Week 6 Reflection

Question 1

standardized test

Answer 1

A test that is distributed widely, constructed with significant investment, and administered and scored in such a manner so as to measure students compared to a predetermined standard.

Question 2

norm-referenced

Answer 2

Students are measured relative to the results of other test takers.

Question 3

criterion-referenced

Answer 3

Students are measured relative to certain cognitive constructs, such as subject domain

Question 4

mean

Answer 4

A measure of central tendency: the average, generated by summing the values, then dividing the total by the number of items

Question 5

median

Answer 5

A measure of central tendency, generated by arranging the values from least to greatest, and taking the middle value, or the mean of the two middle values, depending upon whether the number of items is odd or even

Question 6

stanine

Answer 6

A type of scaled score where a distribution curve is divided into nine half standard deviation segments, with the scores disseminated into the segments.

Question 7

percentile

Answer 7

A representation of the percentage of how many students a particular student outperformed in the norm group

Question 8

normal curve equivalent

Answer 8

A type of scaled score that compares a student score to a relative position in a presumed normal distribution. Loses predictive power when score distribution is not similar to a normal curve.

Question 9

standard deviation

Answer 9

A statistical representation of how spread apart values in a data set are from one another. The larger the standard deviation, the more the values in the set tend to stray from the mean value

Question 10

standard error of measurement

Answer 10

an estimation of the measurement error that would become apparent over repeated re-administration of a particular test to a student

Question 11

p-value

Answer 11

measure of item difficulty, equal to the percentage of students that correctly answered the item in decimal form.

Question 12

scaled score

Answer 12

When a raw score is converted to a representative position on an arbitrary scale, for easier interpretation and decision making

Question 13

item response theory

Answer 13

A complicated type of scaled score that factors in specific characteristics associated with each item in addition to the raw score, which typically requires extensive computer analysis

Question 14

grade equivalent score

Answer 14

A type of score conversion that attempts to represent scores in terms of advancement through the curriculum of a given school year, but it is never grounds for decisions such as “grade skipping”

Question 15

item discrimination

Answer 15

An Item that effectively discriminates between high and low performing students on the test. A high preforming student tends to answer most test items correctly, while the opposite is true for low performing students