Assessment Vocabulary

Information and data gathered along the way which is used to improve, modify, or revise a program, curriculum or unit of instruction in order to enhance student learning.  This type of evaluation is helpful in guiding ongoing classroom instruction.

• Formative Evaluation

• Summative Evaluation

• Aptitude Test

• Diagnostic Test

A teacher-constructed list of characteristics used as criteria for ranking the quality of students’ work along with some type of guide for scoring or grading.  Usually, this guide describes the criteria along with a numerical range or scale to indicate the degree of quality or mastery shown by the work.  There are many different types of these; all of which are useful for the project, or performance assessment.

The middle number; the point where there are one-half above and one-half below thus dividing the group into two equal parts; the 50th percentile.

• Median

• Range

• Mean

• Percentage

A collection and evaluation of student products and performances selected for inclusion based on agreed-upon criteria.  These generally illustrate a range of abilities and special talents showing growth, self-reflection, and achievement.  They may be composed of the student’s best work or work that shows improvement over time.

Process of gathering and using qualitative and quantitative data to make a judgment of value, worth, merit or effectiveness.  This can be for an individual student, group, class, grade level, department, school, school district or program.

• Evaluation

• Assessment

• Test

• Measurement

The extent to which scores, tests, programs or assessments are accurate, dependable, stable, consistent and free from error over a period of time.  This includes the way they are administered, implemented and scored.

• Validity

• Bias

• Stanine

• Reliability

A relationship, correspondence or connection between any two things.  This is not a cause and effect relationship; two items may be strongly “connected” without one causing the other.

The difference between the highest score and the lowest score plus 1.

• Median

• Range

• Mean

• Percentage

An assessment which measures progress toward mastery of a given set of objectives, outcomes or skills.  This measurement does not compare one person’s score to the scores of the rest of the group.  Instead, this is an objective measure of mastery tied to specific skills and objectives which are measure based on predetermined standards or criteria.  Each individual is judged on how well he achieves the criteria, with an emphasis on performance relative to an absolute standard.

Theoretically, an average score at a given grade level.  This score relates a student’s raw score to the average scores obtained by norming groups at different grade levels.  This score is often greatly distorted because there are so many variations in what is actually taught at each grade level.