ASSESSMENT FOR EDUCATION

 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
o Legislations that require schools to set educational standards annually assess whether students meet
those standards, and hold schools accountable when student progress is inadequate (including average
students, low-income students, students with disabilities, and students of various ethnic and racial
groups.

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST EDUCATIONAL TESTING IN THE SCHOOLS

 Undue pressure on teachers to make certain that their students performed satisfactorily on standardized tests.
 Forcing teachers to spend valuable classroom time “teaching to the test” – focus on narrow and ultimately
hollow goal of passing tests rather than on broad educational skills and generalizable learning
 Anti-test advocates: “If there was no pressure to raise students’ performance to some federally prescribed level,
then teachers would be free to teach in ways designed to promote better, more permanent educational
outcomes ”
o Some are against tests used for formative assessment – data gathered to monitor student learning so
that students can focus their efforts and instructors can improve their teaching.
o Summative tests – use of data such as exams, papers, and projects to evaluate student learning at the
end of the learning period
 Pro-test scholars: tests may serve a variety of critically important needs
o Screening purposes = early, effective intervention
o Important diagnostic findings
 Identify areas of weakness that require remediation
 Identify areas in which a student excels
 Students are to be increasingly challenged by new and intellectually stimulating subject
matter
o Purposes of comparison
 Gauge the rate of progress of student/s using the same tool of measurement
o Credentialing – assigning grades and awarding degrees; necessary component of education
 Controversial: use of a single test as a form of high-stakes summative assessment
o i.e. those that punish teachers when students fail to meet expectations
o Excessive punishment can stifle innovation and make teaching unnecessarily unpleasant, but to
advocate for no accountability whatsoever seems naïve.

DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT

 Based on a test-intervention-retest model

 Budoff: explored differences between deficits identified by standardized tests that seemed to be due to
differences in education vs. mental deficiency. He did this by determining whether training could improve test
performance.
 Feuerstein: focused on the extent to which teaching of principles and strategies (or mediated learning) modified
cognition.
o Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD): designed to yield information about the nature and
amount of intervention required to enhance a child’s performance.
  Vygotsky: zone of proximal development – distance between the actual developmental level as determined by
individual problem-solving, and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving
under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.
 Assessment procedures are hardly neutral.
 Goal is to do everything in their power to help the test-taker master material in preparation for retesting.
o Clues or prompts delivered in verbal or nonverbal ways

ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

 Designed to measure accomplishment; measure the degree of learning that has taken place as a result of
exposure to a relatively defined learning experience
 Used to gauge student progress toward instructional objectives, compare an individual’s accomplishment to
peers, and help determine what instructional activities and strategies might best propel the students toward
educational objectives.
 May be standardized nationally, regionally, locally, or may not be standardized at all.
 A sound achievement test is one that adequately samples the targeted subject matter and reliably gauges the
extent to which the examinees have learned it.

Measures of General Achievement

 Achievement batteries – tests that cover a number of academic areas that are divided into several subtests.
 Wide Range Achievement Tests-5: word reading, sentence comprehension, spelling, and arithmetic
 Sequential Tests of Educational Progress (STEP) battery: K-12; reading, vocabulary, mathematics, writing skills,
study skills, science, social studies, behavior inventory, educational environment questionnaire, activities
inventory; used to identify gifted children
 SRA California Achievement Tests: K-12
 Some are grade- or course-specific
 Some are constructed to provide both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced analyses
 Some are concurrently normed with scholastic aptitude tests to enable a comparison between achievement and
aptitude.
 Some are constructed with practice tests that may be administered several days before actual testing to help
students familiarize themselves with test-taking procedures.
 Some contain locator tests (routing tests) – pre-tests administered to determine the level of the actual test
most appropriate for administration.
 Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-3rd Edition: age 4 – 50; WIAT-III; used in school, clinical, and research
settings; 16 subtests
 The test most appropriate for use is the one most consistent with the educational objectives of the individual
teacher or school system.

Measures of Achievement in Specific Subject Areas

 Most measures of achievement in specific subject areas are teacher-made tests.

 At elementary school level:
o The acquisition of basic skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic is emphasized.
 At secondary school level:
o Involve evaluation of minimum competencies, often as a requirement for a high-school diploma
o Cooperative Achievement Test
 At the college level:
 o Mandating end-of-major outcomes assessment
o Placement = advanced standing, advanced course credit
o Test of English proficiency – English as second language (ESL)
o Assess whether college credit should be awarded for learning acquired outside a college classroom;
assess whether sufficient knowledge has been acquired to qualify for course credit
 College Level Examination Program (CLEP)
 Proficiency Examination Program (PEP)
 Special needs of adults with a wide variety of educational backgrounds
o Adult Basic Learning Examination (ABLE) – a test intended for use with examinees age 17 and older
who have not completed eight years of formalized schooling; assess vocabulary, reading, spelling, and
arithmetic
 Curriculum-based assessment (CBA) – assessment of information acquired from teachings at school.
 Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) – use of standardized measurement procedures to derive local norms
to be used in the evaluation of student performance on curriculum-based tasks.
 Achievement test items may be characterized by the type of mental processes required by the test-taker to
successfully retrieve information needed to respond to the item.
 Two types of achievement test items:
o Fact-based items – draws primarily on rote memory
o Conceptual items – must draw on and apply knowledge related to a particular concept

APTITUDE TESTS

 Focus more on informal learning or life experiences vs. achievement test which is focused more on formal
learning that has occurred as a result of relatively structured input.
 Also distinct based on the intended use of the test.
 Whether a test is seen as measuring aptitude or achievement is a context-based judgment—did the test-taker
have prior exposure or formal learning related to the test’s content.
 Also referred as prognostic tests – used to make predictions, e.g. measure readiness

Preschool Level

 Determine whether a child’s cognitive, emotional, and social development is in line with age-related
expectations, and whether any problems likely to hamper learning ability are evident.
 Checking and Rating Scales:
o Checklist – questionnaire on which marks are made to indicate the presence or absence of a specified
behavior, thought, event, or circumstance. ; “checkers” may be professional, observer, or the subject
himself
o Rating Scale – a form completed by an evaluator to make a judgment of relative standing with regard to
a specified variable or list of variables; the targeted judgment may have to do with the presence or
absence of particular event or its frequency.
 APGAR: Activity (muscle tone), Pulse (heart rate), Grimace (reflex irritability), Appearance
(color), and Respiration
 7 – 10  excellent condition
 4 – 6  need assistance in being stabilized
 0 – 3  signal an enduring problem
 Connors Rating Scales-Revised (BASC-3)
 Use from preschool through adolescence
  Utilizes teacher and parent ratings to identify adaptive difficulties on 16 scales ranging
from ADL to study skills
 Self-Report of Personality (SRP)
 May also be administered if respondents are believed to have sufficient insight into their
own behavior (e.g. interpersonal relations, self-esteem, sensation seeking)
 Screening tools can also be used to identify children “at risk”
 At risk – children who have documented difficulties in one or more psychological, social,
or academic areas and for whom intervention is or may be required.
o Informal Evaluation – typically non-systematic, relatively brief, and “off-the-record” assessment leading
to the formation of an opinion or attitude conducted by any person, in any way, for any reason, in an
unofficial context that is not subject to the ethics or other standards of an evaluation by a professional.
 Psychological Tests
o Attention span of the pre-schooler is short; less time is preferable in test session
o Test should be relatively easy to administer and have simple start/discontinue rules.
o Allow ample opportunity to make behavioural observations.
o Dual-easel test administration format, sample and teaching items for each subtest, dichotomous scoring
o Data from infant intelligence tests + other relevant information
 help professionals identify developmental disability and related deficits;
 also help define the abilities and extend of disability in older, psychotic children;
 used to inform prospective adoptive parents
 have also wide application in research
o WPSSI-IV and SB5 – measures of infant’s physical and neuropsychological intactness
 Other measures:
o Interviews, case history methods, portfolio evaluation, role-play methods, drawings
o Child Sexual Behavior Inventory – 38-item behavior checklist to identify sexually abused children as
young as 2 years old.

Elementary Level

 School readiness tests provide educators with a yardstick by which to assess pupils’ abilities in areas as diverse
as general information and sensorimotor skills.
 Metropolitan Readiness Tests (sixth edition; MRT6) – a test battery that assesses the development of the
reading and mathematics skills important in the early stages of formal school learning
o Level I (individual) –beginning and middle kindergarteners
o Level II (group) – end of kindergarten through first grade
o Orally administered; untimed but runs for about 90 minutes
o Normative data are based on a national sample o approximately 30,000 children
o Standardization sample was stratified according to geographic region, SES, prior school experience, and
ethnic background.
o Split-half reliability coefficients and KR measures of internal consistency
o Content validity was developed through extensive review of literature, analysis of skills involved in the
reading exercises, and development of test items that reflected those skills

Secondary-School Level

 Scholastic Aptitude Test

 ACT Assessment (formerly known as American College Testing Program)
  “Gatekeeping function” – serving both to award seats to students with documented academic potential and to
preserve an institution’s reputation for selectivity.

College Level and Beyond

 Graduate Record Examinations (GRE)

 Miller Analogies Test (MAT)
 See table 10-2 page 376 for more entrance examinations for professional or occupational training

DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

 Evaluative information – typically applied to tests or test data that are used to make judgments (e.g. pass-fail,
admit-reject)
 Vs. Diagnostic information – typically applied to tests or test data used to pinpoint a student’s difficulty, usually
for remedial purposes.
o In educational setting, diagnostic tests are used to identify areas of deficit to be targeted for
intervention
o In clinical context, it refers to a tool of assessment designed to yield a psychiatric diagnosis

Reading Tests

 Some tests that pinpoint reading difficulties:

o Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test
o Metropolitan Reading Instructional Tests
o Diagnostic Reading Scales
o Durrell Analysis of Reading Test
 Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests-Third Edition (WRMT-III)

Math Tests

 Group Mathematics Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (GMADE)

 KeyMath 3 Diagnostic System (KeyMath3-DA)

PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL TEST BATTERIES

 Are test kits that generally contain two types of tests:

o Those that measure abilities related to academic success
o Those that ensure that measure educational achievement in areas such as reading and arithmetic
 Data allow for:
o Normative comparisons – how the student compares with other students within the same age group
o Evaluation of the test-taker’s own strengths and weaknesses
 Also measure cognitive abilities, e.g. attention, perception, memory, reasoning, etc.
 Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition Normative Update (KABC—II NU)
o Age 3 – 18
o Originally designed to measure cognitive abilities identified by Soviet neuropsychologist Alexander
Luria, who identified which injury locations were associated with specific cognitive deficits:
 Brain’s three overlapping systems or “functional unites”:
 Brainstem – primarily regulates alertness and arousal
  Hindmost portions of cerebral cortex (parietal, temporal, and occipital lobe) – engage
in “simultaneous integration” of sensory information such that patterns can be
perceived and raw sensory information can be stored efficiently as abstract concepts
 Frontal lobes – responsible for “successive integration” which includes the ability to
sustain attention, inhibit impulses, and direct planned behavior.
o Co-developed and co-normed with Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (KTEA-3) –
comprehensive measure of academic skills
o Measures verbal comprehension (crystallized intelligence) and learning ability (long-term
memory/learning efficiency)
 Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System (CAS-II)
o Designed to measure the 4 primary constructs of PASS theory.
o PASS and CHC theory
 Planning ≈ fluid intelligence
 Attention ≈ processing speed
 Sequential processing ≈ working memory
 Successive processing ≈ visual-spatial processing
 Woodcock-Johnson IV (WJ IV)
o Consists of 3 co-normed test batteries measuring broad cognitive abilities, oral language skills, and
academic achievement.
o Age 2 to 90 (or older)
o CHC theory
o Standard battery – measure for brief screenings periodic re-evaluations, and relatively pinpointed
assessments designed to address specific issues related to instruction, performance level, or RtI.
o Extended battery – obtain the most comprehensive and detailed evaluation an assessee’s strengths and
weaknesses or educational progress

OTHER TOOLS OF ASSESSMENT

Performance, Portfolio, and Authentic Assessment

 Performance task – work sample designed to elicit representative knowledge, skills, and values from a particular
domain of study
 Performance assessment – evaluation of performance tasks according to criteria developed by experts from the
domain of study tapped by those tasks
 Portfolio – work sample
 Portfolio assessment – evaluation of one’s work samples
o Gauge progress
o Assess giftedness and reading
o Assist students with career decisions
o Advantage: Engage students in the assessment process, giving them the opportunity to think
generatively, and encourage them to think about learning as an ongoing and integrated process
o Disadvantage: penalty such a technique may levy on the non-creative student; evaluation of portfolios
(time, thought, and inter-rater reliability)
 Authentic assessment – evaluation of relevant, meaningful tasks that may be conducted to evaluate learning of
academic subject matter but that demonstrate the student’s transfer of that study to real-world activities.
o Drawbacks:
  Assessment might assess prior knowledge and experience, not simply what was learned in the
classroom.
 Authentic skill may inadvertently entail the assessment of some skills that have little to do with
classroom learning.

Peer Appraisal Techniques

 Peer appraisal – asking the individual’s peer group to make the evaluation.
 Help call needed attention to an individual who is experiencing academic, personal, social, or work-related
difficulties that have not come to attention of the person in charge.
 Allow the person in charge to view members of a group from a different perspective.
 Supply information about the group’s dynamics.
 Its nature may change as a function of changes in the assessment situation and the membership of the group
(shyest = gregarious)
 Guess Who? Technique – brief descriptive sentences are read or handed out in the form of questionnaires to
the class, and the children are instructed to guess who.
 Nominating technique – individuals are asked to select or nominate other individuals for various types of
activities.
 Sociogram – graphical method of the results of a peer appraisal.
 It is important to periodically update and verify information because perceptions within a group are constantly
changing.

Measuring Study Habits, Interests, and Attitudes

 Study Habit Checklist – note taking, reading material, general study practices
 What I Like to Do Interest Inventory – academic interests, artistic interests, occupational interests, and interests
in leisure time (play activities)
 Assess attitudes in specific subject areas:
o Survey of School Attitudes
o Quality of School Life Scales
o Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA)
o Study Attitudes and Methods Survey
 Delay avoidance
 Work methods
 Study habits
 Teacher approval
 Education acceptance
 Study attitudes