Exam 4: Ch. 15

Question 1

Standardized test

Answer 1

• uniform procedures for administration and scoring;

- “allows student’s performance to be compared” w the performance of other students at the same grade level or age.

Question 2

What is the purpose of a Standardized Test:

Answer 2

• provide info about students progress
• diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses
• provide evidence for placement of students in specific programs
• provide info for planning and improving instruction
• contribute to accountability

Question 3

Norm-referenced Tests

Answer 3

-standardized tests in which a student’s score is interpreted by comparing it with how others (the norm) performed.

Question 4

Criterion-referenced Tests

Answer 4

Standardized tests in which the student’s performance is compared with established criteria.

Question 5

Validity

Answer 5

• extent to which a test “measures what it is intended to” measure and
• whether inferences about the test scores are accurate and appropriate

Question 6

Reliability

Answer 6

• the extent to which a test produces a consistent, reproducible score.

Question 7

Aptitude Tests

Answer 7

-Predict a student’s ability to learn with further education and training (SAT)

Question 8

Achievement Tests

Answer 8

-Measure what a student has learned (course exam)

Question 9

High-Stakes Testing

Answer 9

• using tests in a way that will have important consequences for the student.
• affecting such decisions as whether the student will be promoted or be allowed to graduate.

Question 10

Advantages of High-Stakes Testing

Answer 10

• improved student performance
• more time teaching the subjects tested
• high expectations for all students
• identification of poorly performing schools, teachers, and administrators
• improved confidence in schools as test scores increase

Question 11

Negative consequences of High-Stake Testing (state-mandated tests)

Answer 11

• dumbing down of the curriculum w emphasis on rote memorization rather than on problem solving and critical thinking skills.
• teaching to the test
• discrimination against low-SES and ethnic minority children

Question 12

Validity of Inferences drawn from Tests:

Answer 12

• Ex: using test scores from a standardized test given to students each spring as an indicator of teacher competence.
• the teachers whose students score higher are more competent than those who score lower

Question 13

No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

Answer 13

• Governments effort to hold schools and school districts accountable for the success or failure of their students
• Legislation shifts responsibility to the states, w states being required to create their own standards for student’s achievement in math, english/language arts, and science.

Question 14

No Child Left Behind: Goals

Answer 14

-close the ethnic achievement gap that characterizes lower achievement by African american and Latino students and higher achievement by Asian American and non-Latino white students

Question 15

No Child Left Behind; Accountability: ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS (AYP)

Answer 15

• is a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allows the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country is performing academically according to results on standardized tests
• Schools that fail to make AYP for two consecutive years are labeled as “under performing”
• entire school and subgroups

Question 16

Preparing Students to take Standardized Test: Do’s

Answer 16

• communicate a positive attitude about the test
• improve students’ test-taking skills
• explain the test’s nature and purpose
• describe as an opportunity and a challenge rather than an ordeal
• have students w test anxiety talk with a counselor on ways to reduce anxiety.

Question 17

Preparing Students to take Standardized Test: Dont’s

Answer 17

• teach to the test
• describe tests as burdens
• tell students important decisions will be made solely on the results of a single test.
• convey a negative attitude about the test

Question 18

Frequency distributions

Answer 18

-A listing of scores, usually from highest to lowest, along w the number of times each score apperas

Question 19

Measures of Central Tendency: Mean

Answer 19

• numerical average of a group of scores.

- computed by adding all the scores and dividing by the amount of scores

Question 20

Measures of Central Tendency: Median

Answer 20

-the score that falls exactly in the middle of a distribution of scores after they have been arranged from highest to lowest.

Question 21

Measures of Central Tendency: Mode

Answer 21

-the score that occurs the most often

Question 22

Measures of Variability: Range

Answer 22

-the distance/difference between the highest and the lowest scores

Question 23

Measures of Variability: Standard Deviation

Answer 23

• A measure of how much a set of scores varies on the average around the mean of the scores.
• (how closely scores cluster around the mean)
• the smaller the standard deviation the less scores vary from the mean
• the greater the standard deviation, the more the scores spread out from the mean

Question 24

Central Tendency

Answer 24

-a number that provided information about the average, or typical, score in a set of data

Question 25

Measure of Variability

Answer 25

-Measures that tell how much scores vary from one another.

Question 26

Normal Distribution

Answer 26

• A “Bell-Shaped curve” in which most of the scores are clustered around the mean;
• the farther above or bellow the mean that we travel, the less frequently each score occurs
• most common scores near the middle
• incorporates information about both mean and standard deviation

Question 27

Descriptive Statistics

Answer 27

-mathematical procedures that are used to describe and summarize data in a meaningful way