School psych midterm

Question 1

Define norm-referenced assessment

Answer 1

Norm-referenced assessment is a type of assessment that compares an individual’s performance to the performance of a larger group of individuals who have previously taken the same assessment. The larger group has similar characteristics to the individual.

Question 2

Define criterion-referenced assessment

Answer 2

Criterion assessment is a type of assessment that involves comparing an individual’s performance against a predetermined set of standards or criteria.
Similar because they both compare the scores against a previously determined set of standards
Different because norm-referenced assessments compare against the performance of a larger group of individuals who took the same assessment, and criterion-referenced assessments compare their score to a set of standards determined by someone (ex. State, or a certain benchmark)

Question 3

Ethical Issues

Answer 3

Informed Consent in Assessment
Getting the consent of the parents to give their child testing
- Release of Test Data
Governed by FERPA, parents must give consent for this data to be released, sign off release
- Test Security
Making sure the test is secured and that the test is not available for all eyes to see. This could lead to invalid results, people could cheat, unfair advantages…
- Obsolete Tests and Outdated Tests
Making sure you use the most updated version of a test
- Assessment by Unqualified Persons
Only 3 people can give an intelligence test (clinical psych. And PPS (credentialed school psychologist, and an LEP (Licensed Educational Psychologist)
- Interpreting Test Results
Interpreted in RIOT (not just one perspective, tests have strengths and weaknesses and we need to look at multiple data to make throughout decisions)

Question 4

What is the Normal Curve (Please Include a Copy)? How do school psychologists use it??

Answer 4

The normal curve, also known as the bell curve, is a statistical distribution that is symmetrical, with the majority of the data falling near the center of the curve and fewer data points as you move further away from the center and helps us determine what is considered average, below average, and above average.

Question 5

What is Standard Error of Measurement (SEM), and how does it relate to assessment?

Answer 5

It is an estimate of the amount of error inherent in a child’s obtained score. The SEM directly reflects the reliability of a test. Large SEM means the test has a less stable measurement.

Question 6

What is Spearman’s “g”?

Answer 6

It is the general intelligence factor. This factor can be found in spatial, numerical, mechanical, and verbal abilities which can be measured in different test.

Question 7

Why is representativeness important in assessment?

Answer 7

Provides validity and gives us the ability to generalize our findings about our student

Question 8

Why is the size of a norm group important when considering assessment?

Answer 8

It is important for test to have representative samples in order to be useful for students and school psychs.

Question 9

What is a derived score? Please give an example.

Answer 9

Raw score, uncooked, ex. percentile ranks

Question 10

What is a standard score? List all types of standard scores (please include the mean of each).

Answer 10

Norm-referenced scores (general term, the umbrella for norm-referenced scores), mean of 100

Question 11

What is a percentile rank and give an example.

Answer 11

They are derived scores that permit us to determine an individual’s position relative to the standardization sample or any individual’s position relative to the standardization sample or any other specific sample. Ex. If a student is at the 63rd percentile rank on a test, they performed as well as or better than 63% of the students on that test.

Question 12

Give three examples of how derived scores can relate to one another

Answer 12

Ex. standard scores, percentile ranks, and normal-curve equivalents. They all can express how the individual did in the comparison of the sample

Question 13

What is a standard deviation?

Answer 13

describes how much the scores in a particular set of data vary from the mean or average score, how much the score deviates from the norm

Question 14

What is the standard deviation of a Standard Score (Mean = 100) and Scaled Score (Mean= 10)?

Answer 14

The standard deviation is 15 for standard score and 3 for scaled score

Question 15

Why is validity important in assessment?

Answer 15

It tells us if the test measures what it’s supposed to

Question 16

Why is Reliability important in assessment?

Answer 16

It tells us if the test is consistent and if we can trust the results

Question 17

What is the difference between Standard Error of Measurement and Confidence Intervals?

Answer 17

Confidence intervals are derived from the SEM data which helps us acknowledge the test error, SEM every test has error in in, CI accounts for that error

Question 18

What is the practice effect, and what are the different types of practice effects?

Answer 18

It is when a test is re-administered and the retest scores look different from those obtained on the initial test. Some different types are when a student does better or when a student does worst.

Question 19

What is a raw score?

Answer 19

When you score the test this is the score it gives you, before being converted into a scaled score, it doesn’t have meaning, only has meaning AFTER being converted into a scaled score

Question 20

What is a ceiling?

Answer 20

Discontinue, Where you stop, the amount a student has to get wrong in a row in order for the test to stop

Question 21

What is the basal?

Answer 21

Reverse rule, the student has to get a certain number correct before going forward on in the test

Question 22

What is a query in assessment?

Answer 22

When you ask the student to elaborate if their answer is unclear

Question 23

What is a prompt in assessment?

Answer 23

When you ask a student to do something, a verbal cue, you are trying to elicit an answer

Question 24

What is the testing of the limits in assessment?

Answer 24

It is bending the rules of test administration in order to see if the change in administration allows the test-taker to demonstrate their knowledge more effectively.

Question 25

What is a composite score?

Answer 25

The sum of scaled scores, 2 or more scaled scores combined

Question 26

Scaled score

Answer 26

The norm-referenced score, referring to subtests scores
Score after being compared against people of the same characteristics converted raw scores, done in the manual, usually done based on age, mean of 10