Deck 15: Understanding Standardized Assessment

Question 1

If you wanted to use a musical aptitude test to help you decide which students should be admitted to a musical conservatory, such a test would have to have evidence of

A) comprehensiveness.
B) widespread acceptance.
C) high validity.
D) a low standard deviation.

Answer 1

high validity.

Question 2

A standardized test includes which of the following characteristics?

A) conversion of raw scores to z scores
B) designed by classroom teachers
C) large standard deviation
D) scores reported according to norms

Answer 2

scores reported according to norms

Question 3

If you want to use a test to measure students' self-concepts, and if you are concerned about the test's construct validity, you are concerned about whether the

A) items on the test accurately reflect a particular body of knowledge or skill.
B) test can be used to predict student performance on a task in the future.
C) test's norms were developed using an appropriate standardization group.
D) test can identify students with strong self-concepts and those with weak self-concepts.

Answer 3

test can identify students with strong self-concepts and those with weak self-concepts.

Question 4

Examine the test scores in the table below that depicts four students' test scores on equivalent forms of the same test.   Robert Soo-Ling Jorge Jean Form A 94 72 80 97 Form B 89 72 89 95 Which of the following alternatives best describes these scores?

A) high validity
B) low validity
C) high reliability
D) low reliability

Question 5

Which of the following situations calls for the administration of an achievement test?

A) A biology department is developing an advanced course and wants to select students on the basis of how much they understand about biology.
B) A debate coach wants only very logical students on his team and must find students who will probably exhibit superior critical-thinking skills.
C) A French teacher has concerns regarding students' attitudes toward studying a foreign language and wants to measure those attitudes.
D) A math department wants to identify students who are most likely to quickly achieve comprehension of new concepts in mathematics.

Question 6

A competency test is given to

A) help students decide which major to declare in college.
B) determine whether the reading, writing, and math skills of high school seniors are sufficiently high to merit graduation from high school.
C) help parents and educators decide whether a child qualifies for placement in a special education program.
D) help parents and educators decide whether a child qualifies for placement in a program for the gifted and talented.

Question 7

One reason why colleges use the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is to determine how well students will do during their first year in college. Which of the following is necessary for a test to be used for this purpose?

A) high construct validity
B) high predictive validity
C) high internal consistency
D) high test-retest reliability

Question 8

George is told that he needs to take a competency test. George is most likely

A) preparing to graduate from high school.
B) attempting to enter an enrichment program after middle school.
C) having difficulties in reading and writing and may be a candidate for remediation.
D) trying to decide which career to pursue after high school.

Question 9

When you review a U.S. history exam, you notice that several of the items reflect European history. You have reason to suspect that the test may have low

A) content validity.
B) predictive validity.
C) construct validity.
D) internal consistency.

Question 10

A teacher who wants to determine how much her students have learned about social studies should administer which of the following?

A) a diagnostic test
B) an aptitude test
C) a competency test
D) an achievement test

Question 11

Clarence is a fifth-grade student with a learning disability. He and his classmates recently took a standardized reading achievement test. Clarence's percentile rank for that test was 20. The norm group for this test did not include any students with learning disabilities. What inference can be made on the basis of Clarence's test scores?

A) Clarence is performing below grade level and therefore he should repeat the fifth grade.
B) Clarence's scores cannot be meaningfully interpreted, given the standards for evaluation.
C) Clarence's teacher has been unsuccessful in teaching him basic fifth-grade reading skills.
D) Clarence's school is failing to meet his special learning needs.

Question 12

The New Intelligence Test (NIT) is found to relate more to achievement tests than to other tests of intelligence. This would cause concern over the NIT's

A) content validity.
B) predictive validity.
C) construct validity.
D) alternate-forms reliability.

Question 13

The basic purpose of giving a standardized test is to

A) obtain a comprehensive measure of some aspect of student behavior.
B) assess changes in scholastic aptitude as a child is formally educated.
C) obtain an accurate, representative sampling of some aspect of student behavior.
D) assess variation in achievement by changing the criteria for success in a standardized fashion.

Question 14

If you were using a standardized test to determine your students' aptitude for science and found that students who took the test a second time got scores quite different from those they received on the first attempt, you would question the test's

A) internal consistency.
B) standardization.
C) predictive validity.
D) reliability.

Question 15

If you wanted to efficiently assess what students know about various aspects of the civil rights movement in the United States from 1950 to 2000, you would give them a

A) standardized aptitude test.
B) standardized achievement test.
C) comprehensive achievement test constructed by the classroom teacher.
D) comprehensive achievement test constructed by a commercial test company.

Question 16

A teacher or counselor would use a diagnostic test for which of the following purposes?

A) to judge the effectiveness of particular instructional techniques
B) to evaluate the amount of knowledge a student has gained in a specific subject area
C) to predict a student's likelihood of success in a special program
D) to identify academic deficits that may be preventing a student from earning high grades

Question 17

One of the problems with testing preschool children to see if they are ready for first grade is that

A) readiness tests used for placement decisions in the early grades tend to have low reliability.
B) standardized tests tend to be too difficult and frustrating for young children.
C) norm groups for this level are either unavailable or of poor quality.
D) in the early grades, there is no one set of basic skills that are universally considered important.

Question 18

One reason why school psychologists use intelligence tests to help them determine whether a student is eligible for special education services is because such tests have evidence of

A) construct validity.
B) predictive validity.
C) user validity.
D) internal consistency.

Question 19

If a teacher wants to assess a student's specific strengths and weaknesses in a basic subject, the most appropriate kind of test to use is

A) a diagnostic test.
B) an aptitude test.
C) an achievement test.
D) a competency test.

Question 20

Which of the following best reflects the validity of an intelligence test?

A) The scores are consistent for individuals at two testings.
B) The scores reflect little variation.
C) The test actually measures cognitive abilities.
D) The test is internally consistent.

Question 21

The term high-stakes test refers to

A) any teacher-made test that is used to determine students' grades.
B) a criterion-referenced test that prospective teachers take to receive state certification.
C) a norm-referenced test that veteran teachers take to become certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
D) a standardized achievement test whose scores are used to punish or reward students, teachers, and administrators.

Question 22

Define the term reliability as it relates to standardized testing.

Question 23

If a standardized test score is reported as having a percentile rank of 53, the score would indicate that

A) the student scored as well as or better than 53 percent of the students in the norm group.
B) the students scored below 53 percent of the students in the norm group.
C) the student got 53 percent of the questions on the test correct.
D) the student scored as well or better than 53 percent of the students who took the test.

Question 24

The standard deviation of a test indicates the extent to which

A) any given student outscores others who took the same test.
B) students score the same on the first half versus the second half of the test.
C) students score the same on repeated administrations of the test.
D) any score in a distribution varies from the mean.

Question 25

The main benefit of computer adaptive testing over traditional approaches to testing is that it

A) allows teachers to administer tests without incurring duplicating costs.
B) individualizes the test and reveals each student's potential, given a bit of support.
C) assures that each student spends the same amount of time on each test item.
D) does not allow students to go back through the test to change their responses.

Question 26

A standardized test score that is reported as having a percentile rank of 67 indicates that

A) the student did worse than 67 percent of students in the norm group.
B) the student got 67 percent of the questions on the test correct.
C) the student achieved 67 percent of the objective criteria covered on the test.
D) the student did as well as or better than 67 percent of the students in the norm group.

Question 27

Define the term validity as it relates to standardized testing.

Question 28

Which of the following is the most accurate characterization of the research on the effects of high-stakes testing?

A) A substantial amount of research has been done and the findings are strongly positive.
B) The research is limited but the results are mostly positive.
C) The research is limited and the results are largely disappointing.
D) There is no research at the present time on the effects of high-stakes tests.

Question 29

The benefit of giving students norm-referenced standardized achievement tests is that they allow parents and educators to

A) determine a student's predisposition for learning in specific subject areas.
B) compare a student's level of achievement with other, similar students.
C) collect additional evidence to be used for the assignment of grades.
D) determine a student's degree of mastery of instructional objectives.

Question 30

Explain the meaning of the term content validity.

Question 31

Under which of the following conditions would the use of an aptitude test be most appropriate?

A) A teacher needs information about how well students use specific skills and study techniques.
B) A counselor needs information to determine which students have performed best in science.
C) A teacher must choose the ten students most likely to succeed in a limited-enrollment course.
D) A teacher needs to report each student's performance in mathematics to school administrators.

Question 32

Which of the following arguments is made by those who support high-stakes testing programs?

A) The quality of instruction received by such groups as ethnic and racial minorities, students with disabilities, and limited English speakers and the progress they make will be monitored more closely than in the past.
B) Teachers will be motivated to use more effective instructional methods.
C) Students will work harder to improve their study skills and master state learning standards.
D) All of these answers.

Question 33

Which of the following statements accurately describes T scores?

A) They indicate how far a standard score is from the mean of a distribution.
B) A T score of 50 is equivalent to a z score of zero.
C) They indicate student performance with reference to a nine-point scale.
D) A T score of 65 indicates a below average performance.

Question 34

Consider the following statistics:   Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Mean 56.59 68.24 76.47 89.14 Standard Deviation 14.29 11.34 8.98 4.21 Which of the above tests would produce the widest distribution of scores?

A) Test 1
B) Test 2
C) Test 3
D) Test 4

Question 35

Which of the following is a requirement of the No Child Left Behind law?

A) All students in grades three through eight must be tested once a year in math and reading.
B) Each year an increasing percentage of students must score at least at the proficient level in math and reading.
C) So-called report cards must be issued to parents and the general public describing how groups of students in a school district have performed on a state's annual assessment.
D) All of these answers.

Question 36

List three major uses of standardized test scores listed by teachers.

Question 37

A beginning teacher in your school wants to know if the requirements of NCLB will affect the way in which he teaches. Based on your reading of the research, which of the following statements represents the most accurate response you can make?

A) He will probably find himself giving more help to those students whose scores were just below the cutoff the previous year than to students who scored much higher.
B) He may find himself considering using teaching methods that he would not have otherwise used.
C) He will probably pay more attention to how well the content of his daily lessons is aligned with state standards.
D) He will probably spend more time than he thought he would preparing students for the next state test.

Question 38

If someone were to tell you that the research on high-stakes tests supports supports the goals of NCLB, what would be the most reasonable response?

A) To disagree because there is no research at the present time on the effects of high-stakes tests.
B) To disagree because the research to date ranges from no positive effect on achievement to small positive effects.
C) To tentatively agree because although the research is limited, most of the results are positive.
D) To agree because a substantial amount of research has been done and most of the findings are positive.

Question 39

A third-grade teacher wishes to evaluate students regarding their knowledge of the social studies unit that they have just completed. The teacher should use a _______________ test to best accomplish this task.

A) norm-referenced
B) criterion-referenced
C) diagnostic
D) competency

Question 40

A stanine score of 5 indicates that the student's raw score

A) is average.
B) is 2 standard deviations above average.
C) is 1 standard deviation below average.
D) has a percentile rank of 90.

Question 41

Why is it ill advised to base educational decisions regarding preschool and kindergarten children on standardized test scores?

Question 42

What do aptitude tests measure?

Question 43

Explain what diagnostic tests are and describe how they are used.

Question 44

What effect has NCLB had on the learning standards formulated by the states?

Question 45

Explain why it is important to compare the results of a standardized test to those of an appropriate norm group.

Question 46

Distinguish among the three types of validity evidence mentioned in the text. Why is it so important to determine whether a test is valid?

Question 47

Explain how competency tests are used.

Question 48

What do stanine scores indicate?

Question 49

Explain the meaning of the term construct validity.

Question 50

Define the term predictive validity and give an example of how it may be used by educators.

Question 51

Explain what is meant by the phrase high-stakes testing.

Question 52

What are achievement tests?

Question 53

Explain the characteristics of standardized tests that set them apart from other types of tests. Describe the purpose of standardized tests and provide examples of how educators can use the information gained from these tests to reduce student differences in academic performance. Be sure to include the concepts of aptitude and achievement in your discussion.

Question 54

Define standard deviation and explain what it indicates.

Question 55

What is the purpose of criterion-referenced tests?

Question 56

Describe computer adaptive testing.

Question 57

Compare and contrast the general definitions of the terms reliability and validity as they apply to standardized testing. Explain the problems that would be encountered if a test were unreliable. Include in your discussion definitions of the three forms of reliability described in the text. How does a test's reliability affect its validity? Explain the relationship between reliability and validity.

Question 58

What is the purpose of norm-referenced tests?

Question 59

Briefly describe the five features of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act that are mentioned in the textbook.

Question 60

Explain what a percentile rank indicates. Interpret a percentile rank of 85.

Question 61

Discuss the four types of standardized test scores that were described in the text. Your discussion should include a definition of each type of score, an example of how each one should be properly interpreted, and any problems associated with those interpretations.

Question 62

Describe the five main requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.