All My Children

Norm-Referenced Tests

Most ’standardised’ tests have at their core an assumption that abilities are evenly distributed across a population, such that an equal number of cases will fall above and below a statistical mean. Tests are constructed so that children’s scores will spread out across this range. In using a standardised measure we expect half the children to whom it is applied to be below average. A ‘below average’ score on a measure of verbal skill should not be considered in the same light as, for example, ‘below normal blood pressure’. It is a question of debate just how far below the average mark a child’s scores have to fall before concern is registered. This will also vary according to the test materials. In all formal testing a small sample of a child’s behaviour is taken, usually following a uniform procedure, and this is taken to be representative of an underlying trait. So, for example, by asking for responses to a selection of vocabulary pictures, the child’s scores might be translated into a vocabulary age. The end product of this kind of language assessment, couched in terms like ‘receptive quotient’, gives few details which can be translated into teaching targets. On the other hand, aspects such as the child’s concentration during the time of testing may have important implications for both the interpretation of results and future teaching plans.

There are several key questions which teachers need to ask themselves in relation to normative tests. The first question considers the validity of the materials. Validity is the degree to which a test measures what it sets out to measure. On an intuitive basis, teachers will be aware that a test which purports to measure vocabulary, and which demands written responses from the child, may well be testing spelling ability. Test compilers usually provide evidence that the test measures what it claims to measure, by carrying out a statistical analysis to see how the results achieved using one test correlate with the results achieved using another, similar test. Even when this sort of statistical analysis has been done, there is no guarantee that a test will reveal the same kind of information in different children. There is, in fact, a body of evidence which suggests that children with special needs, such as those with a hearing impairment, may use atypical strategies to solve test-puzzles, which casts doubt on the validity of measures such as reading age. In one instance, deaf children completed a reading test without reading. Teachers must always ask themselves, when thinking about using a test: ‘What does this material really tell me?’

Subsequent questions that teachers might ask about tests include: ‘What kind of theory lies behind the material?’

‘What kind of practical information does the test reveal?’

‘How was the test put together and what was the author’s purpose?’ ‘Are the results easy to interpret?’

‘Can the test be used a second time and will it give similar results?’ ‘Does the test procedure fit in with the teacher’s way of working?’ ‘At what level of intervention is the test an effective tool?’

Criterion-Referenced Tests

In criterion-referenced tests the focus of interest is the individual’s ability to reach specific goals: what a child can actually do in an area of skill such as language. Emphasis shifts away from individual differences and their relationship with the mean. It is the identification of learning or developmental criteria which is of interest, and the individual’s performance relative to these. The use of standardised procedures with young children or children with special needs is often difficult. However, criterion-referenced approaches often do not require strict adherence to a uniform test procedure. Since the concern is whether a child has achieved specific skills, observations can be built up over time, in different contexts and can include the insights of important adults, particularly parents. Criterion-referenced tests can be thought of as providing a framework for systematic observation, within which the child’s strengths and weaknesses can be discovered. Using such a framework, assessment can be continual and closely tied to the teaching context. Such tests usually provide a detailed profile of the skills or knowledge which have been mastered, or the level of competence reached in different skill areas. Armed with this kind of specific information about a child, the teacher is in a strong position to detail the future teaching targets at which to aim.

Where do criteria come from? In some cases the author of a test begins by scanning the developmental literature. There will be found the collective research evidence on the emergence of skills in a particular domain of behaviour during childhood. Some domains are better charted than others. A lot of evidence has been gathered together by linguists on the sequence of language acquisition in early childhood. On the other hand, language development beyond the age of about seven years is more complex and less well-documented. The learning steps through which children move are not so clearly defined. In the domain of reading, for example, there is less certainty about the significant skills which children need, the order in which these skills are acquired, and, consequently, priorities for teachers to consider.

With criterion-referenced tests teachers should ask themselves: ‘Are the learning criteria derived from research evidence?’

‘Do the skills which are profiled adequately cover the behaviour domain of interest?’

‘Are the learning steps clearly defined and do they follow an ordered sequence?’

‘Can the test information be easily translated into practical teaching targets?’

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