NORM-REFERENCEDCRITERION- REFERENCED

Standardized Tests

Schools in Louisiana use the Multilevel survey battery

Administered annuallySurvey general educational growth of

studentAssess in several curricular areasTest content spans several grade levels

    Standardized tests are tests are standardized in:

1.  Format - The format of all the questions for all the students is the same - usually, but not always multiple choice.     2.  Questions - All questions for all the students are the same.     3.  Instructions - All the instructions for all students are the same.     4. Time Allotment - The time permitted to complete the test for all the students is the same.

Your Task

1. Name as many examples of standardized tests that you can recall.

2. How do you feel about standardized testing? Be prepared to enter the Fishbowl and discuss.

Norm-referenced - a relative ranking of a student among other students

The national norm is constructed by testing children all over the country.

A norm-referenced test gives scores in relation to the norm, the 50th percentile. 

Test publishers determine the norm by trying out test questions to see if the items "behave properly” - 50% of the students get the item wrong.

Criterion-referenced - a description of the specific knowledge and skills each student can demonstrate

A criterion-referenced interpretation might be that the student "mastered 85%  of the assessment domain being represented by the test.

The focus is how the student performed on the domain of content.

ProblemsTesters have difficulty specifying educational

outcomes with clarity.What is the "cut-score" for passing or failing?

Stanines and Percentiles http://www.readingstats.com/fifth/email2d.htm

Stanines

What the stanines mean:

4, 5, or 6 "average" 7 or 8 "above average" 9 "outstanding“ 2 or 3 "below average,“ 1 "very low."

Percentiles

EXAMPLE

A score of 85% on a test initially sounds good. However when we find out that it is in the 30th percentile, this indicates that only 30% of the class scored less than an 85%. Seventy percent of the students scored above 85%.

Graduate Record Exam: Percentiles and Mean Scores

GRE: By Subjects

Why standardized Tests?

People lost confidence in their schools and the people who run them.

The SAT was introduced in 1926 as an efficient and economical instrument to help college admissions officers select the most promising students from among the increasing number of applicants. 

Carl C. Brigham, the principal developer of the SAT regarded the test "as merely a supplemental record" to the rest of the high school record.

Louisiana's Accountability System

LA Educational Assessment Program/Integrated LEAP Advanced – Mastery – Basic - Approaching Basic – UnsatisfactoryLEAP - Assesses 4th and 8th grade students' knowledge and skills in English

language arts, mathematics, science and social studies,iLEAP – Assesses 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th grades (both a norm referenced test, which

compares a student's test results to the performance of students in a national sample and a criterion-referenced test, which reports student results in terms of the state's standards)

http://www.louisianabelieves.com/resources/library/released-and-sample-test-itemsExcellent, Good, Fair and Needs Improvement End-of-Course (EOC) – Assesses 1oth, 11th grades 3 tests in the following

categories: English II or English III, Algebra I or Geometry, and Biology or American History http://www.doe.state.la.us/topics/interpreting_scores_leap.html

School Report Cards

School Performance Scores are based on student achievement on state standardized tests and additional measures of student success, such as credit accumulation, completion of rigorous courses and graduation.

http://www.louisianabelieves.com/data/reportcards/2012/

http://www.louisianabelieves.com/data/reportcards/2013/

School Performance Scores

Elementary schools (K-6): 100 percent of the school grade is based on student achievement on annual assessments in English language arts, math, science, and social studies. Schools may also earn points for significant improvement with students who are academically behind.

Middle schools (7-8): 95 percent of the school grade is based on student achievement on annual assessments with the final 5 percent based on credits earned through the end of students’ 9th grade year. Schools may also earn points for significant improvement with students who are academically behind.

High schools (9-12): Half of the school grade is based on student achievement (25 percent on the ACT and 25 percent on End-of-Course assessments). Half of the school grade is based on graduation (25 percent on the graduation index, which rewards achievements like Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exam credit, and 25 percent on the cohort graduation rate, the percentage of students graduating in four years). Schools may also earn points for significant improvement with students who are academically behind.

 

PARCC

In 2014-2015, students will take annual assessments in English language arts and mathematics that are fully aligned to the Common Core State Standards.  These assessments are being developed collaboratively by Louisiana and a coalition of 18 states called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).  Students across all of these states will be using identical assessments which will allow Louisiana to benchmark its progress against other states. The Common Core Assessments will be administered in 3rd through 11th grade.

http://www.parcconline.org/about-parcc

End of Course Tests

In 2014-15, high school students will take End-of-Course tests in English language arts and mathematics that are fully aligned to Common Core State Standards. These assessments are being developed collaboratively by Louisiana and a coalition of states called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).  Students across all of these states will be using identical assessments which will allow Louisiana to benchmark its progress against other states. The Common Core Assessments will be administered in 3rd through 11th grade.

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP) Tests

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/stateprofiles/sresult.asp?mode=full&displaycat=7&s1=22

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Assessments are conducted periodically in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, U.S. history, and beginning in 2014, in Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL).

NAEP provides results on subject-matter achievement, instructional experiences, and school environment for populations of students (e.g., all fourth-graders) and groups within those populations (e.g., female students, Hispanic students). NAEP does not provide scores for individual students or schools, although state NAEP can report results by selected large urban districts. NAEP results are based on representative samples of students at grades 4, 8, and 12 for the main assessments, or samples of students at ages 9, 13, or 17 years for the long-term trend assessments. These grades and ages were chosen because they represent critical junctures in academic achievement.

How Can Standardized Tests Be Used?

    1.  Monitoring - "reality check" to check if the test results correlate to other assessment indicators like classroom performance and report card grades.     2.  Diagnosis - to ascertain students' strengths and weaknesses (Caution - too few items in any one skill area to give a reliable indication of any particular skill).

    3.  Teacher Accountability - very difficult to use tests as accountability devices for teachers even after controlling for demographic variables.

How Can Standardized Tests Be Used?

    4. Principal-Superintendent/Boards Accountability - The same issue applies to teachers also applies to administrators.

    5. Student Accountability: Promotion, Retention, and Graduation Decisions - A test score should never be used alone for making important decisions about students.

    6. Selection Decision - Tests are used to decide among people what type of educational experience they will have.

How Can Standardized Tests Be Abused?

1.  Students could be sorted and tracked in schools and not allowed the same opportunities for a quality education. 

2. Teachers and administrators could lose their jobs if students under their guidance don't perform well on tests. 

3. Teachers could sacrifice in-depth study of meaningful and creative learning experiences in exchange for "teaching for the tests.

How Can Standardized Tests Be Abused?

4. Students' individual needs and learning styles could be neglected in the movement to "standardize" curriculum, instruction, and assessments. 

5. Teachers could decide not to accept the challenge of teaching students with behavior or learning problems because they might not get bonuses for increasing students' scores on state tests. 

6. Students could fail a grade or not graduate because of test scores despite the overwhelming research on the negative effects of retention.

7. Validity and reliability - to use test scores alone for making important decisions about students is a grave ethical violation.

Parents: strongest predictors of how well a student will do in school

       a.  family income         b.  educational level of parents         c.  poverty         d.  motivation         e.  personal hygiene of students - sleep, food, etc.         f.  cultural factors

The Need for Balanced Assessment

Neither standardized tests alone nor teacher assessments alone can provide a true picture of a student's learning. 

Role of the educator – Provides continuous observations to assess what is unique to an individual and constant feedback to students throughout various stages of development.

Role of the standardized test – Provides balanced assessment and data that correlates with other assessment indicators like classroom performance and report card grades.

Response to Intervention: Curriculum Based Measurement

CBM is a set of norm-referenced standardized tests to measure student progress in language arts and mathematics before students can be recommended for special education services.

CBM is intended to monitor progress, adjust strategies and promote self-reflection by teachers.

It is given four times a year.

School Building Level Committee (SBLC)

The SBLC can consist of speech therapists, counselors, special education specialists, teachers, administrators.

Students are grouped into:Tier 1 – regular education studentsTier 2 – teacher is working intensely with these

students on difficultiesTier 3 – literacy coach, interventionist, or pull-out

is needed for these studentsStudents that remain in Tier 3 may be referred to

the SBLC.

 CBM Reading Fluency Simulation

Errors Substitutions Omissions Transpositions Additions Teacher must pronounce word Mispronunciations Permitted Self-correction Dialect Insertions Repetitions

ScoringSlash / used to indicate error. Transpositions – use slash over both words.Bracket last word read ] # of words read – errors words/minute