NORM-REFERENCED TESTING

- Compare between test takers

- Show the position of an individual in relation to others
- Used for externally-mandated high-stakes tests
- Test takers to be ‘spread out’ over a range of score -> distribution
- Meritocracy: higher scores -> higher positions
- Learners’ state remain stable for a period of time
- Reported in a form of numerical score and rank
- Testing is considered as a science, using mean, mode, SD, etc.
- RELIABILITY: some factors may affect this ( variation in administration conditions, quality of
the tests, variability of scoring )

CRITERION-REFERENCED TESTING

- Designed to give feedback -> motivate and direct learning

- Descriptive feedback: how much they have achieved and what to improve next
- Not a tool of choice for selection purposes & testing is the service of teaching
- Learners no longer the same person they used to be
- Usually in local context : specific for one classroom, curriculum, etc.
- DEPENDABILITY

ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT

- Pragmatic approach
- Sequential: establish goals -> construct
tasks -> evaluate
- Self- and peer- assessment -> develop
awareness the gap of ‘ what is being
produced now’ and ‘ the target
performance’
- Raise inclusiveness, involvement and
responsibility
- Sociocultural theory
- Related to ZPD
- Show Ss the gap to the next level of the
development
- Teachers as mediators : 2 types:
interventionist (mediation is standardised -
> used for whole group) and interactionist
(on-going assessment for each individual)
- Methods: graduated prompts, testing the
limits and mediated learning experience
- Approach: cake -> after each item, for
individuals ; sandwich -> after series of
items, for groups
- Only meaningful in context