Standards and Assessment Alternatives

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Standards and Assessment Alternatives
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Standards-based Assessment

• Content standards describe the declarative
  knowledge or skills to be learned.
• Performance standards describe the level of
  proficiency desired for mastery of learning
  targets.
• Virtually all professional associations have
  developed lists of educational standards.

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Review of What to Assess

• Focus on the assessment-based inferences.
• A small number of clearly articulated and
  important learning targets.
• Consideration of the type of learning outcomes
  desired (declarative, procedural).

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A Variety of Assessment Alternatives

• Norm-referenced (NRTs) vs Criterion-referenced
  (CRTs) assessment.
• Selected- vs Constructed-response assessment
  schemes.
• More traditional item types (e.g., M-C, T-F,
  short answer) vs Performance assessment.

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NRTs vs CRTs Advantages and Disadvantages

• CRTs are appropriate when clearly-defined
  standards or assessment domains exist, and the
  intent is to describe performance in terms of
  what a student knows and is able to do.
• NRTs are appropriate when a clearly-defined norm
  group is available and the intent is to describe
  performance in terms of what is typical or
  reasonable.
• An assessment can yield both types of
  interpretation.

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Assessment Frames of Reference Ability

• Compare students performance to potential
  performance.
• Requires a good measure of potential performance.
• Requires a knowledge of what skills and abilities
  are prerequisite to those to be learned.
• Too often, childrens capabilities are prejudged
  according to class or group membership.

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Assessment Frames of Reference Growth

• Compares a students current performance to
  his/her earlier performance.
• Higher scores go to those who evidence the most
  growth.
• Requires reliable/valid measures of both earlier
  and current performance.
• Requires a low relationship between measures of
  earlier and current performance.

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Assessment Frames of Reference Norms

• Compares a students performance to that of
  students in a well-defined norm group.
• Norm group another group assessed under the same
  or similar conditions.
• Provides information regarding typical
  performance.
• Does not provide information regarding what the
  student knows and is able to do.

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Assessment Frames of Reference Standards

• Compares students performance to
  well-established instructional standards.
• Indicates what the student knows and is able to
  do with respect to the instructional standards
  (or content domain).
• Does NOT provide information regarding whether
  the performance is typical or reasonable.

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Assessment Frames of Reference None

• Some measurements provide no frame of reference
  for interpretation.
• Mortimer attained a score of 63 on his math test.
• Morticia got 75 correct on the same test.
• Clem met the passing criteria (on the same test)
  of 80 items correct.