Norm-Referenced and CriterionReferenced Assessments
A Historical view from 1900 to the Present
How did Standardized Testing
become what it is today?
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College Entrance Examination
Board founded (CEEB)1900
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Robert Yerkes and E. G. Boring
in 1917
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“Army Alpha” test to select officers
and to winnow out the recruits who
also were recent immigrants or
children of immigrants.
C. C. Brigham 1926 takes over
the College Board (CEEB)
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A Yerkes disciple, delivers the first
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)
1930’s Scholastic Aptitude Test
1940’s SAT Achievement Tests
1950’s Advanced Placement or
AP test
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intelligence test for immigrants
coming through Ellis Island in New
York (Eugenics Testing).
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Henry Goddard in 1913
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To identify students from the “elite”
institutions in the northeastern U.S.
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1959 Everet Franklin Lindquist
develops the ACT
1964 NAEP:
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National Assessment of Education
Progress
2002 No Child Left Behind Act –
High Stakes Assessment
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CEEB becomes the Educational
Testing Service (ETS)
State & School Accountability
2005 SAT Reasoning Test
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Current test (under revision)
A Closer Look at the SAT
The SAT:
 Originally Designed to
measure innate
intelligence (Eugenics
based)
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Democratize higher education
Improve opportunities for the poor
End class spoils system
Make academic merit rather than birth
the measure of success.
In 1968; The University
of California adopts the
SAT as a requirement for
admission.
It Tests:
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NOT what students had learned in
school
By the 1950’s it aimed to:
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Mathematics,
Critical Reading,
and Writing
scores range from 600 to
2400, combining test
results from three 800point sections
A Closer Look at the ACT
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The ACT
 Started in 1959 by Everet
Franklin Lindquist to
compete with the SAT.
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ACT or American College Testing
Two purposes;
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general educational development
of students and;
their capability to complete
college-level work
It Tests:
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English,
Mathematics,
Reading, and
Science Reasoning
Writing added in 2005
By 2015 it will be a offered
as a computer-assisted test
tests are scored individually
on a scale of 1–36, and a
Composite score is provided
which is the whole number
average of the four scores.
A Closer Look at the NAEP
The NAEP
 1964 Carnegie
Corporation Grant
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Administered by the National
Center for Education Statistics
(NCES)
Tests “what American students
know and can do in core subjects”
Data released as The Nation’s
Report Card
It Tests:
(Primarily)
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1969 first national testing
administration
Congressionally
mandated project
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mathematics,
reading,
science and
writing
No results for individual
students, classrooms, or
schools.
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Testing 4th, 8th and 12th graders
across the country.
Two Types of Standardized Tests
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Norm-Referenced
Tests (NRT’s)
Defined:
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Performance compared to others
who took the test or with some
other group of students
Relative grading
ascertains the rank of students
(percentiles out of 100% for
example)
Examples:
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The SAT Test
The GRE
Wechsler Intelligence Scale
IQ Tests
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Criterion Referenced
Tests (CRT’s)
Defined:
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comparing student’s performance
with predefined performance
standards
Absolute grading
A student’s score is not influenced
by other’s scores;
Examples:
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The NAEP
The ACT Tests
The Smarter Balanced Assessment
Test (SBAT)
Two Types of Standardized Tests
(cont’d)
NRT’s
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Material is chosen based
on how well it ranks
students of high
achievers to low
achievers.
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If a student receives a score of
34, this means they did as well or
better than 34% of the students
(out of 100%); 66% of the
students did better.
CRT’s
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Material is chosen by how
well it matches what
students learn that is
considered most
important.
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This score might tell which math
operations a student can perform
or the level of reading difficulty
the student can understand
2002 and No Child Left Behind
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The Elementary and
Secondary Education
Act of 1970
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President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War
on Poverty“
forbidding the establishment of a
national curriculum
equal access to education
establishes high standards and
accountability
funds are authorized for
professional development,
instructional materials, for resources
to support educational programs,
and for parental involvement
promotion
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Reauthorization of the
Elementary and
Secondary Education
Act or the No Child
Left Behind Act of
2002
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Standards-Based Education Reform
High standards and establishing
measurable goals can improve
individual outcomes in education
requires states to develop
assessments in “basic skills”
annual testing, annual academic
progress, report cards, teacher
qualifications, and funding changes
Common Core State Standards
Reaction to NCLB and the States requirement to create
Standards-Based Education Reform
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2009 National Governors
Association
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to "provide a consistent, clear
understanding of what students
are expected to learn, so teachers
and parents know what they need
to do to help them.“
Forty-five of the fifty
states in the United
States are members of
the Common Core State
Standards Initiative
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the standards cannot be
changed or modified,
creating in effect, a
national curriculum.
It Covers:
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Reading
Writing
Speaking & Listening
Language
Media & Technology
Common Core State Standards
& Assessment
The Smarter Balanced Assessment Test
 Membership 24 States
 The First National
and 3 Affiliate/Advisory
Assessment of SBAT is
States
scheduled for Spring
 Achievement level descriptors
2015
(ALDs) articulate the knowledge,
skills, and processes expected of
students at different levels of
performance on the Smarter
Balanced assessments
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ie: Criterion-Based Assessment
Computer Adaptive Testing
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By adapting to the student as the
assessment is taking place, these
assessments present an
individually tailored set of
questions to each student and can
quickly identify which skills
students have mastered
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This will replace the NECAP in NH
The other test for the
Common Core State
Standards is the:
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Partnership for Assessment of
Readiness of College and
Careers (PARCC)
19 states plus the District of
Columbia and the U.S. Virgin
Islands