade level. For example, in ABE, standardized
tests are frequently used that have been normed on children in the
elementary, middle, and secondary school grades; thus, an ability of
4.8 would be assigned to an adult reading at about the same level as
a child in her 8th month of the 4th grade, for example. While the
grade level score is based on the performance of children in the
school grades, the interpretation of the score should be based on the
performance of adults on the test. The TABE and the ABLE
provide norms for adults in ABE programs that permit test users to
interpret scores both in grade levels and in relation to adult
performance on the tests.
Guiding Principles (ACLS)
Underlying tenets or assumptions that describe effective learning,
teaching and assessment within each subject area.
Habits of Mind (ACLS)
A fluid and life-long approach to learning that involves reflection,
inquiry, and action. It is an approach that favors uncovering concepts
rather than covering content. They encourage the learner to think
about how they acquire knowledge.
High-stakes test
A test used to provide results that have important, direct
consequences for examinees, programs, or institutions involved in
the testing. For example, MCAS (K-12) is considered a high-stakes
test because children who do not pass the examination do not
receive a high school diploma, regardless of their performance in
other areas of their school education.
Holistic scoring
Evaluating student work in which the score is based on an overall
impression of student performance rather than multiple dimensions
of performance (analytic scoring).
Impacts
Changes that occur in the family, community, and larger society as a
consequence of participation in adult literacy education.
Indicators
Measures used to track performance over time. Accountability
systems commonly use input indicators (provide information about
the capacity of the system and its programs); process indicators
(track participation in programs to see whether different educational
approaches produce different results); output indicators (short-term
measures of results); outcome indicators (long-term measures of
outcomes and impacts).
Indirect Assessment
Assessment that deduces student achievement of learning outcomes
through students’ reported perception of their own learning. May
also be the opinions or thoughts of others about student knowledge,
skills, attitudes, learning experiences, and perceptions. Examples of
indirect measures include student surveys about instruction; focus
groups; alumni surveys; employer surveys (modified from
Community College of Aurora, n. d., California Polytechnic State
University, n. d., & Bridgewater State College, n. d.0). For
comparison, see Direct Assessment.
Indirect Measure of Learning
Outcome
Students or others report their perception of how well a given
learning outcome has been achieved (California Polytechnic State
University, n.d.).
Institutional Assessment
Assessment to determine the extent to which a college or university
is achieving its mission. (For comparison, see Course‐level
assessment and Program Assessment.)
Inter-rater reliability
The consistency with which two or more judges rate the work or
performance of test takers.
Item response theory (IRT)
A method for scaling individual items for difficulty in such a way that
an item has a known probability of being correctly completed by an
adult of a given ability level.
Iterative
A term used in research to refer to the repetition of a cycle of
processes with an eye toward moving ever more closely toward
desired results. In EFF for example, the term is used to describe
how EFF has progressively refined the concepts and components of
EFF through research, feedback from customers (learners,
practitioners, stakeholders, and policymakers), incorporation of
research developments in related areas, further feedback from
customers, etc., in an effort to be responsive and credible to their
constituents.
Learning Outcomes (ACLS)
Learning outcomes describe the learning mastered in behavioral
terms at specific levels. In other words, what the learner will be able
to do.
Learning Standards (ACLS)
Learning standards define in a general sense the skills and abilities to
be mastered by students in each strand at clearly articulated levels of
proficiency.
Map
A chart that summarizes the major elements of a system and shows
the relationships between the parts of a system.
Materials-based assessment
Evaluation of learners on the basis of tests following the completion
of a particular set of curriculum materials. A commercial text and its
accompanying workbook is an example of this type of assessment.
Measurement
Process of quantifying any human attribute pertinent to education
without necessarily making judgements or interpretations.
Methods of Assessment
Tests and procedures used to measure student performance in
meeting the standards for a learning outcome. These assessments
must relate to a learning outcome, identify a particular kind of
evidence to be evaluated, define exercises that elicit that evidence
and describe systematic scoring procedures. Methods of
assessment are classified as either forced choice/short answer or
complex generated (performance-based) response.
Metacognition
Refers to an individual's ability to think about his/her own thinking
and to monitor his/her own learning. Metacognition is integral to a
learner's ability to actively partner in his or her own learning and
facilitates transfer of learning to other contexts.
National Education Goal 6
One of the national education goals created by the 50 governors at
an education summit in 1989. Goal 6 is the only goal directly related
to adult learning and is often referred to as the Adult Literacy and
Lifelong Learning Goal. Goal 6 reads, "Every adult American will be
literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to
compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and
responsibilities of citizenship."
National Adult Literacy Survey
(NALS)
A national survey reported in 1993, which provided a profile of the
literacy skills of the United States' adult population. The results
revealed that more than 40% of all American adults have literacy
levels at Levels 1 or 2 (out of five), below the level required to secure
jobs at good wages.
National Institute for Literacy
(NIFL)
An independent federal organization created by the National
Literacy Act of 1991 to serve as a focal point for public and private
activities that support the development of high-quality regional, state,
and national literacy services. One of NIFL's primary activities is
promoting adult literacy system reform through Equipped for the
Future (EFF).
National Reporting System (NRS)
An outcome-based reporting system for the state-administered,
federally funded adult education program required by Title II of the
Workforce Investment Act. The goals of the NRS were to establish
a national accountability system for education programs by
identifying measures for national reporting and their definitions,
establishing methods for data collection, developing software
standards for reporting to the U.S. Department of Education, and
developing training materials and activities on NRS requirements
and procedures.
Norm-referenced assessment
An assessment where student performance or performances are
compared to that or those of a larger group. Usually the larger group
or "norm group" is a national sample representing a wide and diverse
cross-section of students. Students, schools, districts, and even states
are compared or rank-ordered in relation to the norm group. The
purpose of a norm-referenced assessment is usually to sort students
and not to measure achievement towards some criterion of
performance.
Norm-referenced test
An objective test that is standardized on a group of individuals whose
performance is evaluated in relation to the performance of others;
contrasted with criterion-referenced test. Most standardized
achievement tests are referred to as norm-referenced.
Norms
A performance standard that is established by a reference group and
that describes average or typical performance. Usually norms are
determined by testing a representative group and then calculating the
group's test performance.
Objective
Precise statement that specifies the performance or behavior a
student is to demonstrate relative to a knowledge or skill. Objectives
typically relate to lessons or units, not "big ideas" such as described
by an outcome.
Opportunity to learn (OTL)
A standard that provides students with the teachers, materials,
facilities, and instructional experiences that will enable them to
achieve high standards. Opportunity to learn is what takes place in
classrooms that enables students to acquire the knowledge and skills
that are expected. OTL can include what is taught, how it is taught,
by whom, and with what resources.
Outcomes
Changes in learners, such as learning gains in reading and writing,
promotions at work, or increased self-confidence that occur as a
direct result of their participation in adult literacy education;
knowledge, attitudes, skills, etc., that the student or learner acquires
as a result of a learning experience.
Participatory assessment (alternative
assessment, authentic assessment,
performance-based assessment)
A process for examining performance that views literacy as practices
and critical reflection; requires the use of a broad range of strategies
in assessment; and provides an active role for learners in the
assessment process.
Performance accountability
A means of judging policies and programs by measuring their
outcomes or results against agreed upon standards. A performance
accountability system provides the framework for measuring
outcomes - not merely processes or workloads.
Performance assessment (alternative
assessment, authentic assessment,
participatory assessment)
Performance assessment is a form of testing that requires students to
perform a task rather than select an answer from a ready-made list.
Performance assessment is an activity that requires students to
construct a response, create a product, or perform a demonstration.
Usually there are multiple ways that an examinee can approach a
performance assessment and more than one correct answer.
Performance Based Assessments
A methodology requiring reasoning about recurring issues, problems
and concepts that apply in both academic and practical situations.
Students Unit Effectiveness Handbook Page 87 actively engage in
generating complex responses requiring integration of knowledge
and strategies, not just use of isolated facts and skills. See Complex
Generated Response.
Performance standards
A statement or description of a set of operational tasks exemplifying
a level of performance associated with a more general content
standard; the statement may be used to guide judgements about the
location of a cut score on a score scale; the term often implies a
desired level of performance. 2. Explicit definitions of what students
must do to demonstrate proficiency at a specific level on the content
standards; for example, in Massachusetts' Curriculum Frameworks
in the area of 'reading', there are six levels for each of four standards.
Under the standard "comprehension", performance can range from
"develop vocabulary" to "interpret charts & graphs" to "recognize a
variety of genres & styles."
Pilot
A large‐scale administration of an assessment, usually with several
classes of students if not all students in a program. The purpose of
the pilot is to detect any flaws in the assessment before the
assessment is considered "done" and is fully implemented. See Field
Test for contrast.
Performance task
A carefully planned activity that requires learners to address all the
components of performance of a standard in a way that is
meaningful and authentic. Performance tasks can be used for both
instructional and assessment purposes.
Portfolio assessment
A portfolio is a collection of work, usually drawn from students'
classroom work. A portfolio becomes a portfolio assessment when
(1) the assessment purpose is defined; (2) criteria or methods are
made clear for determining what is put into the portfolio, by whom,
and when; and (3) criteria for assessing either the collection or
individual pieces of work are identified and used to make judgments
about performance. Portfolios can be designed to assess student
progress, effort, and/or achievement, and encourage students to
reflect on their learning.
Proficiency Level
The equivalent of a cut score (on a forced‐choice assessment) but
for a performance/complex assessment. The proficiency level for a
performance assessment is set by determining the required
performance criteria (such as the required level on a rubric) for a
specific grade level. Such a proficiency level could be
achievement of all the criteria required for a scoring level, or it could
be a set number of points achieved by combining scores for each
feature on the rubric.
Program Assessment
Assessment to determine the extent to which students in a
departmental program can demonstrate the learning outcomes for
the program. For comparison, see Course‐level
Assessment and Institutional Assessment.
Program Review
The process of evaluating the quality and effectiveness of a program
(University of Texas at Arlington, 1998).
Prompt
In a narrow sense, a prompt is a statement to which a student
responds in an assessment, often a reading passage, picture, chart or
other form of information. In the fullest sense, a prompt is the
directions that ask the student to undertake a task. Prompts should
include the context of the situation, the problem to be solved, the
role the student takes, and the audience for the product or
performance.
Quality program indicator
A variable reflecting effective and efficient program performance;
distinguished from a measure (data used to determine the level of
performance) and a performance standard (the level of acceptable
performance in terms of a specific numeric criterion).
Rationale
Written statements providing the reasons for steps taken and choices
made.
Rating scales
Values given to student performance. Subjective assessments are
made on predetermined criteria for documenting where learners fall
on a continuum of proficiency. Rating scales include numerical
scales or descriptive scales.
Raw Score
The number of items that are answered correctly out of the total
possible.
Reliability
How accurately a score will be reproduced if an individual is
measured again. The degree to which the results of an assessment
are dependable and consistently measure particular student
knowledge and/or skills. Reliability is an indication of the
consistency of scores across raters, over time, or across different
tasks or items that measure the same thing. Thus, reliability may be
expressed as (a) the relationship between test items intended to
measure the same skill or knowledge (item reliability), (b) the
relationship between two administrations of the same test to the
same student or students (test/retest reliability), or (c) the degree of
agreement between two or more raters (rater reliability). An
unreliable assessment cannot be valid.
Representativeness
A factor of performance tasks and of scoring criteria ensuring that
the task and criteria focus on the significant elements, concepts and
strategies in the outcome(s) assessed.
Rubrics
Specific sets of criteria that clearly define for both student and
teacher what a range of acceptable and unacceptable performance
looks like. Criteria define descriptors of ability at each level of
performance and assign values to each level. Levels referred to are
proficiency levels which describe a continuum from excellent to
unacceptable product.
Scale scores
A score to which raw scores are converted by numerical
transformation (e.g., conversion of raw scores to percentile ranks or
standard scores); units of a single, equal-interval scale that are
applied across levels of a test; for example, on TABE 7 & 8, scale
scores are expressed as numbers that may range from 0 through 999.
SCANS (Secretary's Commission on
Necessary Skills)
An initiative of the United States Department of Labor that
identified the skills workers need to perform in the world of work
and which made recommendations for changes in secondary
education to facilitate the development of these skills. The SCANS
report was published in 1991 and identified five competencies
(allocating resources, working with others, using information,
understanding systems, and using technology) and 3 foundational
skill sets (basic skills, thinking skills, and personal qualities).
Scoring Rubric
A set of related scoring scales used for judging student work and
awarding points to reflect the evaluation of the work.
Selected response item
An exercise for which examinees must choose a response from an
enumerated set (multiple choice) rather than create their own
responses or products (performance assessment).
Standard error of measurement
The difference between an observed score and the corresponding
true score or proficiency; the standard deviation of an individual's
observed scores from repeated administrations of a test or parallel
forms of a test, under identical conditions. Because such data cannot
generally be collected, the standard error of measurement is usually
estimated from group data.
Standardization
A consistent set of procedures for designing, administering, and
scoring an assessment. The purpose of standardization is to assure
that all students are assessed under the same conditions so that their
scores have the same meaning and are not influenced by differing
conditions. Standardized procedures are very important when scores
will be used to compare individuals or groups.
Standardized testing
A test designed to be given under specified, standard conditions to
obtain a sample of learner behavior that can be used to make
inferences about the learner's ability. Standardized testing allows
results to be compared statistically to a standard such as a norm or
criteria. If the test is not administered according to the standard
conditions, the results are invalid.
Standards
The broadest of a family of terms referring to statements of
expectations for student learning, including content standards,
performance standards, Opportunity to Learn (OTL), and
benchmarks.
Standards-based reform
A program of school improvement involving setting high standards
for all students and a process for adapting instruction and assessment
to make sure all students can achieve the standards.
Strands (ACLS)
A way of organizing what adult learners need to know and be able to
do within core curriculum. Strands need not be taught sequentially
or separately. They identify processes, themes, content, and skills.
Student Learning Outcomes
Operational statements of demonstrable knowledge or skill that
students will possess upon completion of a program or course. For
UEP purposes, these statements may be the student program
competencies or more specific statements derived from the student
program competencies.
Student performance level (SPL)
A standard description of a student's (ESOL) language ability at a
given level in terms of speaking, listening, reading, writing, and the
ability to communicate with a native speaker; a profile of skill levels
for a student can thus be assigned and used for placement,
instructional, or reporting purposes.
Sufficiency
A judgment on whether an assessment task is comprehensive
enough to produce a sample of student work broad enough in depth
relative to a body of knowledge or skill to be considered an adequate
measure of whether the student has attained the knowledge or
achieved the skill. For forced choice assessments, the number of
items used to decide this is the crucial issue for sufficiency.
Summative assessment
A culminating assessment, which gives information on students'
mastery of content, knowledge, or skills.
Task
A goal‐directed assessment activity or project, which prescribes that
the student use their background knowledge and skill in a somewhat
long-term process to solve complex problems or answer a
multi‐faceted question.
Triangulation
A process of combining methodologies to strengthen the reliability
of a design approach; when applied to alternative assessment,
triangulation refers to the collection and comparison of data or
information from three difference sources or perspectives.
Validity
The extent to which an assessment measures what it is supposed to
measure and the extent to which inferences and actions made on the
basis of test scores are appropriate and accurate. For example, if a
student performs well on a reading test, how confident are we that
that student is a good reader? A valid standards-based assessment is
aligned with the standards intended to be measured, provides an
accurate and reliable estimate of students' performance relative to
the standard, and is fair. An assessment cannot be valid if it is not
reliable.
Weighting
A method to combine the results of two or more assessments used
in calculating the percent who meet the standard for a learning
outcome. If some assessments are deemed more important due to
the amount of time for completion or the number of items included
in the assessment, etc. the cut‐scores on those assessments may be
given greater consideration or weight in determining the overall
performance level.