Norm-referenced test
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Norm-referenced test AleAssessment
An objective test that is standardized (see also standardization and standardized test) on a group of individuals whose performance is evaluated in relation to the performance of others; contrasted with criterion-referenced test. Most standardized achievement tests are referred to as norm-referenced.
Describing a test as norm-referenced concerns how test scores are interpreted. NRTs do not compare student performance to an absolute standard ('can multiply two-digit numbers with 80% proficiency', which is a description of performance on a criterion-referenced tests). Norm-referenced test interpretations compare student performance to the performance of others in who are similar to that individual (the norm group, composed to reflect the testing population). For example, if Janie scored in the 80% percentile on her XXXXX math test means that she scored about as well or better than 80% of the people in the norms group, but it doesn't tell 'how much' math Janie was able to do correctly. You know a test is norm-referenced if you see test scores such as percentile rank, stanines, normal-curve equivalents, grade-level equivalents, and so on.
While historically many tests have been created as norm-referenced tests, the trend today in assessment is criterion-referenced tests. Both are standardized, but are created in different ways to fulfill different purposes and scores from the different tests are interpreted very differently. 2/7/2005, April L. Zenisky.
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