The test designers analyze the component parts of specific academic skills, such as number understanding, and then write test items that will measure whether the child has. Criterion referenced test construction and evaluation. So i will only touch on those differences briefly here. Different ways criterionreferenced tests are made commercial products ripa criterionreferenced assessment it is standardized with procedures but does not compare to normative data published measures comparing to a norm, checklists, functional independence measure, sz ratio for voice, breathing patterns for voice, checklist for limb. Criterion reference test is a method which uses test score to judge students. Interpret test analysis results to determine test item level of difficulty p and discrimination d. Introduction the item analysis is an important phase in the development of an exam program. I have also explained at length the different strategies that should be. Understanding item analyses office of educational assessment. Normreferenced and criterionreferenced test in efl classroom. With criterionreferenced tests, use normreferenced statistics for. Statewide assessment program information guide 3 2.
It discusses the assumptions of the two models and how these assumptions can affect criterion referenced test construction and interpretation. Criterion referenced exam results compares individuals against a standard or set of criteria may or may not produce a bellshaped curve the graph of test. Item analysis concepts are similar for normreferenced and criterionref erenced tests, but they differ in. Critics of criterionreferenced tests point out that judges set bookmarks around items of varying difficulty without considering whether the items actually are compliant with grade level content standards or are developmentally appropriate. This claim is discussed and the case is made that interpretations and uses of criterionreferenced tests require sup. In elementary and secondary education, criterionreferenced tests are used to evaluate whether students. The dependability indexes for these tests were low or moderate and an item analysis of the criterionreference tests suggests there was a slight. Also, they help to generate statements about students behavior. Multiple choice items, openresponse items, and writing prompts. Criterionreferenced assessments flashcards quizlet. Content validity is important for criterionreferenced measures, but it is not sufficient. The problem of criterionreferenced scoring and score interpretation, the problem of criterionreferenced item and test analysis, and the problem of. Norm referenced tests nrts, on the other hand, are designed to be harder overall and to spread out the examinees scores. When conducting an item analysis the item difficulty, item discrimination, and distractor quality should all be considered.
Items on norm referenced tests need to discriminate between high and low performers because those tests are generally used to make aptitude, proficiency or. A single test to fulfill all test functions there is no single test that can fulfill all four functions of proficiency, placement, achievement, and diagnostic because. It investigates the performance of items considered individually either in relation to some external criterion or in relation to the remaining items on the test thompson. Normreferenced and criterionreferenced test in efl. This paper describes major concepts related to item analysis for criterionreferenced tests including validity, reliability, item difficulty, and item discrimination, particularly in relation to. Grade 8 criterion referenced testing followed in the spring of 1999, with field testing for grade 6, end of course for algebra i and geometry and end of level grade 11 literacy which began in 2000. Cox and vargas 1966 con trasted normreferenced item analysis with the criterion version. A criterionreferenced test is a style of test which uses test scores to generate a statement about the behavior that can be expected of a person with that score. Criterionreferenced interpretation sage research methods. An absolute standard of performance is set for grading purposes. This paper describes major concepts related to item analysis for criterionreferenced tests including validity, reliability, item difficulty, and item discrimination, particularly in relation to criterion referenced tests. Criterionreferenced tests and assessments are designed to measure student performance against a fixed set of predetermined criteria or learning standards i.
For criterion referenced tests crts, with their emphasis on masterytesting, many items on an exam form will have pvalues of. Analyze the items carefully using item format analysis to make sure they are wellwritten and. Criterion referenced interpretation is the interpretation of a test score as a measure of the knowledge, skills, and abilities an individual or group can demonstrate from a clearly defined content or behavior domain. The paper discussed how these concepts can be used to revise and improve items and listed suggestions regarding general guidelines for test development. Others have followed as dictated by federal and state laws. The item analysis is an important phase in the development of an exam program. In other words, the criterion reference test is a set of fixed criteria. The tests cited are the result of an attempt made to bring together tests designated in the educational testing service test collection, a library of tests and test related information, and labeled in the eric system as criterion referenced tests. I have discussed the major differences between norm referenced and criterion referenced tests in a number of places most recently in brown, 2012a. Eric ed501716 item analysis for criterionreferenced.
An external criterion is required to accurately judge the validity of test items. Criterionreferenced test reliability university ofhawaii. Criterionreferenced test crt constructed to yield measurements that are directly interpretable in terms of specific performance standards performance standards are generally specified by defining a class or domain of tasks that should be performed by the participant. Choosing item statistics and item analysis techniques 255. An item is a basic building block of a test, and its analysis provides information about its performance. I have also explained at length the different strategies that should be applied in developing and validating the. Item analysis table of contents major uses of item analysis item analysis reports item analysis response patterns basic item analysis statistics interpretation of basic statistics other item statistics summary data report options item analysis guidelines major uses of item analysis item analysis can be a powerful technique available to instructors for the guidance and. In addition, item analysis is valuable for increasing instructors skills in test construction, and identifying specific areas of course. Formula for the pointbiserial coeffiecient for determining item validity. What techniques can be devised which will permit objectivebased test developers to improve their instruments on the basis of empirical tryouts in the same ways that conventional test developers have been doing for years e. Use test analysis results to determine the need for test item revision. Best for normreferenced tests comparing students within a group, not against a criterion. While test items can be analyzed on both criterion referenced and norm referenced tests, the analysis is somewhat different because the purpose of the two types of tests is different. This type of test is useful for measuring the mastery of that subject.
Criterion referenced test crt constructed to yield measurements that are directly interpretable in terms of specific performance standards performance standards are generally specified by defining a class or domain of tasks that should be performed by the participant. This paper describes major concepts related to item analysis for criterion referenced tests including validity, reliability, item difficulty, and item discrimination. Statewide assessment program information guide 201920. By using the internal criterion of total test score, item analyses reflect internal consistency of items rather than validity. Content validity is important for criterion referenced measures, but it is not sufficient. Pdf criterionreferenced test administration designs and analyses. Application of item response models to criterionreferenced. Two forms of a 25 item multiplechoice criterion referenced vocabulary test were developed and administered to two groups of community secondary school obigwe in rivers state of nigeria n87 for diagnostic and achievement purposes in a counter balanced. The problem of criterion referenced scoring and score interpretation, the problem of criterion referenced item and test analysis, and the problem of mastery decisions. Interpret test analysis results to determine overall test performance. The only danger to criterion referencing from item analysis is if bad items are omitted, thus leaving holes in the representation of the domain. Criterionreferenced interpretation is the interpretation of a test score as a measure of the knowledge, skills, and abilities an individual or group can demonstrate from. Florida journal of educational research, 351, 5462.
Thus diagnostic tests should be criterion referenced. Normreferenced item analysis referenced item analysis jalt. Item analysis data are not synonymous with item validity. These results are usually pass or fail and are used in. If an item is too easy, too difficult, failing to show a difference between skilled and unskilled examinees, or even scored incorrectly, an item analysis will reveal it. Some advantages and disadvantages for science instruction. Criterion referenced tests are designed to find out whether a child has a set of skills, rather than how a child compares to other children of the same age normed tests. They are those that are constructed and interpreted according to a specific set of learning outcome. Item analysis examples so, a test item may have an item difficulty of. The goal with these tests is to determine whether or not the candidate has the demonstrated mastery of a certain skill or set of skills. Download fulltext pdf application of item response models to criterionreferenced assessment article pdf available in applied psychological measurement 71. Some of these are discussed in the second part together with empirical data showing.
Identifies distractors not doing what they are supposed to do. Generally, students are expected to do much better than chance because they have been. This means that 70% of the test takers passed the item, and more students in the top group than the bottom group got the item correct. A preliminary item analysis was conducted after test administrations using all candidate score data n 1,493. The study then specifically examines how the indices operate in terms of item discrimination when. Two forms of a 25item multiplechoicecriterion referenced vocabulary test were developed and administered to two groups of community secondary school obigwe in rivers state of nigeria n87 for diagnostic and achievement purposes in a counter balanced. It discusses the assumptions of the two models and how these assumptions can affect criterionreferenced test construction and interpretation. With criterion referenced tests, use norm referenced statistics for. Criterionreferenced tests are designed to find out whether a child has a set of skills, rather than how a child compares to other children of the same age normed tests. Item analysis is the set of qualitative and quantitative techniques and procedures used to evaluate the characteristics of items of the test before and after the test development and construction. Criterion criterionreferenced item analysis referenced item.
If item facility proportion of those who answered the item correctly di difference index posttest if pretest if if di is. Feb 05, 2016 thus diagnostic tests should be criterion referenced. Criterion referenced exam results compares individuals against a standard or set of criteria may or may not produce a bellshaped curve the graph of test results is provided by several commercial packages. I have discussed the major differences between normreferenced and criterionreferenced tests in a number of places most recently in brown, 2012a.
Best for norm referenced tests comparing students within a group, not against a criterion. To determine the validity of an individual test item, we correlate the scores on that test item with the external criterion from the domain of interest. In their system an item form was comprised of a complete set of rules for generating a domain of items. Criterionreferenced test definition the glossary of. In this case, the objective is simply to see whether the student has learned. Item analysis statistics for criterionreferenced tests. Item analysis concepts are similar for norm referenced and criterion referenced tests, but they differ in specific, significant ways.
This paper describes major concepts related to item analysis for criterion referenced tests including validity, reliability, item difficulty, and item discrimination, particularly in relation to criterion referenced tests. This claim is discussed and the case is made that interpretations and uses of criterion referenced tests require sup. Using remark statistics for test reliability and item analysis. The first statewide criterion referenced testing took place with the minimum performance testing, the high school exit exam, and then actaap began in 1998 with grade 4 reading, writing and mathematics that was designed to align with the arkansass curriculum frameworks. The discrimination index is not always a measure of item quality. Item analysis conducting an item analysis following an administration of your assessment is important to identify any questions that are not perfo rming well due to inappropriate difficulty, scoring error, or other factors. It uses this information to improve item and test quality. Critics of criterion referenced tests point out that judges set bookmarks around items of varying difficulty without considering whether the items actually are compliant with grade level content standards or are developmentally appropriate.
Most tests and quizzes that are written by school teachers can be considered criterionreferenced tests. Criterionreferenced tests or crts differ in that each examinees performance is compared to a predefined set of criteria or a standard. This paper is on criterion referenced test construction and evaluation. In this phase statistical methods are used to identify any test items that are not working well. One result was a recently published article brown 1989 which discussed criterion referenced test development techniques. Questions and answers about language testing statistics. The tests cited are the result of an attempt made to bring together tests designated in the educational testing service test collection, a library of tests and test related information, and labeled in the eric system as criterionreferenced tests. The paper then describes an empirical investigation to determine the usefulness of this procedure. Eric ed099427 a collection of criterionreferenced tests. Criterionreferenced test vs normreferenced test meaning. The ranges of ability tested by the four types of tests are very different. Approaches to language testing normreferenced test and criterionreferenced test are the language testing approaches that provide information about the knowledge and skills of the students tested. Item analysis concepts are similar for normreferenced and criterion referenced tests, but they differ in specific, significant ways.