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.

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

The extent to which a score differs from a certain reference point, usually the norm, midpoint or average.

redicts what a student will be able to do in the future and the likely effects of future learning experiences.  Thus it may predict future behavior, achievements or performance by measuring general abilities, knowledge and problem-solving skills.  These tests are often used to measure general intelligence or mental ability and to predict the likelihood of an individual’s benefit from a certain educational or training program.  Examples include IQ tests which predict how well a student will do in school and SAT’s, ACT’s and GRE’s which predict success in college or graduate school.

A systematic sample of student performance obtained under prescribed conditions such as time allotted, verbal instructions required, etc..  Such tests are usually developed for state or national use and are norm-referenced in order to provide accurate and meaningful information regarding a student’s level of performance relative to others at the same age or grade level.  Many of these tests are high stakes tests and their scores may be the sole criterion upon which students, teachers or administrators are judged.  Because of this, such tests often take on great importance resulting in curriculum and instruction being aligned to test items and objectives.

Consistency in scoring no matter who the scorer is.  As such, it includes differences of opinion among scorers as to whether responses are scored as right or wrong.  This is much easier to accomplish with a test that has a given correct answer for each item.

A criterion-referenced test which shows the extent to which a student has mastered a given set of objectives or skills.  This assessment gives the teacher information about what the student already knows, what he has learned in a given amount of time and what he still needs to know.

A broad general term used to describe any systematic approach or plan for gathering, using, synthesizing and evaluation data to find out more about a student, establish the effectiveness of curriculum, instruction and program, determine strengths and weaknesses, appraise ability and performance and/or see what has been learned

A number which indicates a ratio of one’s mental age to his/her chronological age.  The average of this number is thought to be 100.  At one time this score was thought to be the sole measurement of intelligence; however, that is no longer the case.  This number is not a fixed number throughout one’s life.

A sample obtained from some systematic procedure which is assumed to have all the characteristics of the whole.  Tests are used for gathering data, making comparisons and recording progress