Glossary

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accommodations

Changes in the administration of an assessment, such as setting, scheduling, timing, presentation format, response mode, or others, including any combination of these. To be appropriate, assessment accommodations must be accommodations that are also used in instruction, and they must not change the construct intended to be measured by the assessment or the meaning of the resulting scores. Specific changes in testing conditions, procedures and/or formatting that do not alter the validity or reliability of a State standard. Policies and procedures must ensure that the accommodations do not compromise the security of the test and are consistent with the student's Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), 504, and/or Limited English Proficient (LEP) plan. Accommodations can be made available for use in both instruction and statewide assessments. These may include accommodations for scheduling, setting, equipment, presentations, and/or responses. Allowable accommodations for states' assessments are generally identified in State Education Agency (SEA) documentation. Alteration in how a test is presented to the test taker or in how a test taker is allowed to respond; includes a variety of alterations in presentation format, response format, setting in which the test is taken, scheduling or timing, and/or specialized equipment required by the student. The alterations do not substantially change level, content, or performance criteria. The changes are made in order to level the playing field, i.e., to provide equal opportunity to demonstrate what is known. Change in how a student accesses information and/or demonstrates learning; does not substantially change the content, instructional level, or performance expectations; provides for equal opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and skills.

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accountability/accountability system

The systematic use of assessment data and other information to assure to those inside and outside the educational system that schools are moving in desired directions. Commonly included elements are goals, indicators of progress toward meeting those goals, analysis of data, reporting procedures, and consequences or sanctions. Accountability often includes the use of assessment results and other data to determine program effectiveness and to make decisions about resources, rewards, and consequences. (top)

 

achievement

Knowledge and skill gained through individual effort, in school, to learn; attainment of a desired level of performance. (top)

 

aggregates

A score that represents the total or combined performance for all groups on one test or subtest. (top)

 

aligned assessment system

A series of assessments of student performance at different grade levels which are based on publicly adopted standards of what is to be taught coupled with high expectations of student mastery. This standards-based assessment system is designed to hold schools publicly accountable for each student meeting those high standards. (top)

 

alignment

Bringing into agreement the student content and performance standards with assessment and instruction so that the content, instructional level, and performance expectations are the same. (top)

 

assessment

Any systematic method of obtaining evidence from tests and collateral sources used to draw inferences about characteristics of people, objects, or programs for a specific purpose. (top)

 

bell-shaped curve

A normal distribution in which scores on a test are naturally distributed similarly on both sides of the middle value, and the mean, median, and mode are close together. (top)

 

benchmark standard

A specific statement of knowledge and skills to be demonstrated at the end of a specified range of grades. For example, benchmark content standards may be set at the end of grade 4, grade 8, and grade 12 to specify standards to be met by the end of primary, middle, and high school grade ranges. Benchmarks are located on a performance continuum and are used as checkpoints to monitor progress from one level to the next. (top)

 

bias

In a statistical context, a systematic error in a test score. In discussing test fairness, bias may refer to construct underrepresentation or construct-irrelevant components of test scores. Bias usually favors one group of test takers over another. (top)

 

blended assessment system

Includes both norm-referenced tests and standards-based tests. (top)

 

classroom tests

A formal, usually paper-and-pencil, sample of student performance often administered at the end of a unit of instruction in order to determine student learning of the content and skills taught in the unit. Results are used to improve and direct student learning, and to remedy learning errors. (top)

 

consequences/sanctions

In an accountability system, include such elements as additional/fewer resources, removal of accreditation, provision of professional development training, replacement or take-over of school system administration, or realignment of teaching staff. (top)

 

construct

The underlying theoretical concept or characteristic that a test is designed to measure. (top)

 

content standards

Statements of the subject-specific knowledge and skills that schools are expected to teach and students are expected to learn. They indicate what students should know and be able to do. (top)

 

content validity

The extent to which an assessment reflects the depth and breadth of the knowledge and skills that it is intended to measure, e.g., content standards. (top)

 

context variable

Information about factors that may affect student learning, including student population characteristics such as gender distribution, ethnicity, and socio-economic status; staff characteristics such as certifications, experience, and training; classroom characteristics such as class size and classroom support personnel. (top)

 

core learning

Generally refers to the basic or fundamental skills in any content area, but is often used to refer to reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history. (top)

 

criterion-referenced test

A test that allows its users to make score interpretations in relation to a functional performance level, as distinguished from those interpretations that are made in relation to the performance of others. (top)

 

culminating skills

The things that students should know and be able to do to master a standard at the end of a grade level. These skills require students to use what they have learned that enable students to master the standard but do not test these enabling skills as distinct or separate from the overall standard. For example, use of periods is not tested separately from punctuation nor is short a tested separately from phonics or word attack skills. (top)

 

cut scores

Specified points on a score scale, such that scores at or above that point are interpreted differently from scores below that point. Sometimes there is only one cut score, dividing the range of possible scores into passing and failing or mastery and nonmastery regions. Sometimes two or more cut scores may be used to define three or more score categories, as in establishing performance standards. (top)

 

demographics

Data related to the characteristics of human populations, such as population proportions by gender and ethnicity, and the conditions of life in a community or school, such as income levels, class size, etc. (top)

 

disaggregations

An analysis of data differentiated by subgroup or subcategory. This kind of analysis is usually conducted to ensure that the results for all subgroups are equitable and to plan remedial interventions if they are not. (top)

 

enabling skills

Skills that a student has not been taught before, but that students must learn in order to master a new standard. Teachers often conduct a task analysis of the standards they are teaching to determine what these necessary but new skills are. (top)

 

errors of measurement

The difference between an observed score and the corresponding true score or proficiency. (top)

 

exemplars

Examples of student work from a representative sample of all students that illustrate the full range of performance at each level (partially proficient, proficient, advanced). (top)

 

extended-response or essay questions

Test items that measure important learning outcomes by requiring lengthy expository written answers. These responses allow for more in-depth assessment of the ability of students to formulate problems and organize, integrate, and evaluate ideas and information, and to apply knowledge and skills. (top)

 

face validity

TAssessment that looks like what it is purported to measure. (top)

 

fairness

The degree to which a student's performance on a test is not influenced by native language, prior experience, gender, or race. (top)

 

grade equivalent score

The school grade level for which a given score is the real or estimated median or mean. (top)

 

graduation tests

Examinations that are used to assess whether a student has learned the standards required to exit from high school. (top)

 

high-stakes test

A test whose results have important, direct consequences for examinees, programs, or institutions tested. (top)

 

inclusive programs

Programs that include students with disabilities in regular classes to the maximum extent possible. Inclusive practices are guided by a belief system that all students with disabilities can learn, deserve a quality education, and have the right to attend their neighborhood school. This process is guided by assignments and scheduling, collaborative planning and teaching, innovative instructional practices, unique student assessment and grading, individual supports, and school leadership. (top)

 

indicator systems

A designated set of data selected for the information they provide about a topic of interest, i.e., indicators of school success. (top)

 

individual indicators

The combination of data such as norm-referenced and standards-based assessments, grades, credits earned, etc., that together provide information about what a student has learned or mastered. (top)

 

inter-rater reliability

The consistency of rater judgments of the work or performance of students from one rater to another. (top)

 

large-scale assessments

TTests that are administered to large numbers of students, such as students in an entire school district or state. (top)

 

matrix sampling

A measurement format in which a large set of test items is organized into a number of relatively short item sets, each of which is randomly assigned to a subsample of test takers, thereby avoiding the need to administer all items to all examinees in a program evaluation. (top)

 

measure

Used to mean the results, often the numbers, resulting from using testing instruments and assessment processes. (top)

 

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

A nationwide assessment program designed to obtain nationally representative data to report to the public on how well students are learning. (top)

 

norm-referenced test interpretation

A score interpretation based on a comparison of a test taker's performance to the performance of other people in a specified reference population. (top)

 

norming

Developing scores based on how an individual or group of individuals performed on the same test items compared with a larger group. (top)

 

norming groups

Large numbers of students from many parts of the United States who are tested on the same items. (top)

 

open-ended questions

Test items that measure important learning outcomes in essay or extended-response format. These responses allow for more in-depth assessment of the ability of students to formulate problems, and organize, integrate, and evaluate ideas and information, and to apply knowledge and skills. (top)

 

opportunity to learn

1. Requirements for educational inputs and processes designed to ensure that all students are given the opportunity to achieve the knowledge and skills contained in national, state, district and/or school content and performance standards.
2. Assistance for a student to be able to participate in his or her educational program, including accommodations, modifications, scaffolding, alternate instruction, instructional scaffolding, etc.

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opportunity to perform

The provision of accommodations that make suitable adjustments to the manner in which students are allowed to demonstrate learning in order to maximize the students' chances of demonstrating desired learning outcomes. (top)

 

percentile score

A percentile is the score on a test below which a given percentage of scores fall. A percentile rank is the percentage of scores in a specified distribution that fall below the point at which a given score lies. (top)

 

performance assessments

1. Product- and behavior-based measurements based on settings designed to emulate real-life contexts or conditions in which specific knowledge or skills are actually applied.
2. A task or series of tasks that requires a student to create a response or product rather than simply fill in a blank or select a correct answer from a list. The task performed by the student is intended to simulate real-life situations.

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performance standard

A system that includes performance levels (e.g., unsatisfactory, proficient, advanced), descriptions of student performance for each level, examples of student work representing the entire range of performance for each level, and cut scores. A system of performance standards operationalizes and further defines content standards by connecting them to information that describes how well students are doing in learning the knowledge and skills contained in the content standards. (top)

 

post-secondary education

Training or educational experiences following high school graduation. (top)

 

prerequisites

Content or skills that should have been taught and mastered by the student earlier, usually in an earlier grade level, and are necessary in order for the student to master new standards that are currently being taught. (top)

 

program effectiveness

The degree to which a system of service delivery within an educational institution attains the desired outcomes, such as the education of students and the achievement of student learning goals. (top)

 

program evaluation

The collection of systematic evidence used to determine the extent to which a planned set of procedures obtains particular effects. (top)

 

pullout programs

Organized systems for delivering services that remove students from the regular classroom for a part of the school day, usually to provide remedial or accelerated instruction. (top)

 

reference population

The population of test takers represented by test norms. The sample on which the test norms are based must permit accurate estimation of the test score distribution for the reference population. The reference population may be defined by examinee age, grade, or clinical status at time of testing, or by other characteristics. (top)

 

reliability

The degree to which the scores of every individual are consistent over repeated applications of a measurement procedure and hence are dependable, and repeatable; the degree to which scores are free of errors of measurement. (top)

 

rewards

In an accountability system, include such elements as recognition, additional resources, increased accreditation status, or provision of professional development training. (top)

 

rubric

A scoring guide for open-ended questions or performance tasks. Scoring rubrics contain a description of the requirements for varying degrees of success in responding to the question or performing the task. (top)

 

sampling

A selection of a specified number of entities called sampling units (test takers, items, etc.) from a larger specified set of possible entities, called the population. (top)

 

school reform

Systematic changes to school organization and practice intended to improve student achievement. (top)

 

school indicators

The combination of data such as norm-referenced and standards-based assessments, dropout rates, completion rates, etc., that together provide information about the success of a school in fostering successful student learning. (top)

 

stakes

(See high-stakes test.) (top)

 

standard scores

A type of derived score such that the distribution of these scores for a specified population has convenient, known values for the mean and standard deviation. (top)

 

standardized

1. In test administration, standardization refers to maintaining a constant testing environment, and conducting the test according to detailed rules and specifications, so that testing conditions are the same for all test takers.
2. Uniform and consistent procedures for administering and scoring a test.

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standards-based assessment

Assessments intended to represent systematically described content and performance standards. (top)

 

state curriculum

Technical documents developed for teachers by some states to describe what is to be taught in all classrooms in the state. These documents are detailed guides to instruction that are increasingly focused on the enabling and prerequisite content knowledge and skills that students are taught in order to help them achieve the standards. (top)

 

statistical distribution

The arrangement of scores from lowest to highest, based on a scientific analysis of the relationships of scores to each other and to the performance they reflect. (top)

 

statistical significance

The probability of an error in the conclusions drawn around a statistical finding or result. For example, if the difference between the mean score on a test for one group vs. another group was statistically significant at the .05 level, it would mean that the probability of error in the judgment that the two groups truly differ in their scores is 5 out of 100. (top)

 

system supports

Components that sustain educational programs such as funding, professional development, teaching experience, and facilities. (top)

 

targeted subgroups

A group of students identified based on demographic characteristics that may affect their learning opportunities is given situations. These students may be selected for specialized or more intense instruction in order to increase their opportunities to learn the standards. (top)

 

test

As opposed to an assessment that includes a number of measures that help create a more complete picture or profile of performance, a single instrument or tool used to make an assessment; a quiz, a standardized measure, questionnaire, survey, observation, checklist, structured observation, etc. Thus, a test is a component of an aligned assessment system. (top)

 

trends

Use of two or more years of results used to determine the meaningfulness of the data and identify patterns in the data for decision-making purposes. (top)

 

validity

1. An overall evaluation of the degree to which accumulated evidence and theory support specific interpretations of test scores.
2. The extent to which a test measures what its authors or users claim it measures.
3. The appropriateness of the inferences that can be made on the basis of test results.

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vocational assessments

A specialized type of psychological assessment designed to generate hypotheses and inferences about interests, work needs and values, career development, vocational maturity, and decision making. (top)