12/7/09

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luncuons of SLandardlzed 1esLs
Student Assessment
D|agnos|s
|acement and Se|ecnon
Accountab|||ty
red|cnve Va||d|ty
WhaL ls a sLandardlzed LesL?
A test that has standard procedures for
adm|n|stranon, scor|ng, and |nterpretanon.
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AdvanLages of SLandardlzed 1esLs
Lva|uanng students' genera| educanona|
deve|opment |n the bas|c sk|||s & |n |earn|ng
outcomes common to many courses of study
Lva|uanng student progress dur|ng the schoo|
year or over a per|od of years
Determ|n|ng strengths & weaknesses
Weaknesses of SLandardlzed 1esLs
Lva|uanng the |earn|ng outcomes and
content un|que to a parncu|ar c|ass or schoo|
Lva|uanng students' day-to-day progress
Lva|uanng know|edge of current
deve|opments |n rap|d|y chang|ng content
areas such as sc|ence and soc|a| stud|es
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1ypes of AchlevemenL 1esLs
!"#"$ &$'$()*$+ ,$-"-
N.C. LCG's, IL ICA1's, VA's SCL's
./0(1-2$34&$'$()*$+ 5)3643$7$3$89$+ 0#:$31$-
I18S, CA1, GkL, Stanf. Ach. 1est
./0(1-2$34&$'$()*$+ 5)3643$7$3$89$+ 9)8"$8" #3$#
"$-"-
Ne|son-Denny, Gates-McG|n|ne
./0(1-2$34&$'$()*$+ ;31"$31)843$7$3$89$+ "$-"-
Some popular LesLs Lo be aware of:
Ca||forn|a Ach|evement 1est (CA1)
Iowa 1ests of 8as|c Sk|||s (I18S)
Metropo||tan Ach|evement 1ests (MA1)
Stanford Ach|evement 1ests
1erraNova
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Why do we use Lhese?
n|gh techn|ca| qua||ty
Standard d|recnons for adm|n|stranon and
scor|ng
Norms based upon nanona| |arge nanona|
samp|es
Lqu|va|ent forms
Comprehens|ve manua|s
uslng AchlevemenL 1esLs:
8e wary of us|ng subtests for d|agnosnc
purposes un|ess enough |tems are |nc|uded
What |s a norm group and what |s the beneht
of hav|ng a norm group?
Norm groups prov|de a standard frame of
reference
Lqu|va|ent forms
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!udglng Lhe Adequacy of norms
Shou|d be re|evant (Who do you want to
compare your scores to?)
Shou|d be representanve
Shou|d be up to date
Shou|d be comparab|e
Shou|d be adequate|y descr|bed
AchlevemenL 8auerles
Cons|sts of a ser|es of |nd|v|dua| tests a||
standard|zed on the same nanona| samp|e
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Where Lo nd lnfo on LesLs:
Menta| Measurement earbook (MM)
MM pub||shed by 8uros Center for 1esnng
hup://www.unl.edu/buros/
Some ApuLude/lnLelllgence LesLs
Lo be aware of:
Wechs|er Inte|||gence 1ests (WISC, WAIS)
Stanford-8|net
kaven's Advanced rogress|ve Matr|ces
Cogn|nve Ab|||nes 1est (CogA1)
Graduate kecord Lxam|nanon (GkL)
Cns-Lennon Schoo| Ab|||ty 1est (CLSA1)
Caue|| Cu|ture-Ia|r Inte|||gence 1ests
Armed Serv|ces Vocanona| Apntude 8auery
(ASVA8)
D|erenna| Apntude 1est (DA1)
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ApuLude 1esLs
Do not measure hxed capac|ty but rather a
d|erent type of ab|||ty used to pred|ct future
performance
Common d|snncnon: ach|evement tests
measure what a student has |earned and that
apntude tests measure the ab|||ty to |earn
new tasks
Why use apuLude LesLs when you have
achlevemenL LesLs?
Can be adm|n|stered |n a re|anve|y short nme
Can be used w|th students of more w|de|y
vary|ng educanona| backgrounds
Can be used before any tra|n|ng or |nstrucnon
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Speclc Lheorles of lmporLance:
Spearman vs. 1hurstone
Gu||ford's 120 ab|||nes
Crysta|||zed & I|u|d |nte|||gence
Gardner's mu|np|e |nte|||gences
Cthers |nc|ude Dav|d erk|ns & kobert
Sternberg
WhaL ls general lnLelllgence?
Genera| ab|||ty typ|ca||y measured v|a
standard|zed tests--symbo||zed as <
red|cnve power strongest when fac|ng
nove| tasks or beg|nn|ng competence
Cons|dered to be reason|ng ab|||ty
(typ|ca||y |nducnve) that |s h|gh|y
dependent upon work|ng memory--
mak|ng transformanons |n your head
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Normal distributions (bell shaped) are a
family of distributions that have the
same general shape. They are
symmetric (the left side is an exact
mirror of the right side) with scores
more concentrated in the middle than
in the tails. Examples of normal
distributions are shown to the right.
Notice that they differ in how spread
out they are. The area under each
curve is the same.
If your data fits a normal distribution, approximately 68% of your subjects will fall
within one standard deviation of the mean.
Approximately 95% of your subjects will fall within two standard deviations of
the mean.
Over 99% of your subjects will fall within three standard deviations of the
mean.
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The mean and standard deviation are useful ways to describe a set of
scores. If the scores are grouped closely together, they will have a smaller
standard deviation than if they are spread farther apart.
Small Standard Deviation Large Standard Deviation
Different Means
Different Standard Deviations
Different Means
Same Standard Deviations
Same Means
Different Standard Deviations
When you have a subjects raw score, you can use the mean
and standard deviation to calculate his or her standardized
score if the distribution of scores is normal. Standardized
scores are useful when comparing a students performance
across different tests, or when comparing students with each
other.
z-score -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
T-score 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
IQ-score 65 70 85 100 115 130 145
SAT-score 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
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The number of points that one standard deviation equals varies from distribution to
distribution. On one math test, a standard deviation may be 7 points. If the mean
were 45, then we would know that 68% of the students scored from 38 to 52.
24 31 38 45 52 59 63
Points on Math Test
30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Points on a Different Test
On another test, a standard
deviation may equal 5 points. If the
mean were 45, then 68% of the
students would score from 40 to 50
points.
Length of Right Foot
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Data do not always form a normal distribution. When most of the scores are high,
the distributions is not normal, but negatively (left) skewed.
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Skew refers to the tail of the distribution.
Because the tail is on the negative (left) side of the graph, the distribution has a
negative (left) skew.
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Length of Right Foot
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When most of the scores are low, the distributions is not normal, but positively
(right) skewed.
Because the tail is on the positive (right) side of the graph, the distribution has a
positive (right) skew.
When data are skewed, they do not possess the characteristics of the
normal curve (distribution). For example, 68% of the subjects do not fall
within one standard deviation above or below the mean. The mean, mode,
and median do not fall on the same score. The mode will still be
represented by the highest point of the distribution, but the mean will be
toward the side with the tail and the median will fall between the mode and
mean.
Negative or Left Skew Distribution Positive or Right Skew Distribution
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SLandard Scores
A ca|cu|ated score that enab|es a researcher
to compare scores from d|erent sca|es
2-score most popu|ar (mean of zero and SD of
one)
z = (k-M)]SD
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Some opular SLandard Scores
1 Scores
Another type of standard score -- somenmes
preferred because a|| numbers are pos|nve
1 score = S0 + 10(=)
Lxamp|e: If you scored 2 SD's above the
mean on a read|ng test your 1 score wou|d be
S0 + 10(2) = 70
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SLanlnes
Another type of standard score -- preferred
for |nterpretab|||ty
Score between 1 and 9 w|th each stan|ne
cover|ng 1]2 standard dev|anon un|t (e.g.,
stan|ne of S = 40||e-S9||e)
Avold Mlsconcepuons wlLh Crade LqulvalenL
Scores
Don't confuse norms w|th standards of what
shou|d be
Don't |nterpret a grade equ|va|ent as an
esnmate of the grade where a student shou|d
be p|aced
Don't expect that a|| students shou|d ga|n 1.0
grade equ|va|ent each year
Don't assume that the un|ts are equa| at
d|erent parts of the sca|e
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Avold Mlsconcepuons wlLh Crade LqulvalenL
Scores
Don't assume that scores on d|erent tests
are comparab|e
Don't |nterpret extreme scores as
dependab|e esnmates of student'
performance |eve|
nauonal 1esung rogram: nAL
NAL - Nanona| Assessment of Lducanona|
rogress
Iormu|ated |n the 1960s to prov|de benchmarks of
educanona| aua|nment
Now tests at grades 4, 8, and 12
Sub[ect areas change depend|ng on year
Inc|udes mu|np|e-cho|ce and open-ended test |tems